These Gen Z entrepreneurs offer expert advice on how to start a business while in school. From explaining how to get started, design, market, and stay organized, these business owners offer their best tips for success.
Tamara Avinami And Sophia Hayoun’s Bibikinis
Two college students, Tamara Avinami and Sophia Hayoun, are the proud owners of their business, Bibikinis.
Currently, they offer nine trendy products, all swimwear-related, plus a matching top and shorts set.
So far, Bibikini’s has one collection called “BiBi on the Beach,” but they are just getting started.
Recently, the brand upgraded to offer international shipping as orders have begun to increase.
About The Impressive Bibikinis Entrepreneurs
Avinami, age 21, is a student at the University of Florida in her junior year. But she’s far from the typical college student. Besides taking classes for her Media Production, Management, and Technology major, she posts on her YouTube channel @TamaraAvinami, which has over 174,000 subscribers.
Hayoun is a 21-year-old junior at Florida Atlantic University studying Hospitality and Event Management. The Gen Z business owner will soon begin working at fashion trade show events for brands like Magic Miami, Dallas Apparel Show, Magic LV, and more.
The co-founders met when they competed in rhythmic gymnastics on opposing teams for many years when they were younger. They eventually ended up competing together on the same team and became best friends. Their training and dedication to gymnastics instilled in both of them the motivation and passion to achieve their goals despite challenges and a mindset that helped them to create Bibikinis.
How They Find Work-Life Balance
Avinami explained how she and Hayoun were able to balance a chaotically busy student life with being business owners.
“So luckily for us, we’re both online, all of our classes are virtual, so I do live on campus, but it’s a lot easier to do things flexibly because we both work on our own schedules, so I think that helps a lot,” said Avinami. “But we also have good time management skills, and we’re good at prioritizing both things, so I think that makes it easier for us.”
Bibikinis was first established in June 2023, and both founders began prioritizing the business.
“When we made that decision, we started having meetings at least twice a week, and it started going,” said Avinami. “Obviously, of course, we wanna grow as big as possible.”
How Their Designs Become Products
When it comes to the design process, Hayoun leads with sketching and idea forming.
“I do most of the designs. And so I usually design a collection about six to eight months before it’s actually produced. Normally, I have some ideas floating around in my head, and I’ll sketch them down, and I’ll end up coming up with ideas and mixing those ideas with inspiration from Pinterest and other clothing designs,” said Hayoun. “And then after that, a collection will usually fall into place, and then we send it into sampling.”
Above shows the digital sketches for Bibikini’s first collection: “BiBi on the Beach,” which is Bibikini’s first collection, released in June of this year.
Hayoun went over the steps post design, and how her and Avinami are extremely involved despite a distant manufacturer.
“We send it into sampling and then after a few months, we get it back, we make some tweaks if needed. And then after that, when everything is perfected, we send it into production,” Hayoun said. “And I would say we’re pretty involved in most of the steps. It’s just kind of hard because our manufacturer is in South America, so everything has to be through Facetime or text, but we try to stay as involved as we can.”
Marketing Techniques And Future Goals
Avinami brought up some short-term goals for their business that will skyrocket their brand.
“Since we live in Miami, we definitely wanna be able to do stuff with swim week, which is in the summer. That would be cool,” said the YouTuber. “We’ve had some pop-ups, but we definitely wanna do more events of some sort and just create a name for ourselves, I guess. Like, we wanna be more well known.”
When it comes to marketing, both Avinami and Hayoun are in charge of advertising their designs.
“We have a TikTok account, an Instagram, and then on our own social media as well we also post about it. But as of right now, it’s just us running everything,” Avinami said. “We also post on Pinterest. We have some campaigns on there, but right now, we’re just trying everything out.”
Above is behind-the-scenes footage of Bibikini’s first pop-up shop, where the founders showcased their designs in Miami, Florida.
Avinami gushed when recounting her memories from Bibikinis‘ launch day, especially since it had been delayed due to manufacturing issues.
“When it finally came down to the day that we were launching, we were so excited,” Avinami said. “And then the moment we actually clicked to make the website live, it was the best feeling.”
Lena Bodenhamer’s Romontio
Lena Bodenhamer is just 22 years old. She’s a first-year law student at Fordham studying fashion law, graduating from Emory last spring. She started her fashion line, Romontio, last year, at the start of her senior year of undergrad.
About Romontio’s Dedicated Founder
Romontio is named after Bodenhamer’s mother’s maiden name, who’s been an inspiration to the designer. Romontio sells a variety of clothing: dainty, lace mini skirts, matching skirt and top sets, intricate beaded designs, and more.
The student has always wanted to connect girls around her to sustainably made clothes that they love, so she started her own brand.
Bodenhamer has been interested in fashion since she was little, growing up sewing, making clothes, and drawing.
While she decided not to attend a fashion school, Bodenhamer made sure to get work experience in the fashion industry. She’s done fashion internships, such as working in New York during the summer of her junior year.
Ultimately, Bodenhamer is grateful to see Romontio grow and promote her values of sustainability and slow fashion.
However, while living in Atlanta for university, Bodenhamer felt she lacked local opportunities within the fashion industry. She brought up this struggle to a friend and got a life-changing answer.
“I was kinda telling one of my friends about that, and she was like, if you feel like there’s not too many opportunities, just work to make your own. And I was like, that’s such good advice,” said the law student. “So that’s kinda how it got started. I was like, how can I just kind of make this into something that I can do at school?”
How Romontio Started
Before sewing her original designs, Bodenhamer started from smaller beginnings.
“I started with upcycling stuff and sourcing some vintage stuff,” said the twenty-two-year-old. “Because I also love vintage clothes.”
Bodenhamer started her brand entirely by herself, with very limited resources.
“I would do photoshoots with my friends at college in my apartment, and I would hang up a sheet,” said Bodenhamer. “There’s definitely a quality aspect that I lacked in the beginning because I was just hand-making these things.”
The fashion designer recalled the early pieces that she would sell while still perfecting her manufacturing process.
“This was when lace was really trendy. A lot of girls in my school very micro trend based. Like as consumers they wanted the most current styles. And so when I would go thrifting in Atlanta I would just notice so many discarded lace pieces,” Bodenhamer said. “I would take pieces where the lining was damaged, or there was a stain, and I would upcycle that lace. And that was not very streamline, I’m gonna be so honest.”
How She Manages Law School While Running A Business
Bodenhamer shared her advice on balancing her busy and growing fashion line with classes.
“During undergrad, I was really lucky. When I started, it was the beginning of my senior year, so over the spring, I think I had two classes, like it was so fake. So that was great because I had a lot of time to dedicate towards it,” said Bodenhamer. “And since then, it’s grown, so it’s gotten busier. And also being a law student now is a lot more intensive, so there’s definitely less time. But it’s made me a lot more focused on how to allocate that time.”
The law student still manufactures and designs her own products and explains step by step how her products are produced.
“I’ll start with a sketch, sometimes I’ll come up with it, other times I’ll do research on what look I wanna create, and then I’ll make a pattern, which I’m kinda bad at, but I’m getting better. I’ve been sourcing deadstock fabric, which is like fabric that would be discarded, so it’s sustainable,” said Bodenhamer. “That’s fun because then I can create a bunch of the same piece, and that has the most momentum versus with upcycled or vintage; it is one of a kind, so it’s hard to build a consumer base.”
Hopes For The Future, And Why Bodenhamer Values Her Degree
Bodenhamer has high hopes for Romontio but also wants to prioritize having a legal background.
“My hope is to finish this degree because setting up a business does take a lot of legal stuff, too, which is nice that I’ve been able to do that myself. My plan is to continue growing it and work on it full-time at some point,” said the business owner. “Obviously, that’s a very lofty goal, but especially in New York, there are so many opportunities, and people who support each other with things like this are really cool. My other goal is to scale it more because I do everything myself, so I hope to be able to produce some of them.”
Bodenhamer’s Advice On Brand Promotion
Handling her own advertising, the entrepreneur spoke on how she markets her brand while still pursuing authenticity.
“Social media is honestly great for visibility and also email marketing. Like very digital based things that seem basic but they really do work,” Bodenhamer said. “I love collaborating with people, so the photo shoots I’ve been doing, I’m specific about who I work with. In the sense that I love girls who bring a perspective to the shoot and who do something they’re really passionate about. And how we showcase their passion with my brand and with clothes.”
Besides this, Bodenhamer has also been doing pop-up events where she collaborated with brands she’s admired.
“I’ve been working with this girl who has this amazing website called ‘CHERRY KNOTS.’ It’s kind of like a platform for sustainable brands,” said Bodenhamer. “She has a lot of different brands that she sells on one platform. So it’s easier for girls to buy sustainable clothes.”
Working with other brands and even just getting orders are major highlights for the recent business owner.
“A big moment that I had was the first time someone that I didn’t know bought something from me. Because when I started, my consumer base was basically just girls at my school,” Bodenhamer said. “Another big moment is working with this girl at CHERRY KNOTS; things like that really legitimize my brand. Still, every time I get an order, it’s so exciting.”
Parting Words Of Wisdom To Aspiring Entrepreneurs
When it comes to advice for young, aspiring entrepreneurs, Bodenhamer’s advice is to just do it and not harbor insecurities.
“Just start with anything, and it could be a small step. When I was starting, I was so nervous about how it was going to be received, especially because I didn’t have an academic background in fashion,” said the business owner. “I was playing around with this idea for months, and then as soon as I did one step like creating a website, it gets going, and it’s a lot easier. Your brand identity might evolve, and that’s part of the process.”
Hayoun offered her advice as a young business owner, believing that passion is essential, along with hard work and determination.
“I really think it’s important to never give up, especially if you are passionate about it. Because if you just keep going eventually it will get you somewhere if you work hard enough and if you have that determination,” said the Florida Atlantic University student. “And it really is rewarding at the end of the day.”
Avinami spoke on the importance of loving what you do when it comes to starting a business.
“If you love it so much, whatever you have to go through to get to where you wanna be, it’s all worth it,” Avinami said. “So, we love doing this.”
