Written by Vinay Ranganathan, Photos courtesy of Leila Scott
Leila Scott is a fourth year writing student at SCAD and manages her own small business. Scott owns By The Wings, a jewelry business where she works with different materials such as polymer clay, metal and beads in order to make earrings, clips and other accessories.
Scott didn’t expect her business to be where it is now. “It first started out as a side hustle, and I never really thought it would grow into anything [when] I started in December of 2019 during winter break,” Scott said. “Starting during that time was really a blessing because people were looking for holiday gifts so it gave me great momentum to start out with.”
Scott now enjoys her business and the different aspects that come with it. “I love the creative freedom and it’s completely different from anything I do with school,” Scott said. “I never found a medium — other than writing — that I felt like I was good at using. [Now], being able to see other people wearing my jewelry brings me so much joy,” Scott said.
Still, managing a business is no easy feat, and Scott has encountered some challenges while selling her jewelry. “I work two jobs and I’m a full- time student, so owning a small businesses isn’t always easy to manage,” Scott said. “Also, being a small business is difficult in general. You have a lot of bigger companies that you have to compete with. But I’ve got my own thing going on, and I think handmade products are becoming more popular.”
“Marketing yourself is also hard because you have to distinguish yourself from what’s out in the Etsy, Instagram and Pinterest world,” Scott explained. On top of that, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her business too. “COVID initially affected my business’ traffic. Since a lot of people were unemployed it almost made me unemployed,” Scott said.
Scott has always based her jewelry shop out of her home, so that was not new to her. She did, however, initially struggle with the isolation that came with quarantining. Despite that, she was able to overcome her creative hurdles. “Those first few months were really slow and I was definitely in an isolation funk so the work I was producing wasn’t my favorite,” Scott said. “But that rut is over, and it definitely gives as much as you do, so you have to be consistent.”
Having a small business is challenging, especially for a busy student like Scott, but that doesn’t discourage her. She doesn’t think it should discourage others either. “Sometimes it seems like your work isn’t paying off but these things take time. Keep going and be loyal to your brand as it’s an extension of you,” Scott said.
