By Kyra Palumbo
Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur when they grow up – I know I do. What separates those with aspiring dreams and ideas is grit and determination. While this Western New England University Alumni does have that skill set along with immense creativity, she seemed to have stumbled into entrepreneurship with no clear intentions in mind.
Rachael Margossian, a 2020 graduate, has started her own business called “ringsbyrach” in which she customizes and sells bracelets, necklaces, rings, and keychains. These products come in both silver and gold and are very fairly priced.
During her time at Western New England University, Margossian played on the Women’s soccer team and became friends with many along the way. Little did she know just how useful this would be once she graduated: a built-in fan base.
For gifts to give the seniors, the juniors on the team reached out to Margossian and asked her to make her former teammates matching bracelets with the soccer field’s coordinates on them. It was nice that WNE got to support a new, small, and alumni run business to make such a memorable gift.
A current senior on the soccer team, Morgan Smith, said that “being able to support a WNE alumni, a friend and a small business has meant so much within the past couple months, and watching “ringsbyrach” grow the way it has is such an amazing thing to see.”
Margossian likes to stay busy, which is shown by her major and minors. While at WNE, she obtained her Bachelors of Science in Forensic Biology and had minors in chemistry, health services and criminal justice. Rachael is 23 years old and hails from outside of Boston, MA. She is running her business by herself as well as attending Boston University full-time, in pursuit of her Master’s in Biomedical Forensic Science.
Her goal after graduating from BU is to be a criminalist. Being a COVID-19 undergraduate, Margossian was much like others, who were stuck in quarantine or shut-down for an extensive period of time during the summer months, bored out of their minds. Most laid on the couch and binged Netflix series, but not her.
She identifies herself as a busy body, which is actually the reason her business started. Margossian was bored over the summer and picked up arts and crafts supplies and went to work. Her business officially started in August 2020, and it quickly spread to both current and former WNE students. She created an Instagram account to market her newfound company, a great way to reach the young high school and college aged audience she was trying to reach.
After only being “open” for a short six months, ringsbyrach has earned nearly 7,000 followers on Instagram. She has expanded from solely doing Instagram purchases, to an Etsy site, and now has her very own website: ringsbyrach.com. It doesn’t hurt her business that she has also been recognized by Instagram and TikTok influencers with upwards of 200,000 followers. Margossian has also shipped to every US state as well as Canada, Spain, Australia, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, and Ireland!
Not only has she been keeping busy with her own orders and life, but she has also started to collaborate with other small businesses like hers. She even just had a giveaway with both her products and another Instagram business that sells customized sweatshirts with various patches – I hope I win! So far she has done multiple giveaways both by herself and with other businesses like the one I just mentioned, as well as a hair accessories company, a beaded jewelry company, and a customized mask company.
Margossian is the true definition of an entrepreneur. She took something that she enjoyed doing, being creative, and turned it into something not only profitable, but something to fill up what little free time she has.
To be an entrepreneur, you need to have passion, and if you saw Margossian’s days work (on her Instagram @ringsbyrach), you would know how much she loves crafting and pleasing people with her work. Check out her Instagram page even just to see all the amazing products she has created by hand and observe how her business has grown the way it has. Great job, Rach!
