Sasha

Entrepreneurship Story: A Chat with Sasha

Business Background

• Sasha J. shares her new business, Alexa’s Garden, with Sofia S. They sell cute succulents and earrings, along with other plant-based products. Previously, she shared a greeting card business, J Designs, with her younger sister, Katya.

• Sasha and Katya started their business originally by drawing different outfits for fun. Then, once they heard about Girls Crushing It, they got the idea to put them on greeting cards. They got their original seed capital as loans from their parents, then paid them back out of their business earnings.

Challenges & Solutions

• Sasha balances her businesses, school work, outside activities, and more by sectioning and planning out her time. She has a lot to balance, especially when doing other jobs such as internships or working at camps. Sasha’s current business partner, Sofia, says, “From working with a business partner, we’ve learned that it is good to have someone to share the work with, bounce ideas off of, and provide support.” Sasha wholeheartedly agrees and is glad to have had partners in both her businesses.

•  One of the biggest challenges that she has encountered and overcame were her personal and business-related disagreements with her sister. Sasha did not always agree with Katya on how to run and successfully continue to manage their business, which was one reason that they expanded into selling their own products. To resolve this conflict of opinions, Sasha and Katya made a decision to start their own separate businesses while keeping J Designs open as a small side company.

•  Another challenge that she faced was during production. Sasha and Katya didn’t want to have to redraw the same image hundreds of times for each card they made. So, they decided to make a choice to spend a little more money to print the images directly onto the cards. This was a smart investment because it saved a lot of time, made the cards easier to mass-produce, and helped teach the value of time alongside money.

Advice & Empowerment

• Sasha is proud of how these businesses and Girls Crushing It have empowered her to learn more about the world of business, entrepreneurship, and has taught her how to open new work opportunities.

• Sasha says that one piece of advice that she would give to other girls is for them to try to reach out for new opportunities and ideas. Often when one door closes, we stare at the closed one for so long we don’t see the new one that just opened. Explore all possibilities and potential solutions. When you see an opportunity arise, grab it and work hard for what you want.

• Most recently, Sasha started a Girls Crushing It chapter at her high school