All by Lauren: How a Quarantine Hobby Turned Into a Successful Earring Business
Lauren Bocalan, an assistant multimedia editor at The Observer, shares how making Harry Styles-inspired earrings just for fun turned into a lucrative business overnight
May 3, 2022
In this interview, I spoke with Lauren Bocalan, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’24 and an assistant multimedia editor at The Observer, about her small business All by Lauren. She discussed what inspired her to begin making earrings, her rapid success, her experience running a small business while being a full-time student and possible future collections.
On her overnight success: “I got super lucky. I always say that, but it’s always crazy to think about. I started selling to my friends, just like my first five friends, and then one of them suggested that I make a TikTok showing each earring to the song it’s inspired by. And that TikTok I think got over 280,000 views in a day.”
On running a business while being in school: “It’s interesting having to balance full-time, in-person student life with having a small business, but I love doing it.”
On future collections: “I know a lot of people were asking for Taylor Swift, and I love her, so I would love to do anything Taylor Swift. I think that she’s the person that I’m thinking about.”
