Psychology sophomore Mackenzie Paradis started her small jewelry business, Kenzie’s Trends, during her senior year of high school. She wanted to make matching necklaces for a spring break trip with her friends, who liked the jewelry so much that they encouraged her to start a business.
Paradis began selling beaded bracelets with people’s names for $5 at school, then moved to selling on Instagram, Depop and eventually Etsy. She also expanded her services to create different types of rings, anklets, phone charms and custom orders.
Over the past three years, her Instagram business account gained nearly 1,800 followers. According to Paradis, she’s sold over 450 orders on Instagram and Etsy and has had orders from 40 states as well as Australia and Canada.
“It’s insane. One of the people that has bought from me literally was right above my dorm last year, and she just came downstairs,” Paradis said.
Most of Paradis’ jewelry follows a certain theme. She said she draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including the Dream SMP, a Minecraft survival world run by a group of content creators on YouTube.
Paradis has found that while people may originally have been drawn to her Dream SMP-inspired jewelry, many of them continue to purchase other jewelry from her.
“I started making necklaces inspired by each of the creators in the Dream SMP, which is insane that that’s what enabled me to be where I am, because I have sold a lot of that kind of necklace,” she said.
Kenzie’s Trends is Paradis’ only job, and she spends a significant amount of time on it. She once timed herself to see how long it would take her to make 20 necklace orders and ended up spending 13 hours on the orders between two days. She also dedicates time to designing new jewelry and marketing her business on Instagram and TikTok.
While it can be time-consuming, Paradis said her business has given her the opportunity to travel more and earn money doing something she enjoys.
“This is my only source of income, and it’s enabled me to do so much. I’ve been visiting my sister a lot who lives far away now in [Los Angeles]…And it’s good because I love making jewelry, so even though it is my job, it doesn’t feel like a job,” Paradis said.
While she’s been able to manage her schedule so far, Paradis expressed concern for next fall, when she will be busy applying to law school.
“I am anxious to see how I’m going to balance it whenever I have a harder workload…It’s just important for me to remember that I do need to study and to not spend all my time doing Kenzie’s Trends,” she said.
Paradis said seeing her work improve with time has given her confidence in creating what she wants.
“My quality has gotten better, and I feel more okay to be creative because at first I wanted to do only trendy things, but I’ve made like small jewelry business friends, and they do insane stuff,” Paradis said. “So they’ve inspired me to also create like crazy things that I never would have before…And it’s amazing that [my followers] support me not only for the jewelry, but me as a person.”
Sarena Treaster frequently purchases from small businesses on Etsy. She learned about Kenzie’s Trends in 2021 through TikTok and has ordered around 20 necklaces from Paradis, who ships her orders to Treaster in Pennsylvania.
Treaster’s first orders included fandom necklaces, which she thinks is a unique way of displaying her interests in a subtle way.
“It’s not something that screams, ‘oh hey, I watch this’ – it’s very subtle, which is nice,” she said.
Treaster enjoys the different charms and chains Paradis uses in her jewelry. She said she’s ordered a variety of necklaces from Kenzie’s Trends, including two from a Greek God-inspired line. Her favorite, a “Dark Hermes” necklace, is made of safety pins and has a more “alternative” look.
For the past year, Treaster has seen Kenzie’s Trends grow in popularity.
“It’s honestly really cool that her business has grown this much…When I first got into her small business, it was still relatively smaller, so to see it blow up in popularity was really nice,” Treaster said.
Yasmin Sanchez runs MadeByYazzy, a small handmade jewelry business based in Chicago, Illinois. For the past year, Sanchez has sold Dream SMP and anime-inspired jewelry through her online business.
Sanchez learned about Paradis through Etsy, and after following her on Instagram, the two became friends. Sanchez said she’s seen the effort Paradis puts into her business and believes customers can also see it.
“I love that [Paradis] puts so much love and hard work into her business and in the pieces that she makes, and you can tell that nothing but love and care goes into them,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez believes the jewelry from Kenzie’s Trends is especially unique, and the styles of Paradis’ designs are what make her business stand out from others.
“You can’t really find anything like her work anywhere else,” she said.
