COMMUNITY STORIES: TESSA HOLLANDER
I own Tailor-Made by Tessa, my business of custom painted shoes. During the beginning stages of growing my business, I would design and paint shoes for family and friends in Lynden. I started fairly small, but soon was given some amazing opportunities to grow my business.
A cross-branding deal with a local bank in my town during my first year gave me a promotional video; they also utilized my shoes as the prize for a young account holder's raffle. A few months later, I traveled to New York Fashion Week to monogram shoes for an event held by an Australian shoe company for influencers. I continued this partnership, monogramming for the same company at their grand opening in one of Washington’s most popular malls. All of these gave me an immense amount of experience and exposure for my business.
I enrolled at Marquette University as a Civil Engineer about 2 years ago. Originally wanting to do Architecture, I decided to pursue Civil Engineering as my career because of the range of opportunities it offers after graduation.
I participate in Marquette’s D1 athletic program as a Javelin thrower and have competed in the Big East conference. The built-in community that a team provides makes taking the step to travel far from home much easier. I found a way to intertwine my business and Track by painting a pair of my Javelin Spikes, something I plan to showcase at each meet I attend.
I knew it was an organization I wanted to be a part of. Since then, I’ve had only wonderful experiences with Student-Made! This space is similar to the built-in community I was joining with Track; after moving so far from home, the opportunity to join a community of artists brings a wave of comfort.
I am very excited to be a part of something connected to other campuses across the nation. I believe getting involved in this organization will and already has had a great impact on my life and business. I will continue to learn from other creators across my campus and other campuses because of how Student-Made has connected me.
And telling them the hardships that I have had to navigate along the way. Overall, I am always looking to connect with people, whether it be other creators or clients.
