Student Spotlight: Meghan Foster
By: Lyida Bowman
Meghan Foster, a now-senior in the College of Nursing, began making necklaces for her friends during her sophomore year at Villanova. Meghan simply purchased some materials from a local bead store in her hometown, and started to make jewelry. While making necklaces for her friends, an unknown girl asked Meghan if she could buy a necklace. At the time, Meghan never thought her jewelry making hobby would become a business, so she was unsure what price to charge. After doing some calculations, Meghan assigned prices to her necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. And this was the birth of BeadzbyMeg.
Over the past two years as BeadzbyMeg has greatly expanded, Meghan developed her own website and Instagram page for her small business. And the jewelry has become quite popular. Meghan says that her business has become hectic: “In our world, people are so used to ordering stuff and receiving it the next day. Because of this, I’ve dealt with some clients who become upset it if takes more than a week to receive orders.” Meghan’s jewelry is all handmade, so it becomes stressful to keep up with orders, especially during busy periods such as summer or Christmas.
Because of the inherent stress involved with running a business as a college student, Meghan uses beading as a break from nursing and school work. Meghan claims that jewelry making has helped with creativity and relaxation therapy: “I’ve dealt with really bad anxiety my whole life, so being able to sit down and create jewelry while totally spacing out and focusing on one thing has helped so much. It’s a nice break from nursing work too.”
Although Meghan is a nurse and BeadzbyMeg will not directly correlate to any career path, she hopes to continue jewelry making as a hobby and passion after graduation: “While it hasn’t helped my career, it has given me great career teachings in terms of business, which I haven’t learned through nursing curriculum.” Additionally, Meghan hopes to spread the business outside of her hometown and Villanova by networking and connections.
Meghan encourages fellow students who may be thinking about following their passion and starting a business to not become discouraged: “Don’t get down if things start slow. It took me two years to build my website. All great things take time, but it’s so worth it.”
