Each year, Laminacorr industries awards three local high school graduates with a bursary to motivate them to follow a post-secondary degree. Women face unique challenges in the business world, and we believe that women-owned and women-led firms should be an integral part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This year, our first-place winner comes to us with a unique entrepreneurial story. Madison Fell graduated from Saint-Lawrence secondary high school last June. But she isn’t your ordinary high school graduate. She has her own jewellery making business and online store.

Next year, she will be attending our local college to learn new skills to grow her business.

We virtually sat down with Madison to ask her a few questions:

Q: Were your goals always to become an entrepreneur?

A: My original goal was to become a hairstylist, and eventually open my own salon, or take over my aunt’s salon one day. After taking a business course in grade 11, I was inspired to eventually create a business of my very own during the first lockdown. Though it was not my original goal, I am very happy that I have stuck with it.

Q: What made you take the risk of starting a business?

A: My passion for creating. I absolutely love creating and gifting things to people. I figured maybe I could make a little bit of money from these creations. After my business started taking off and remained steady, I knew it was time to go big or go home. It was all or nothing for me, so I decided to quit my part-time job and devote all of my free time and energy to making and selling jewellery. One of my favourite things is receiving messages from satisfied customers telling me how much they love my products!

Q: Do you have any role models in this journey?

A: To be completely honest, a lot of my role models come from TikTok. I know it’s silly, but I have found hundreds of amazing artists and creators on the app. A lot of my inspiration comes from the strong women that I have seen making something out of nothing for themselves. It’s very inspiring to see how well they had done, so I thought I could do it too! It was motivating to see that sometimes even they had downfalls and that as an artist and business owner, it’s normal to make mistakes and learn from them.

Q: What’s next for you and your business?

A: One of my biggest goals and dreams is to one day open a boutique/shop in person. I would love to have people browse through my products in a real store! Obviously, I will have to work for it, so maybe I will start small by setting up a shop at a local farmers market sometime soon. Part of this job is creating healthy relationships with clients and customers, and what better way to do that than through local markets!

Q: Where can we find your creations?

A: You can find all of my work on Etsy. My shop is called ScorpieCo, and everything can be purchased through this link: https://etsy.me/2E0Rq24 I am also open to custom projects! I also have an Instagram where I show everything for sale and custom pieces I have done. It is called scorpieco!