By Emily Bingham

I like to say that I was a child business prodigy, but of course that’s not entirely true. What is more accurate is that I like to experience new things and do cool stuff, so when I see opportunities come my way, I almost always say yes. I was really lucky to have a couple of those opportunities presented to me when I was fairly young.

In the summer of 2016 after my freshman year of high-school, I was asked to travel to Manila, Philippines to film a documentary in conjunction with the SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship) World Cup. I had never filmed a documentary; I hadn’t even done anything close. I had minimal print journalism experience that led me there, but it sounded like something that would be fun and that I probably wouldn’t ever get to do again, so I went. We had full creative control over the documentary, and after a week of talking to teens from all over the world running small businesses that were literally changing lives, we knew what it had to be about: the power of youth entrepreneurship.

I was so inspired by the incredible, motivated young people that we were around, I decided I had to do it for myself. The next year, I formed a group and created a small business, Business Buzz, which was in essence a small marketing firm that specialized in community activation: a form of audience activation that focused on community-based projects and charitable causes. For about eight or nine months, we worked on a few projects, built a pitch, and decided to compete with our business nationally. At 16 years old after less than a year of entering the entrepreneurship world in any capacity, we placed first in the country. We were then able to attend the 2017 World Cup in Odessa, Ukraine where this time I would be competing with my peers instead of watching from afar. We finished fourth internationally. I learned I loved being my own boss, I loved building things from scratch, and I loved public speaking.

After we got back from Ukraine, I felt like I still had so much more to do, if not with Business Buzz, then for myself. I applied to give a Tedx talk in Buffalo (I was unsuccessful though that did not deter me from applying two more times after, neither of which worked out in the end). I attended a two-week intensive entrepreneurship conference in Toronto (which is not as far and exotic as it seems when you’re a Western New York native). There, I dipped my toes into technical entrepreneurship by working on a MedTech based project with a handful of Canadian teens. I attended angel investor pitches at country clubs to see the behind the scenes. I spoke on stage as a 16-year-old to business executives at the 43N Million Dollar Pitch Competition. I loved the new world I had discovered and couldn’t get enough of it, but as Business Buzz died down and college applications piled up, I found myself slowly having less of a foot in the door.

Once I came to college, I forgot about that part of my life altogether. Instead, it was just a fun fact I could share with my new friends and something that lingered on my resume. That was until my sister gifted me a Cricut machine for Christmas in 2020 with the thought, “maybe you could monetize this?” “Yeah,” I thought, “I probably could.” And so, I did. As someone who has always loved crafts, making things was right up my alley and as a college kid, I could use some extra money. So I threw a couple listings up on Etsy and there ShopEmilyEvelyne was born (fun fact: the name was supposed to just be a place holder while I set up the page but I couldn’t figure out how to change it, so it stuck!).

I began getting a handful of orders in February 2021, and then a couple more in March and April, and then quite a few in May, and it continued on. I never thought of it as the type of entrepreneurship I was accustomed to. Consumer goods were completely different, and making things out of my dorm room wasn’t exactly the customer validation and revenue projections I had spent my high school years learning about. Even after I developed a line for the Op Shop in downtown Rochester and started selling at markets like the Lucky Flea, I hadn’t quite thought of it as an entrepreneurial venture. It wasn’t until very recently that I started to pitch the products as a brand instead of an Etsy shop that I realized I was able to funnel my passion for entrepreneurship into this small business, and that I had been using those skills all along.

Now as I venture into selling my products wholesale and in retail spaces, I am thankful for the resources I had as a teen and the ones I continue to find, like the Ain Center, now. Entrepreneurship isn’t reserved for startups or fancy tech, simply having an entrepreneurial spirit can lend itself to any endeavor, and I’m excited to keep finding out what those look like for me.

Emily Bingham ’23 is a junior at the University of Rochester. She is pursuing a BA in political science and is taking full advantage of the ability to explore classes and interests across many disciplines. She is originally from Buffalo, New York, where she lives with her mom, sister Sara, and two dogs Buster and Moose. She is the owner and founder of ShopEmilyEvelyne, an apparel and accessories brand designed to inspire joy. You can find out more about the brand on Instagram @ShopEmilyEvelyne or on the website, ShopEmilyEvelyne.com.