SPOTLIGHT: Class of '26 Student-Run Small Businesses
- Amanda Palmer
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Having a job is very daunting and time-consuming for a student; now, imagine running your own business. Many students already struggle with the balance between work and school, causing many sleepless nights and angry moods. Yet, senior students like Lily Lusk and Kaylee Anderson are the exception; they understand how to create successful businesses while still having active lives inside and outside of GHS.
Kaylee Anderson ('26) is a very crafty person, having many hobbies like hanging out with friends, reading, and her strong involvement in her church. She has an Etsy Shop selling custom stickers, handmade necklaces, and bracelets to the public called Kaylee’s Kreations. Anderson started her business at the age of twelve, when she only sold stickers, and later moved to jewelry.
Her business has evolved over the past five years from her love of bracelet making to now being a real business. Anderson has also made creations within clothing by designing custom t-shirts for her church youth camps and friends' birthday parties. Anderson stated that her favorite creation was “this really cool necklace made out of glass beads about a year ago.” The way Anderson balances school and Kaylee’s Krations is through her philosophy of doing her homework first, believing that her homework is always a priority. But when she has free time, she’ll make some jewelry or update her shop.
Kaylee’s Kreations is very unique because of the idea Anderson has for making jewelry and stickers that haven’t been seen anywhere before by using a lot of glass and metals. Plus, her low prices for products help to create a business for student consumers. Anderson determines the prices of her products by how much time and effort she puts into them, and also by her ability to make multiples. If a product can be made multiple times, then the cost isn’t as high, but if a product is more unique, like her necklace, that she made with unique beads, then the item will cost more due to how special it is.
Over the years, Anderson has thought about turning her business into a future career, yet she believes that it wouldn’t be a realistic career option, believing it’s more of a dream. Kaylee’s main career goal is to be an environmental designer; her plan at the moment is to attend Mount SAC to get her general ED done and then, hopefully, transfer to UC Berkeley, which has an excellent environmental design program.
→ If anyone is interested in more information on Kaylee’s business, please look her up on Instagram: @Kaylee’sKreationsArt
Lily Lusk ('26) is a very resourceful and diligent person, having hobbies like watching TV, hanging out with her friends, and doodling. She is also ASB President, Team Captain of her Field Hockey team, and many other activities. Most importantly, she has a custom banner business on Instagram called BannersByLily, where she gets orders to design unique banners of different types and styles. Lusk stated that her goal for her business is that she “really strives to make everyone have a successful event, and I want everyone to have something special for themselves.” Lusk started her business last May with a slow customer base, but later, after filming a viral video of herself painting a custom banner that received over 1.2 million views, her customer base took off. Before, she mainly got orders once every two weeks; now, she gets more than four orders a week, which has caused her to start shipping banners, which allows her to ship her banners across the U.S.
In the beginning, Lusk was very hesitant about creating her own business, worrying that no one would see the potential in it, but thanks to the advice from her family, friends, and Mrs. Clune, she was able to gain the courage to create her banner business. Mrs. Clune saw the potential in Lusk’s banners when she saw the amount of work and time Lusk put into making banners for ASB events like Best Buddies Prom, giving her confidence to see a future in her artistic skills. The most random banner Lusk had ever painted was for a nine-year-old's birthday party, which was Big Mac themed. She was unsure of what to do, so she designed a banner of French fries for the party.
Something that makes Lusk’s business unique is the affordability of her products and the amount of time she takes to make her products, especially for being only a high schooler. She struggles with the pricing of her products, and she really wants to create a consumer demographic of local people. She sees how other banner businesses charge around one hundred and fifty dollars per banner, knowing that she wouldn’t buy a banner for that price. So she usually charges a flat rate of thirty to thirty-five dollars. Lily has recently decided to up the charge if a customer wants a specific character or needs the banner shipped to them.
Lusk has also never said no to any order, because she wants to move her business forward by being adaptable to customer needs and working on new products. Which means Lusk has painted many other products, such as Senior jeans, and most recently, painting on volleyballs for senior night. When Lusk took the task of painting on volleyballs, she was very nervous about how to paint the balls because of their irregular surface. As she started, she found that she was able to paint on it similarly to a banner and that it was so cool knowing she could do more odd orders like this one, surprising herself.
BannersByLily is a very time-consuming business. In the beginning, Lusk struggled with finding a work and school balance, causing her to live on no sleep. Eventually, she figured out ways to balance all her tasks by becoming faster in her banner-making, saving her around two hours. Her evening schedule allows her to do homework, and then around nine at night, work on a banner, and go to bed around eleven. The most important advice Lusk has for students who are thinking of starting their own business is to “know the order of your priorities as a student!” You need to allow yourself the time to grow your business and be accountable for your school activities and work.
Lusk is interested in designing the Trader Joe's signs for products as a possible side job in college. One of the colleges Lily is interested in attending is the University of San Diego.
Dream sponsorship mentions: With the amount of time Lily spends about twice a week buying painting products at Hobby Lobby, they should sponsor her; she practically lives there. Also, Wet and Wild makeup brushes make excellent paint brushes, so Lusk would love if they were to sponsor her.
→ If anyone is interested in more information on Lily’s business, please look her up on Instagram: @banners_bylily
