During high school, it’s common for students to get part-time jobs for extra income. Instead of getting a fast-food or retail job, some students at Santa Fe use their talents to make their own business, going through the process of promoting and profiting from their skills.
Senior Yissele Martinez attends Francis Tuttle for esthetics, where she has enhanced her skills.
“I initially started off by just doing eyebrows in my class on other people, then I began doing my friends after I realized I was good at it,” Martinez said.
To promote her work, Martinez has an Instagram account where she began getting traction and paying clients.
Trying a different approach, Martinez found another way to provide outside of a salon. Aside from doing eyebrows, she also provides facials, waxing, lash lifts, tints and more. She takes clients ranging from classmates to strangers who come across her work.
“I started doing this thing called ‘drive by eyebrows’, where I drive to people’s homes and set my stuff up there and get to work,” Martinez said.
After high school, Martinez plans to continue her esthetics route. She is going to college for nursing to become a medical esthetician.
Similar to Martinez, sophomore Onima Haque is also going down the esthetic route.
“I learned to provide my custom press-on services by already having artistic skills and applying them to a smaller canvas, such as nails,” Haque said.
Haque is a part of DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), where she learned how to manage a small business. She used that experience to create her own press-on business, making custom nails.
“As [of] right now, I’m only selling custom press-ons, but I would love to try out acrylics,” Haque said. “I also make and sell other crafts such as jewelry and artwork, but it’s not as established as my nails.”
Personal experiences at nail salons led Haque to pursue her small business.
“At the salon, my end result looked nothing like my inspiration; they even tried to draw on the charms after claiming to have them,” Haque said. “I had the most basic nail set ever for a whopping price of $80. Let’s just say that was my very first and last day getting my nails done professionally, but it revealed a new passion.”
Her journey started with fixing mishaps and applying charms to her friends´ nails, and led to making press-ons. Alongside nails, she also makes jewelry and artwork, and wants to expand into acrylic in the future.
“After high school, being a nail technician career-wise is a possible side hustle for me, as I wish to major in something in either the business, finance, or law fields,” she said.
Through a different lens, senior Austin Rhymes does photography in and outside of school.
Starting from his brother’s camera, Rhymes learned to operate and enhance his passion for photography.
“It was something I wanted to try for a while, then he let me borrow his camera, and it became a huge passion for me,” Rhymes said. “It was like love at first sight.”
He expands into a wider variety of photography, as well as traditional sports photography.
“I do all kinds of photography,” Rhymes said. “For example, I mostly do sports, but I love doing theatre because I love being in shows, so I get to watch shows while also doing photos.”
Rhymes is unsure if he will continue photography after high school or expand further.
“I don’t know if I will stick with mainly photography outside of high school, but I will pursue more of film and making movies because that’s something I’ve started to like a lot, but I will always stick with my photography,” Rhymes said.
Aside from esthetics and visual arts, Megan Morris makes a business out of sewing, hemming and more.
“I began sewing around 9-years-old when I made my first quilt and have just continued ever since,” Morris said. “I taught myself how to hem my own clothes, and that translated into my work today.”
Starting in her freshman year, Morris learned skills along the way to enhance her work.
“I had gotten more experience with hemming specifically, and that’s when I decided I could turn it into a business,” she said. “I also knew I could make money off of this with the number of people asking for hemming.”
Morris mainly makes quilts, stuffed animals, makeup/pencil pouches, keychains, oven mitts, digital camera cases and much more.
“I don’t necessarily limit myself to a specific product; I just make whatever people are asking for as well,” Morris said. “I do all kinds of clothes, from sweats to formal dresses. It truly varies, and I honestly get asked to do all kinds of sometimes weird and unique things.”
After high school, Morris wants to continue her business, but she wants to keep it for friends and family as a side business.
Although Morris already supplies multiple different types of services, she wants to expand her skills.
“I plan to get more into embroidery, so I can add that to my list of skills I can offer people with the products I make,” Morris said.
Using talents for businesses can be beneficial in numerous ways, as it can allow students to make an income, practice business skills or just continue their passions.
