We all know that college can be tough. It can be hard to find a balance between studying, going out with friends, being involved in clubs or sports and some of us even have part-time jobs. Everyone is just trying to figure it out.
For Sarajane Evans, President of the sorority Tri Delta and a senior here at FGCU, she has a lot more than just schoolwork and her sorority. She just recently opened up a storefront for her business, Sunny & Southern.
Sunny & Southern is a monogram store where you can personalize everything from t-shirts to travel mugs to car decals and much more.
Evans started her business freshman year here at Florida Gulf Coast University. She first started off her business as an Etsy shop, but as it grew it called for more and more space and more staff members, which led to the grand opening of her store on Jan. 13. Getting her own storefront was a process, though. She signed her lease back in August and has since made major restorations to make her store what it is today.
She has always been a very crafty person and in high school she taught herself how to sew and she even made her own prom dress. So when she started her freshman year of college she decided to do something with her talent and that’s when she started Sunny & Southern.
She started out still making her own clothing and doing personalized items, but as orders grew and monogramming became more popular, she realized she could not keep up with the demand unless she started ordering wholesale. Evans often gets asked the question; with your business, your schoolwork and being the president of the sorority Tri Delta, how do you find the time to balance it all?
“In the past four years I have made sacrifices, some would say my college experience, to be where I am today. But I think, in other words, I have just made a unique one.”
Evans explains that she has gotten a lot of support from her family, friends and from her sorority sisters. She is not only a local store, she does ship her merchandise out as well, her typical customers being from the southern part of the United States. Evans also said what she struggles with most while trying to juggle everything.
“Definitely time management and not letting all the little things bother you and prioritizing what is really important.” For the future, Evans plans to stay around the area for a while with her business after she graduates in December.
She has no plans that are set in stone for her business, but she plans to stick with Sunny & Southern as it grows and develops more and more as time progresses.