HIGHLIGHTING THE S3 SISTER TRIO
ORLANDO, Fla. - S3 Creationz is gearing up to celebrate their first full year as an official brand after launching during the summer of 2020. While in between school years, and amidst a pandemic, the creators found themselves in need of a collaborative project to help pass the time, and boredom that quarantine life presented. With a bit of a nudge, or most likely a push from their mom to get off the couch, this sister trio quickly became some of Orlando's youngest female entrepreneurs.
The leading ladies behind S3 Creations are three sisters known as S1 (Sanjana) and her two younger sisters referred to as S1 and S2. After spending time on their social media page, exploring their products, or even conversing with them via direct messages, it would be easy to assume they are established business women. However these young ladies are in just the beginning stages of their entrepreneurial journey, at ages 14 (grade 9), 12 (grade 7) and 7 (grade 1.) based on their level of professionalism. Yes, you read that right, they range from elementary school to high school, yet they are remarkably mature, and are truly breaking barriers for their generation, and the future girl bosses out there.
Their mom, or "momager" as they call her, helps the sisters behind the scenes as their silent investor and of course guiding them as needed. Together, this pack of powerful and motivating ladies have built a brand dedicated to offering personalized handcrafted products such as their signature smash cakes, hot chocolate bombs, stamped books, and so much more. The best part? Their brand is fueled by a BIG community give back, as they partner with a local community organization, donating 20% of their proceeds to.
We chatted about the trio on Brand New Day, on our Mother's Day episode, and we recently had the opportunity to connect with Sanjana (S1) to learn more about the story behind the S3 Creationz brand, after finding ourselves deeply connected to their mission, and their drive.
Read on for the exclusive interview with Sanjana.
H&F: Please describe your career/education prior to this venture.
Sanjana: S1 is in grade 9, S2, grade 7, and S3 in grade 1.
H&F: When did you get that Light Bulb Moment to create this brand? Sanjana: S3 Creationz was created one day in the summer of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. We stayed home all summer and, according to our mom, we were watching too much TV. She kept telling us to come up with ideas on what we can make or create and sell in an effort to raise money to give back to our community since we couldn’t go out anywhere and physically volunteer. One day, S2 came up with the idea of personalized bracelets. We immediately bought supplies and created a few designs and started our very first Instagram page. We had never been involved on social media until then. We are still learning how to use different social media platforms. Our momager reposted our posts on her social media pages and we slowly grew our followers. From there, our creativity just kept flowing. With staying on the theme of doing personalized items, we then launched chocolate smash cakes, followed by hot chocolate bombs that were a huge hit over the holiday season, and in the New Year, we launched our personalized stamped books. The main purpose of creating our brand is to give back to our community and since all three of us love animals, we decided to give back to our fur families at Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando.
H&F: Tell us something unique about your brand. Sanjana: Our brand and our business was created as a means to give back to our community. Our products are all handmade with love and personalized to each customer’s needs. We particularly love our stamped books, as we are repurposing books that probably would have made it into a landfill. They are now unique home décor items.
H&F: Where do you find inspiration for your designs? Sanjana: Honestly, some of our designs have come from the customers themselves. They inspire us and they tell us what they are looking for. And then we run with it. For example, we were asked to make a golf cake for a dad, and we researched and found ideas and found ways on how to incorporate it onto chocolate which can get tricky. It is not the same as working with icing and frosting.
H&F: What roles do each of you play or contribute to the business? Sanjana: There are three of us, and our momager of course. There is a lot to do in all areas of our business, so each of us has our own roles. I am also constantly training my younger sisters so they can take on more. S2 is in charge of creating all the bracelets, coming up with new designs, and doing quality checks on them. She also assists in melting chocolate and creating a healthy, safe, and sanitized environment for us to work in. My youngest sister (S3) helps by gathering all the letters needed to create the personalized bracelets, passing us tools needed, clean and cut and tie the ribbons on bakery boxes. She puts labels on the bags and other small things that she can easily assist with. She is also learning how to take creative pictures for us to post on social media. I oversee it all from creating the smash cakes and the hot chocolate bombs, answering customer queries, posting on social media, as well as coming up with new and innovative designs for our smash cakes and stamped books. My mom has a lot of input and ideas as well and she guides us and helps promote our business.
"The main purpose of our brand is to give back to our community" - Sanjana
H&F: What has been the hardest part about starting this business, and maintaining it? Sanjana: The hardest part of starting this business was trying to figure out our materials and researching to find them at wholesale prices. And then testing and seeing what works the best. Molds, chocolate, beads for our bracelets, etc. There has been a lot of trials and errors. The hardest part of maintaining is keeping up with social media and engaging and getting our brand and its purpose out there. H&F: What is your vision for your brand? Sanjana: The vision for our brand is to see it grow on all platforms of social media. Our name to be well known in our community, so when S3 Creationz is spoken of, everyone knows it's where you order your personalized smash cake from or your personalized stamped books. We want to reach as many homes as possible and be part of their celebrations when they smash a cake open. And for everyone to know when they purchase from us, they are also helping our fur friends at Pet Alliance.
H&F: What encouraging advice would you offer someone unsure about starting their own venture? Sanjana: I would tell them, Just Do It!!! That's what my mom told us. She told us to just pick anything, come up with an idea and run with it. We still have a lot to learn, but we are getting there one day at a time. Family and friends' support is also very encouraging.
H&F: What are 5 pro-tips you can share with our audience?
Sanjana:
- Stay positive
- Engage with your customers
- Keep researching on trends and make them unique to your own product
- Believe in your product
- Don’t let the hard work scare you
H&F: How can we see more of your work? Sanjana: Oh, we have a lot of ideas for different occasions of smash cakes that will be coming in the near future. We have to first test them all, so stay tuned. Other personalized gift ideas are coming too.
Follow S3 Creationz on Instagram @S3.Creationz to stay updated on their new product releases or to connect to place your custom order.
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So inspiring!