Right from the start, Reagan Wright and Madeline Shownkeen had big ideas.
And with quite a bit of hard work and persistence, the two Hinsdale Central juniors now have an operational business selling jewelry and donating some of the profits to charity.
“We met freshman year in English class,” said Shownkeen, an Oak Brook resident. “We started talking about what we could do to start a business. We were talking about our futures and the idea for a business seemed interesting.”
Wright, a Hinsdale resident, liked the idea for staring a business, but she had her doubts early on about making it a reality.
“It was very far-fetched at first,” she said. “We had heard about a 16-year-old starting a company that became successful, and we decided we wanted to pursue our idea.”
There was one major obstacle to overcome before the girls could seriously think about their idea becoming a reality.
“We didn’t have enough money to get started, but our parents said they would lend us half of what we needed if we could show them an exact outline of what we were planning,” Wright said.
The girls worked hard, researching what would be involved in starting their own business and finding out how much money they would need to get it off the ground.
“We’ve seen some comments about us not doing this ourselves, but that’s just not true,” Wright said.
Shownkeen called it the biggest insult that people just assumed they couldn’t do it on their own. The girls borrowed half of the $10,000 needed to get their business started and already have begun paying back that loan.
They came up with a name for the business, Wright and Carter, using Reagan’s last name and Madeline’s middle name. They then created a website on which they blogged about their business as it was being developed.
Shownkeen and Reagan started selling their jewelry online in November and opened a temporary kiosk at Yorktown Center in Lombard on Black Friday. They will remain open through Dec. 21, with after-school hours on Friday and mall hours for Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s been a really interesting experience being at the mall,” Shownkeen said. “I’ve learned there’s a big difference between liking something and buying it, but we’ve been doing pretty well.”
Hinsdale Central senior Audrey Pond was at the mall Dec. 14 and was impressed by her schoolmates’ business.
“I know they’re online, but it’s really impressive seeing the kiosk at the mall,” Pond said. “This shows a lot of drive and creativity, and their jewelry is really cute.”
Wright and Carter sell bracelets, necklaces and rings. Customers may select a base model for any of the three products and then choose stones of their liking, which snap into the bracelet, necklace or ring. The girls order their stones from Colorado and China and get the necklaces, brackets and rings from Indonesia.
“We knew we needed to do something a little different to set us apart,” Shownkeen said. “We chose jewelry because fashion and style is a passion for us, and we really love jewelry.
Prices for the jewelry are $28 for each necklace or bracelet, and $15 for each ring. Stones cost $2 each.
“We really like the whole idea of someone being able to make it their own by choosing the stones they want,” Wright said
The idea of donating some of their profits to charity was part of the thinking right from the start. The girls chose Educate2Envision, a nonprofit organization that sponsors education programs in Honduras, with an emphasis on girls.
“We found that one and really like it because education is so important to us,” Shownkeen said. “We’re enjoying this and learning a lot. We hope to keep it going.”
WRIGHT AND CARTER
Phone: 630-484-5308
Website: wrightandcarter.com
Twitter: @WRIGHTandCARTER
Instagram: instagram.com/wrightandcarter
Email address: wrightandcarter@gmail.com
Educate2Envision website: www.educate2envision.org