It’s Never Too Early to Make Your Dreams Come True

21-year-old Kate Ulveling has been entrepreneur for as long as she

can remember

Lizzie Coon

Smiling from ear to ear, 11-year-old Kate Ulveling didn’t let age stop her from selling her jewelry for the first time at a local farmers market. Although, the tiny, blonde-hair, blue-eyed girl was the youngest vendor by 20+ years, she knew how to develop, organize, and manage a business like every other vendor there.

From the furthest memory she could remember, Kate has always had a natural marketing mindset. In elementary school even before jewelry was ever on her mind, she would leave the dollar store with multiple bags of candy, reselling them later on the street corner for 50 cents each. Before that, she was painting colorful messes in her kitchen to sell for 25 cents to her neighbors.

Fast forward ten years, Kate is a junior at Elon University with a flourishing jewelry business called Carolina Candy.

Nicole Seay, Kate’s Little in her sorority said, “She is dedicated to encouraging others to go for things even if they think they have no chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yikKxSznmJo&feature=youtu.be

Kate has an incredible work ethic, though there is a lot of trial and error that comes with any business you form.

Moving from state to state

Kate didn’t have your average upbringing. She was born in Mid-West state of Iowa and then moved to Chicago around age three for less than a year. For Preschool and Kindergarten, she moved to Tennessee and by the time she was in first grade she was back in Chicago for grades 1st-6th. In the middle of 6th grade she moved to North Carolina and now after almost 10 years of living there, she can finally call it home.

Growing up Kate’s dad was a college basketball coach and was one the biggest influences on her, teaching her to commit to something and manage her time from a young age.

While very petite, that didn’t stop her from following in her father’s foot-steps by playing basketball all throughout her childhood.

Kate said, “Whenever I get into something I give in my all, put all my energy towards it and work extremely hard.”

Although she’s not playing basketball today, she’s her happiest when she’s living a fast pace, active lifestyle.

Making something happen

After dabbling into fashion in high school and having some flops here and there, Kate decided to go back to jewelry and give it a real shot.

Inspired by the tassel trend, she began by selling colorful pieces on her Instagram and it took off from there.

When she entered college, she had to learn to balance this new life of hers.

While the typical student was just trying to settle in to a new life away from home, Kate was managing that on top of her new business.

From July to October 2015, Kate sold 400 tassel necklaces, between $32-$40 each.

She said, “I would have boutiques ask for 50+ handmade necklaces with a week turnaround date and would get no sleep those days because it was new, and I wanted it to thrive and I invested so much money into it that I wanted to get a good profit out of it.”

Stepping back and learning

By the end of her freshmen year, Kate made the executive decision to turn her small Etsy shop in a full-proof business by launching her website Carolina Candy where she is fully in control of where and when wants to sell her pieces.

A year and a half later after launching her business Kate continues to put out new collections every season.

She has learned to not put too much stress on herself and wants to make this a side job while putting her relationships and schoolwork first.

She is currently selling to trunk show’s and pop-up shop events but wants to do less output for boutiques in the coming time.

What’s the plan for Kate after college? Shockingly not become a full fledge entrepreneur. She fell in love with corporate America her freshmen year and hopes to pursue it when she graduates in a year.

Being an influence to everyone around her

Kate strives to having as uplifting of a life as possible. She explains that she’s in no way perfect and still has her down days like everyone else.

But she dusts herself off and gets back up to and tries again.

That drive, and motivation is the reason why so many respect and look up to her.

Her friend, Lexy Palmer said, “By exercising her passions and sticking true to who she is, Kate has such a positive influence on everyone around her.”