Emily West Designs — 2008 - 2015

In my senior year at Bowling Green State University, and while planning my wedding, I seized an opportunity to start a small business. While buying supplies and designing accessories for my own wedding, I noticed a gap in the newly budding Etsy market.

With $200 of tips saved from scooping ice-cream, I opened an online store, and within a year I had expanded to storefront in Waterville, Ohio and a small location at the Franklin Park Mall in Toledo, Ohio.

In 2011 I broke into the top 500 Etsy businesses by sales volume.

I designed custom wedding accessories for local clients, directed online sales, staffed two physical stores, and managed 10 employees.