During two major moments full of isolation and boredom—the COVID-19 quarantine and the November union strike—one student used her passion, creativity and drive to make money and create something fruitful out of it all.
At the age of 17, junior Brenda Hernandez Rangel already has two businesses under her management. Her first business, called Pink Limonada, sells handmade crochet pieces, while her second is a nail business called Nails By Brenda PDX.
“The isolation of the pandemic and the strike made me really bored, and I think people get the most creativity when they are bored,” she said.
The nail business is her most recent start-up, beginning in November. Hernandez Rangel had first started learning how to do nails on herself, explaining how in the beginning they weren’t the best.
“But since I was going to do it on other people, I took it more seriously and looked at a lot of videos,” she said.
Junior Alina Singharaj has had her nails done by her twice and loved the end result both times, with the designs coming out just as she had imagined. Learning how to do nails takes lots of time and practice, and Singharaj was happy to take part in helping Hernandez Rangel with this task.
“She practices each day on a hand mannequin, before she started her nails business she wanted to practice on someone’s real hands before officially opening, and I happily took part in that,” she said.
Hernandez Rangel learned through this process to keep pushing through challenges, because in the end, it would be worth it. As she was starting up her newly founded nail business, she ran into the issue of where she would do her clients’ nails. She didn’t have a space dedicated to doing nails at first, so she had to use her grandma’s room.
“When I didn’t have a space to do nails, I was insecure of taking customers because I was borrowing my grandma’s room and that held me back from accepting more clients,” she said.
However, she mentioned how her dad is currently helping build her a nail room where she can have more private appointments with clients. Her parents are a part of the reason she was inspired to create both of her businesses.
“Since my parents are immigrants, they’ve always taught me that being successful is a good reason to be in the US, so I’ve always tried to make money and make them proud,” she said.
The ability Hernandez Rangel has to give back to the customer is another reason both of these businesses are important to her. Within her nail business, she describes how being able to make women feel pretty is a fulfilling feeling. With her crochet business, it makes her happy to see romantic partners buy her products for each other, making someone else happy in turn.
Junior Betty Fernandez has bought multiple items from the crochet business, describing Hernandez Rangel as flexible and a great person to purchase from.
“I loved what I bought because you can tell how much work she put into them,” Feranandez said.
Hernandez Rangel, for the time being, plans to continue both businesses, growing her passion for art and putting into practice her learned skill of patience, whether it be practicing her nail art everyday until it comes out the way she wants it or crocheting 20 last-minute roses for an order.
