After winds and rain ravaged her home state of Texas, a University student is using her homemade jewelry to help those in need.
Mass communication junior Devon Sanders has been making and selling unique, handmade jewelry for over a year. Her business started on Facebook and has expanded to Instagram, Etsy and her online store “Devon Sanders Designs.”
Sanders started the business after she discovered how overpriced jewelry was for college students.
“My roommate’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to buy her a necklace, but it was too expensive,” Sanders said. “So, I decided just to make something and then I realized that I could make more than just the one necklace.”
The business became much bigger than Sanders envisioned. She only planned to design jewelry for the summer of 2016 when she began but has continued to sell products into her junior year.
Sanders grew up in Clear Creek, Texas, just outside of Houston. After the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, she and her sister, Delaney, a junior at Baylor University, decided to donate some the profits of DSD to the American Red Cross.
“I started looking for ideas of different things we could do, and I read an article about different organizations that tend to get forgotten during times like this,” Sanders said. She had been to local organizations like the SPCA of Houston before, and felt a local group might personalize the fundraiser. “I thought people might donate more if they knew the organizations were local. I noticed that the day we raised money for our school district, a lot of the donations were from people who’d gone to school there or lived near there.”
Sanders previously raised money through her business for the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child in October 2016. During the Oct. 11 event, she donated 50 percent of her profits to Girls International, but this year, she donated 100 percent of the profits every day for a week.
Starting Aug. 28, Sanders chose one organization to donate to every day for a week. Organizations included the American Red Cross, SPCA of Houston, Houston Food Bank, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Texas Diaper Bank, Coastal Bend Disaster Recovery Group and the Clear Creek Independent School District, her home school district.
“I was hearing that schools [in CCID] were closed down and flooded. My mom is a school teacher so that really worried me,” Sanders said. “I know how much the public schools affect the lives of the kids that live in my area. So, to know those were damaged was really the driving force behind wanting to do something.”
Sanders credits her sister with the idea to donate the profits of DSD.
“We were talking about how [Hurricane Harvey] had affected our family, and how upset we were, especially because we weren’t there to do anything about it,” Sanders said. “Delaney suggested that we do something through DSD, and I said yes.”
Delaney Sanders runs the social media and marketing for Devon Sanders Designs because Sanders says she is no good at it.
“I’m not business savvy,” Sanders said. “I’ve never been business savvy. My sister is the one who always says ‘we need to do this,’ but I never even thought that it would continue this long or become this big at all.”
While Sanders’ mother’s home was not affected, her father’s was flooded. Sanders said because her family is dealing with that tragedy, they were inspired to help other Hurricane Harvey victims.
“I started DSD in Houston over the summer, and the jewelry place that I get materials from is there,” Sanders said. “That was another big factor in wanting to do something to help.”
May’s Beads, where Sanders gets her supplies, was not affected by the flooding, but Sanders said she was worried for a while.
“I have the number of the guys that work there, so I texted them to see if they were okay but they didn’t answer for over a day,” Sanders said. “He’s usually so good about responding so I started to freak out, but I was relieved when he said they were okay and they’re actually open for business.”
During the week-long fundraiser, Sanders raised more than $700 to donate to various organizations.
Sanders said while she’d love to say her jewelry comes from some soul-searching inspiration, her real inspiration was to make stylish, affordable jewelry for college students.
“Everyone thinks it’s like this glamorous process and the reality is that this is my K-Swiss box from the third grade and I keep all my finished products in this,” Sanders said. “I sit and watch Netflix after doing homework and I make jewelry late at night.”
Sanders said her designs usually come from her friends who send her screenshots of things they think are cute.
“I’ll see what materials I can find and see if I can put my own twist on it,” Sanders said. “The whole point of DSD was that it would be low cost jewelry. Having affordable jewelry for people like me who want to look cute and feel good about themselves without spending a ton of money was really important to me.”
Sanders said while she has no long-term plans for the business, she doesn’t have any plans to stop either.
“I’m just going to keep doing this,” Sanders said. “I want to do more trunk shows, or get it into local boutiques, but I also like that it is an online store where anyone can get it.”
