For as long as she can remember, Emmanuel College senior Jamie Siracusa wanted to run a business. She spent her younger years coming up with ideas for businesses and making up “mini-businesses” for fun. It was after her senior year in high school on a trip to Old Orchard Beach that Siracusa had a groundbreaking idea for a business that she couldn’t ignore.
Siracusa launched that dream in March 2016, her junior year of college. She spent the next months getting the business up and running, all while balancing her dream business with the rest of her life.
Siracusa is not alone in her business ventures. Emmanuel College freshman Uzoma Okebalama, seniors Matt Baker and Richard Griffin were also inspired to start businesses once they reached college. Okebalama wanted to change the fashion industry while Baker and Griffin took their hobby and monetized it.
Some students get part time jobs in college to make money, others start their own businesses. Whether they do so out of passion or necessity, these business can begin small and grow into something much greater. When these businesses do grow, students have to balance managing the business with their classes and other obligations such as jobs, sports, clubs, and friends. Finding that balance between growing a business and other school related obligations creates a successful business while still in college.
In the Emmanuel College Student Handbook, there are two sections concerning student businesses on campus. The first lists solicitation “without the written permission of the Dean of Students, Associate Dean/Director of Student Activities, Director of Residence Life or designee” as a breach of the student Code of Conduct. Here, solicitation refers to a request for money in exchange for a service.
The second sections goes into detail about solicitation in the residence buildings specifically. It outlines that businesses such as “babysitting/child care services, sales, haircutting, etc.” cannot be operated out of the residence hall. It also dissuades students from using their room numbers in advertisements for the business. Students are also not allowed to advertise their business in the residence halls.
“Operating a business out of the residence hall is different than starting a business. You could start a business, a clothing business for example, we’ve had students do that, and they design the clothes and they sell them through a website. That’s different than cutting hair in your room in the residence halls. So the prohibition against businesses in the residence halls isn’t against starting them, it’s against operating them out of the residence halls,” said Dr. Patricia Rissmeyer, Dean of Students.
The purpose of these prohibitions, she explained, was to keep student facilities at the college operating for their intended purposes. This means, for example, that a student with a cupcake business cannot reserve the kitchen in the St. Joe’s Basement all day in order to make their cupcakes, or use the mailroom to send out their orders.
“There is somewhat of a line there as far as what we would support with our own facilities and our own resources,” said Rissmeyer.
Students get around the issue of operating a business out of the residence halls by hosting their businesses online. Siracusa, Okebalama, Baker, and Griffin all use websites and Facebook groups as a platform to sell their product.
Siracusa started Quote Handbags, Apparel, and Accessories in the summer 2013. Since then it has evolved into the business it is today. Q, as Siracusa calls her business, offers t-shirts, canvas bags, and her signature “Quote Tote,” all of which feature inspiring quotes from the Bible others such as “make choices that liberate you” and “choose kindness & laugh often.” There is also an option for customizable quotes.
“As a Christian company our mission is to ultimately spread the word and love of God,” said Siracusa.
Baker and Griffin began “Monster Meats,” their beef jerky business, in 2015 after Baker got a dehydrator for his birthday. To date, they have made over 30 flavors of jerky that they sell through their Facebook group, “Rich and Matt’s Monster Meats.”
“We let our friends try it, we shared it with people. At first we just liked hanging out and eating it but people seemed to like it a lot. So we made more,” said Griffin. From there, “Monster Meats” has grown from a hobby to a business. Their small specialized batches allow them to save money on meat because, if a batch doesn’t taste as good as they thought, they don’t have too much leftover product.
Okebalama started Urban Zoo, a clothing company, in her senior year of high school.
“I was irritated by how quality fashion had to be expensive and often meaningless to the vast majority of people and couldn’t be used as a means to better those that helped to create the product, but yet still remain fairly priced and of a high quality,” she said.
All four students run their businesses during the semester, and have differing opinions about balancing the two.
“The jerky takes time to dry out, so we just put it in the dehydrator and wait for the magic to happen,” said Baker. They have the dehydrator in their City View apartment, which is housing offered through Emmanuel College.
“To be honest, I have not found the perfect balance yet. I really have not given Q the full attention I would like to, because of my first priority of schoolwork,” said Siracusa.
“That’s actually a funny question. I don’t know if there truly can be a balance. Both require the same amount of energy,” said Okebalama.
Griffin and Baker credit their growing success to their friends love of meat. Without them, “Monster Meats” would not have an audience. So far, their friends and family are their only customers, but as the business grows, they hope to attract more attention outside of this circle.
“We aren’t at the point where we’d consider ourselves successful but our faithful Urban Zoo community will definitely be the reason why we fail or succeed,” said Okebalama.
All four students hope to continue their businesses after graduation, although Griffin and Baker are more unsure about how long they will continue.
“It’s too soon to say,” said Baker. With five months until graduation, it’s not unusual for senior entrepreneurs to not know if they will continue their college era start up.
“I will definitely still be pushing Urban Zoo after graduation. Might even show up on an Urban Zoo cap and gown,” said Okebalama.
“When I graduate I would like to pursue Q with full force and engage in many more realms within the business. I would like to do more advertising, shows, partnerships and of course service to others within the business,” said Siracusa.
2010 alumna Asha Isabella is one entrepreneur who continued her business after college. At Emmanuel, she designed clothing, some of which was used in a fashion show hosted at Emmanuel. She continued designing after college, putting out two collections.
Isabella designed clothing for retail clients and customers such as the rapper Flo Rida for whom she designed spike studded Supras, a brand of sneakers.
After some time, Isabella says she lost her inspiration, focus, and clarity in designing. She experienced a “quarter life crisis,” and has been working on a novel ever since.
Isabella was not available for comment.
Looking towards their futures, Okebalama and Siracusa have the highest hopes for their businesses.
“I want Urban Zoo to go where all entrepreneurs hope their businesses will go. I want to see my products on the community around me and the world. I want the name Urban Zoo to inspire many and bring comfort to some. I don’t just want money from selling shirts. I want the being of my soul to be remembered in an idea that’s benefits far surpassed my own needs,” said Okebalama.
“Truly I hope to see the business have a huge impact on people and evolve and change over time. Q is nowhere near where I want it to be. New ideas come into my head everyday and I hope to make a large impact and have something stick. I hope to develop a larger product line, expand my online platform, enter the retail market, and most importantly create an attached long-lasting ministry to the business,” said Siracusa.
Abbi Matheson 