We founded Everand® as sisters who also happen to be moms. And on this Mother’s Day, we want to share the story of another female who is a vital part of EVERAND--the 13-year-old who makes our hugely popular bracelet stacks.
As moms, we want our kids to see the things we value when it comes to what we do: our work ethic, our creativity, our problem solving, our purpose. But as moms we’re also so inspired by kids who are already doing those things. Makayla is one of those awesome young entrepreneurs. This is her story.
In December 2017, Makayla and her sister Madilynn (then ages 11 and 13, respectively) made their first bracelets from some beads that their mom had ordered online as a way to keep them busy over the winter holiday break. The sisters came up with their first pattern: a beautiful rainbow assortment now known as the OG collection. They initially just made them for their friends. Then a friend of their mom’s wanted to buy some.
The girls were reluctant to charge her for them, but she insisted. “Give me a price and I’ll buy 6 from you!” The girls got a crash-course in figuring out product profitability, came up with their price, and the rest is history. Madilynn decided she was happy leaving the beading to Makayla, who loved to create new patterns and bracelet combinations daily and was motivated by the income she was able to earn on her own. Jenny had been close with Makayla and her family for years, and when Makayla started making bracelets, Jenny joined the group of fans who bought her sets.
A big part of the EVERAND story is supporting women who are doing good things. We were very inspired by Makayla: It felt so unique to see someone young work so hard at something and persist for such a long period of time. And she was excited by our work with refugee women, who sew all of our products. So we came up with the idea to collaborate and start creating bracelet stacks that pair with each of our textile collections.
Each set comes with a one-of-a-kind drawstring jewelry case hand sewn by a refugee woman making her own way--and money--as she navigates her new life in Chicago. Our first Indigo bracelet collection was an immediate success: We sold out of the 45 sets that were made for our preview party on the first night. And Makayla’s tenacity was evident from the start--she went home that night at 9pm after the launch and made more sets to sell the next day!
Last summer she spent countless hours making over 500 bracelets for Everand’s new collections. In October 2019, we worked with Makayla to host her first beading workshop at the RefugeeOne sewing studio as a way to help fuel her creativity and drive and develop leadership skills. And in the midst of all this, she is successfully running her own instabusiness @mcbeadz where she creates custom bracelets for her dedicated following of customers.
This May, in honor of our outstanding teen partner, we will donate $5 from the purchase of every Raw Indigo Bracelet Stack to GirlForward - the first and only organization dedicated to addressing the specific barriers faced by girls grades 9-12 who are refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers.
At Everand, we truly believe that when women support each other, incredible things happen.