The Youngtrepreneur Live Speaker Series consists of several Instagram Live videos featuring different businesses run by college-age/young adult women. Though selling different products, each business was created while the founder was in high school or college and relied heavily on their Instagram platform for growth. These young women are now at various stages, with some having turned their company into a full-time career and others still operating out of a dorm room.
The speakers will each share how they began their businesses, what it is like to manage a business while in school, how they were able to grow their business to where it is now, and tips for success for emerging businesswomen.
The series will be hosted by Caroline Kaplan of @taskmenyc and will run from May 27th, 2020 through mid-June.
SPEAKERS
"ASK ME" WITH...
KICKS BY SAMMY
Wednesday, May 27th // 8:30 PM
After hand painting University of Maryland Keds sneakers in 2013, Sammy bursted into the social media & art scene. At 18 years old, Sammy discovered that doodling on paper was not enough for her creative passion, so she decided to launch KicksBySammy, a manifestation of her love of drawing and fashion.
In 2017, KicksBySammy evolved into an online custom accessories company that caters to an array of ages and genders. The focus is to provide Sammy’s hand-drawn artwork on a variety of customizable products. KBS is a one-stop shop for customers to create and personalize their dream products for camp, college, newborns, special events, back to school and more.
With increasing interest in Sammy’s unique designs, KBS is also proud to collaborate artistically with celebrities, influencers, and corporate clients to create artwork for events, invitations, promotional products, product collaborations, murals, and more.
Giving back has always been important to Sammy. KicksBySammy donates a portion of your online order to The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
COREY PAIGE DESIGNS
Thursday, June 4th // 8:30 PM
Corey Paige started her company, Corey Paige Designs, in her dorm room at Tulane University. What once started out as a hobby, drawing pictures for friends to hang up in their dorms, quickly turned into a business. Sophomore year, she posted one of her unique collage designs on Instagram and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback and began taking personalized design requests.
Corey has developed an expressive style by combining bright and colorful imagery, icons, patterns and words. She creates fun and whimsical art based on popular themes including fashion, travel destinations, teen activities, and college spirit and more. Her portfolio of designs translate to virtually any product including apparel, accessories, home decor, stationery, and wall art.
THE DOT CAKES
Monday, June 8th // 4 PM
BIO COMING SOON
JEWELERRY
Tuesday, June 9th // 8:30 PM
Erica “Erry” Bernstein graduated from Syracuse University, where she was able to hone her creativity and the invaluable skills she developed by growing up in a family business, by studying photography, business and marketing. Always passionate about accessories and trendsetting, she started a business during college called JEWELERRY (combining her nickname “Erry” with her love for jewelry).
Her friends and sorority sisters loved having quick and affordable access to the hottest new trends, and soon almost everyone around campus was sporting the latetest trends, courtesy of Jewelerry. The idea caugh on quickly, and soon Erica was asked to do trunk shows at colleges around the country. Taking her show on the road, she developed quite a following, and the demand keeps growing.
SAMMI'S SWEATS
Thursday, June 11th // 8:30 PM
Sammi’s Sweats is a tie dye apparel company. Based out of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Sammi Desmon tie dyes sweatshirts, sweatpants, tank tops, shorts and more. She started tie dying in November 2019 as a school project, but it ended up going far beyond just that, now becoming Sammi’s Sweats.
Sammi also adds lettering to her tie dyed apparel, with the resonant phrases “social distancing” and “please wash your hands” appearing on many of her sweats created during this global pandemic. In addition, Sammi does custom tie dye and bleach dye orders.
SHIRTS BY SOPH
Wednesday, June 17th // 8:30 PM
ShirtsbySoph was created in 2018 when Sophia was a junior at the University of Maryland to combine fashion and school spirit across college campuses!