As her business thrives, Stella Pozzi helps break down football's WAG barrier

Stella Pozzi is as far removed from a footballer's wife as you could get.

During the pandemic last year the 41-year-old Italian, married to ex-Arsenal striker Jay Bothroyd, set up an interior design company with a difference with best friend Sashola Prestcote.

Interiornet.co.uk pairs homeowners or tenants wanting to revamp their house or flat with interior designers able to bring their property to life catering for all budgets.

Business is booming with nearly 200 customers on their roster so far and 60 designers fully vetted, on the two mums' database to call upon. At the time of writing there are another 54 Interior designers going through the screening process.

But Stella and Sash are looking to expand with word of their success spreading.

"We are really happy and positive about the response," said Stella, born in Verona, Italy and mother of 4-year-old Zar.

"We've had quite a few interior designers who have joined and a lot of projects submitted to our platform. We've been a bit overwhelmed by the numbers.

"I know that people tend to put all footballers' wives into the same bracket. But I have friends who are footballers' wives who are barristers, lawyers and teachers.

"Also in Italy, certainly with the people I know, we don't have this whole curiosity around footballers' wives. Unless they are famous in their own right nobody cares who they are. I have never even seen some of the wives. They don't have any attention.

"So perhaps I never felt I belonged to that world. Also, I've got my own brain. I'm quite feisty and fiery and I wanted to do my own thing."

Sash, 45, is the daughter of pioneer Louis Mahoney, one of the first black actors to appear regularly on British television.

Widely-respected, Louis passed away last year, aged 81, but over a 55-year career he'd appeared in some of the best-loved shows on TV including Dixon of Dock Green, Holby City, Doctor Who - in 1973, 1975 and 2007 - and Fawlty Towers.

Louis even had roles in big screen movies including Cry Freedom and Captain Phillips.

"He was one of the first black actors in the UK," Sash said.

"He was also an anti-racism activist and the vice-president of [actor's union] Equity. He did so much for so many people for a long time.

"He really did change the landscape for black and ethnic minority actors in the UK."

Sash, a mum-of-three, who lives in North London, has thrown herself into her work, studying at the British Academy of Interior Design.

More comfortable switching back to her InteriorNet venture, she added: "We don't accept any designer who applies to be on our platform. We check their background, their previous work, their social media and their website.

"We want to make sure that we are promoting someone that we can vouch for. People work hard and we want to respect that.

Interior design has always been seen as being for people with a high budget. You give someone your keys and a pile of money, you let them go do their thing and 'Voila' - but that's just not true," said Sash.

"Anybody can access an interior designer and get help. It's making sure you match the right customer with the right designer. It's as simple as that.

"Most people coming onto our site are not even that familiar with interior design! So we've broken it down into what the various parts of it are. So, for example, a mood board for inspiration or a shopping list, the kind of things an interior designer provides.

"The customer puts their project on the site. The system then matches those project requirements with designers who effectively say: 'I'm happy to work at this budget', 'I'm happy to work online or face to face' or 'I'm happy to work in this area or that area.'

"Once those details are in, the client is presented with the options of the designers prepared to work with them and the customer chooses one. It's that simple."

The pair conducted their own survey last year to size up the scale of their ambition and find out exactly what potential clients would want from an interior designer.

"I found out that yes, the majority of people would use a designer if they could afford it. Also that people were just afraid because the perception is, when you hire a designer, you know where you are going to start with the fees but you don't know where you are going to finish.

"People also think it's some massive service but I could give you a mood board for £150. Or even less than that. When I started I did one for £30. So it's just about educating people that there is something for everyone's budget."

Stella added: "I found that the spectrum of people who would use an interior designer was not what I expected. I thought it would be between an income bracket of X and an age range of Y. But it wasn't.

"We had responses from people who were still living at home and wanted to make their bedroom work for them while they were working from home.

"So there isn't any one particular subset."

The pair met walking their dogs 12 years ago. Their friendship was put on hold when Stella left England for Japan with husband Jay - who added J-League team Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo to the other 11 he has played for.

"We always stayed in touch and we reconnected during lockdown," she said. "Over the kids and the dogs! And we developed InteriorNet during lockdown."

Sash joked: "Stella is not a footballer's wife. It's Jay who is an interior designer's husband!"

Sash, born and bred in north London, worked in sales before starting a family. But, like Stella, was keen to follow her dream.

She said: "My background is in IT so for years I was in sales and an accounts manager for an IT company.

"But when I started a family I left that and started to renovate a house. I loved doing it and I started a business helping people to renovate their own houses.

"That gave me an insight into builders and trades, along with customers and knowing how important it is to get things right. Also how easy it is to make decisions that cost you money.

"That's where project managing came in. I just fell in love with working onsite with trades and getting stuff done. Forget the boardroom, give me a spark and a plumber and I'll get it to happen!"

To get in touch with Stella and Sash visit InteriorNet.co.uk