Lauren Hollis, 21, grew up selling things: lemonade, brownies, even bookmarks that she sold door-to-door to her neighbors for $1 apiece.
Now, she's selling customized rings, bracelets and necklaces online through the company she founded, Pineappleloop.
Editor’s note: This story is part of Cleveland Inno’s Under 25 program, a platform to recognize rising innovators under the age of 25 who are making big moves with their companies across Northeast Ohio.
Hollis, now a senior at Kent State University, started her business in 2020 after losing her part-time job at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
"I couldn't work," Hollis said. "And I was like, OK, how can I make money?"
Then a friend asked her, "Have you ever heard of Shopify?"
Hollis taught herself how to build an e-commerce site and set up an account on Shopify, then decided to sell affordable yet trendy jewelry because she understood the market.
She found wholesalers for necklaces and earrings and "did fine in sales" while doing "any little marketing thing" from June to December, when she decided to start selling customizable jewelry, Hollis said.
"I also was discovering TikTok, and so I really got into making videos of me hand-stamping the jewelry, making the ring, things like that," she said.
The following February, one of her TikTok videos blew up.
"It reached over a million views, and my company really took off," said Hollis, who recruited her parents to pack orders on weekends when she was home from school.
Customizable rings, which cost between $22 and $24, were about 90% of her sales in 2021, she said.
This spring, Hollis signed up for Kent State's CebiPitch competition and switched her major from marketing to entrepreneurship.
She won the pitch competition and its $10,000 prize, which she used to buy a laser engraving machine, purchase more inventory and land her first licensing agreement with Alpha Phi sorority.
"A year from now, I hope to have more licensing deals," said Hollis, who also hopes to make Pineappleloop her full-time job after graduating in May 2023.
"Greek life is a huge market," Hollis said. "Right now, I'm just getting into the market and growing my social media presence there."
