Student Entrepreneur Shares Her Story

Photos provided by Lacoda Kiesel Howe

Stickers: We all have them, and we all like them. My friend, Serena Bowman, likes them so much that she made a whole business surrounding them. Between her art and business classes at MHCC, I’ve gotten her to sit down for an interview about it, and give us all a little more insight into the world of stickers.

Advocate: What made you start your sticker business?

Serena: I remember in freshman year of high school that I was drawing little doodles in my notebook and my mom saw me and said “Hey, you can make a business out of that”. I decided that would be a really fun idea, so I worked my butt off during COVID, coming up with custom designs for stickers, making hand-drawn sticker designs until eventually, I got a digital tablet for my birthday.

I’ve worked very, very hard to get where I am today with creating all of my designs and trying to make a name for myself by talking to others and telling them about my art.

Advocate: When did you start drawing?

Serena: I started when I was 4 years old.

I remember I had a very severe infection in my kidneys and I was very challenged and slow mentally until the surgery fixed my kidneys and I was healed. I wasn’t even drawing very well because of everything at the time, but I started slowly catching up. I turned 5 and the first thing I ever drew was rain. I drew all the raindrops sideways. My mom asked why the rain was sideways and I said it’s windy outside.

So, I wanted that to be my representation of my business, from where I started and from where I am right now. That’s why my brand is called RiniRainShine, because rain was the very first thing I ever drew and my nickname growing up was Rini.

I also wanted to imply positivity and that’s why I make things cute and happy. There’s a lot of sad things in the world and if I can make someone happy, then I’m happy.

Advocate: What are your goals and plans for RiniRainShine?

Serena: Each dollar that I make out of my sticker business I am going to either put back into the business, put towards making more products, to support myself, or to fund my future education. I would love to learn how to do animation and character design. I want to be a director someday. If I can make people happy with my art, then it’s worth it, whether it’s animations, stickers, or art prints. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Advocate: What advice would you give someone who wants to make a business out of their art, or just get into art, in general?

Serena: If you were very serious about making a sticker business, or any type of art business, I would recommend that you do a lot of research.

Save up lots of money and remember it’s a lot harder than you would think it is. It’s not just handing out stickers and getting money for them. It’s calculations like, how much profit are you making? How many stickers are you buying compared to how many you’re selling? How much money are you actually making per sticker?

Putting back what you make into the business is the simplest way to make more profit. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s so worth it. It’s super fun 🙂

Advocate: How can people buy your stickers?

Serena: I actually carry them around at school, so if you see me you can buy one. If you don’t see me, I have a business instagram account you can message me through (@rini_rainshine) and I am currently in the process of setting up an Etsy store!