Freshman year is pivotal, filled with change and new expectations — learning to drive, starting to think about colleges and, the most pressing of all, parents expecting you to get a job. Unless you already have a job or gracious parents willing to give an allowance, you find yourself tearing apart the couch for change when it comes time to go out to dinner with your friends. Throw a pandemic into the madness, and you’ve got a bunch of 15-year-olds looking for creative ways to get some money. This led a few East students to start businesses custom to their talents. I’m just here to review a few.
ABBY MARGOLIN
Freshman Abby Margolin took advantage of her socially distanced summer by starting a baking business. At a young age Margolin was making cupcake and cake variations for friend and family events, but after realizing her talent for it, she decided to start up an account (@bakedbyabbs on Instagram) and charge people for her baked goods.
To buy a sweet treat — anything from cupcakes to cookies — you direct message Margolin, and let her know what you’re looking for from her array of goodies. Not sure what I was craving, I asked Margolin what ideas she had, giving her the freedom to make something new or recreate her go-to treat.
Margolin had the idea to make a gingerbread-flavored cake to go along with the upcoming holiday season. I chose cream cheese frosting and let her take it away. She was constantly keeping me up to date, asking about specific preferences I had for my order. Her customer service was top-tier — doing everything she could to keep me satisfied.
Only a day after the inquiry, my cake was ready. I went to her house to pick it up, and was overwhelmed at how professional the cake looked. Not only did it have its own Christmas color scheme, but it looked absolutely delectable — like it was straight out of a professional cake bakery.
I paid Margolin $40 through PayPal for the cake — the hard work, time and consideration she put into the cake made the price more than worth it.
My family and I couldn’t take our eyes off the 8-inch cake as we ate our dinner that night — we devoured it when it was time for dessert. Because the cake was so rich and large in size, we had it to look forward to the next night as well.
SARAH MCCONWELL
There is rarely a time where my hands aren’t adorned by 3 rings — minimum. So any business that sells unique and affordable rings is one I’m willing to throw my money at.
Sophomore Sarah McConwell sells rings through her somewhat underground jewelry business. Although she doesn’t have an official Instagram account or website, she often posts to her Snapchat private story, offering recently made items to her friends. McConwell uses stones, pearls, assorted jewelery parts and wire to make fun and unique earrings and rings.
There’s an option of earrings or rings, with wire color options of gold, silver, rose gold, black and copper. After choosing the type of jewelry and color, you get to choose your embellishment — stone or pearl.
I chose a gold wired ring with a stunning white pearl in the center, similar to one she showed me an example of. McConwell asks for your ring size to make sure that it fits perfectly.
I paid only three dollars for the ring, and it was delivered straight to my door about two hours after I described to McConwell what I wanted. The affordable and fast service makes McConwell’s business the perfect option for any high school student.
The ring was just what I was looking for as an addition to my collection. It’s obvious that McConwell pays close attention to detail, and I know I’ll be wearing this ring often as it goes nicely with my other rings and fits perfectly. I would recommend this business for anyone looking for a cute addition to their ring collection.
EVYN ROBERTS
If you’re looking for cute art pieces, @evynsprints on Instagram is the perfect place. I browsed through the many designs on sale that sophomore Evyn Roberts created, looking for something that caught my eye.
Evyn has always made art, but she came up with the idea of selling her creations during quarantine. The art started as doodles and grew into custom collages, prints and phone cases.
Prices for her custom prints range from $4-$14, and phone cases are priced at about $30. I decided I wanted a collage: my options were a ‘Custom,’ a ‘Day in the Life of Love’ and a ‘Beautiful Mess.’ When I chose a custom, Roberts asked for a description of what I was looking for. I told her my favorite colors of green, pink and orange and said I was into a retro 70s/beach theme.
Five days after placing the order, the collage arrived in an envelope at my front door. With my name written beautifully on the front, the package labeled ‘Open With Care’ and a heart written under the seal, opening the package felt welcoming.
The glamorous-looking collage was composed of magazine cutouts, doodles and inspiring messages. There was a focus on a sage green color, and the photos were mainly of model-like women and assorted plants. Roberts’ doodles look so flawless they could have been printed, and letters were cut out from a magazine to spell my name at the bottom.
I paid $8 for the custom collage, which is worth it for the character it will add to my bedroom walls.