From canvas to coolers – Housey Designs has come a long way from its early days when Naperville North graduate Emily Housey was painting and selling decorations for her friends.
Getting Started
“Once I realized it was kind of popular to have these hand-painted gifts, my dad sat me down, it was July 17, 2017, and he said ‘I just bought you an LLC and you’re going to have to figure out how to pay me back,’” explained Housey. “’Also figure out how to get me a supped-up Corvette because that’s what I want.’ And I was like okay!”
Making Progress
A couple years later, Housey Designs now has customers in Illinois, Missouri, and throughout the Midwest. Not bad for a junior at Mizzou.
Her company crafts hand-made art, shot skis, custom logos and they even do body painting.
Help Along the Way
She was able to expand the business with the help of ten other college women. It was all thanks to a passion for art and business, and the inspiration of her former neighbor Dick Locher – longtime cartoonist of the Dick Tracy comic strip.
“He’s just an incredible artist, his statues are everywhere downtown,” she added. “And the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten was from him and he said he wasn’t a great artist [and] he wasn’t the best. There were people who were way better than he was. But because he worked hard, he stuck with it, and he looked for the little opportunities he was able to make it big.”
What the Future Holds
Now Emily can add shopkeeper to her list of titles, as she builds Housey Designs’ first shop at Mizzou’s student center. But her hope is to one day put a storefront in her hometown.
Emily says that Housey Designs’ next goal is to reach customers in 15 different states.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.