Expressions had the opportunity to talk with Taina Ramirez. A teen entrepreneur who started her own jewelry business at 15 years old. Tai will be a sophomore at Walter Payton High School. She shared with us her journey on how she started selling her jewelry and gave us a sneak peek at some of her creations, here’s what she had to say!
Tell us a little about you:
Taina has always been interested in music, art, being creative, and raising awareness on issues that are currently going on in the world. Taina even played in a band for some time. Taina loves using her creative touch on bringing joy to people and using her passion to raise funds for organizations she cares for.
How did you get into creating jewelry?
It all started when she would go to school wearing funky earrings and interesting necklaces and people would ask where she bought them. Once her peers knew she created her own jewelry she became known as the girl with cool jewelry and her classmates would guess what new jewelry she’d wear the next day. This gave her the idea to start selling her own jewelry.
How long have you been making jewelry?
Taina has been making jewelry for over a year but she only started selling her jewelry a few months ago. At school during her free periods and art classes, she’d paint people’s clothes and shoes for them and people would ask her what else she was able to do. She then started creating her earring to show and sell to her friends. But again, this is rooted in her passion for art and creativity which she has had for years.
Are there any brands that inspire you? If not what does?
There aren’t any brands that inspire her but artists do. Especially Indi artists who put off vibes that she can relate to, like Melanie Martinez. She looks for the vibes and looks that they put out. In addition to artists, Taina always likes to use her voice to raise awareness on equal rights for women, the LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter, and more. These issues inspire her to create work that is able to support those organizations by raising funds for them.
Where do you see your business going?
Right now her goal is to grow it and let it be what it is. There aren’t many expectations currently for her jewelry business though she does want to finish setting up her Etsy site to sell her jewelry and hopefully give her work more exposure. This will give her an opportunity to increase her donations to the charities she so deeply cares for.
We thank Taina for joining us today and sharing with us her beautiful jewelry. It’s amazing to see teens using their passion to make a difference in their community. Make sure to check out Taina on her Instagram @tai.x.0 and check out her jewelry here. Make sure to tune in next week for our next IG Live!