IT STARTED out as a one-woman band. Six years on, it's a multi-million business.

Oxford graduate Emily Bendell launched Blue-Bella as an upmarket version of Ann Summers, trading on sensuality rather than sex.

The former Nottingham Girls' High School pupil has since won a series of awards for the way she has driven the growth of a business which sells lingerie and sex toys through a party plan model.

Besides winning awards on stage, she has also seen the business appear on screen in the top-rated docu-soap The Only Way is Essex.

Emily was contacted by Jessica Wright, one of the show's main characters, who wanted to stock Blue-Bella products in her lingerie shop.

"She is the sister of Mark Wright [currently appearing in I'm A Celebrity get Me Out of here] and she said she loved out products and wanted to sell them in the shop.

"Jessica's shop is a genuine enterprise which she has set up herself and we were delighted because it is a great opportunity.

"We get requests all the time from people wanting to stock our range but we don't normally accept because we're a direct-selling business and we want our party planers to have exclusivity.

"But this was more than just exposure for us.

"We have featured a couple of times and it is a great boost for everyone involved and really validates who we are."

The TV exposure come sat a time when Blue-Bella has taken off as a business.

Turnover has risen 350 per cent in the last year and while Blue-Bella does not release detailed figures it is now thought to be a multi-million business.

"We are doing so well because we have now got a lot of important things in the business 'in line', said Emily.

"Our commercial director, Janet Mudge, joined us from Ann Summers and our financial director, Alan Bell, was with the Body Shop At Home.

"We're working very hard to perfect our product – we have a beautiful catalogue which has a range of stunning products.

"Janet is an expert and we have the best training and the best support and all of these things have come together for us.

"We've also got a super-slick operation with next-day delivery.

"So we have brought together some of the best elements that we can and it's worked."

She added: "We want to reach as many women as possible in two ways, so that they are confident about their sensuality and feel fabulously confident about themselves.

"On the business side this is a great opportunity for women to be in business for women and we want to recruit as many as we can.

"The more women we reach the more they can enjoy that extra income and that makes the business bigger and more successful."