What’s in a name?

Well, that all depends on who you ask. If you talk to Sarah Hamilton Fairley, Whitewater’s founder and first MD (now Chief Executive of Starthere), our agency’s name came from a promise she made to herself on an ill-advised rafting expedition in Nepal. Swept off the raft and hurtling downriver as her fellow rafters bobbed by, she swore that – should she come out of the river alive – her brand new company would be called Whitewater.

But if you ask the co-founder of Whitewater, Richard Crofton (now also at Starthere), you’ll hear a quite different story. After hiking up Mont Richard in the French Pyrenees, he reached the summit to be greeted by a breath-taking view of glaciers, snow, cloud and spray from a waterfall casting rainbows on this idyllic scene. The different forms of ‘white water’ – ice, snow, clouds, spray – were his inspiration for the name of this company.

In fact, both stories are true. And perhaps the most remarkable part is that the two founders of our company (neither of whom lack the courage of their convictions) easily agreed on a name. Whether you think Whitewater means ‘excitement and thrills’ or ‘spectacular beauty and peace’, they’re both part of our foundation.