High school students participate in all sorts of activities outside of school; there are those who are in sports, some are in theater, others play a musical instrument. Junior Ashley Amani’s extracurriculars consist of track and her business – “The Headband Studio” which she owns with her mother. 

The pandemic gave many free time and room to pursue new interests and hobbies. There were quite a few people who even started their own business during the pandemic which included Amani and her mother. 

“I really liked scrunchies and I was telling my mom that we should make some, and then we expanded to headbands because we use them everyday of our lives,” Amani said. 

It is not an easy task to build a business while at the same time balancing school and extracurricular activities, that’s why not just anyone has the ability to start a business.

“I’ve learned time management skills because I have to manage my school life, working out for track, and then managing the business,” Amani said. “[I’ve learned] to be patient with myself because sometimes things don’t go right, like the sewing machine breaks and you have to just work through it.”

There is a huge amount of behind the scenes work business owners have to put into their company that is never shown. There are also many misconceptions people have about small business and what it takes to build one.

“I feel like a lot of people think it’s really easy and they think it takes like five minutes but in reality it takes a good hour to make a product,” Amani said. 

For Amani “The Headband Studio” is more than just a way for her to make money, it is a creative outlet, a creative process  and a way for her to express herself.

“I love picking out the patterns for the products, it’s just so fun seeing everything come together,” Amani said. “I wanted to express my creativity in the things I make and have other people enjoy it.”

“The Headband Studio” has grown a lot throughout the past couple of years gaining more and more attraction on Etsy, and now Amani and her mother are planning on expanding their company into something bigger.

“We are working on opening our own website so we can [expand what we sell],” Amani said.

If a business sells their products on a wholesale level that means they are making products for other companies to buy so they can sell those products in their own store. This benefits both the business making the product and the one that is selling the product.

“We are gonna start registering our name so we can sell wholesale,” Amani said.

Overall, “The Headband Studio” is more than just a way for Amani to make money. It is something she and her mom can bond over, it is a creative outlet, and has taught Amani many lessons she can apply to other areas of her life.