Cool Cat: Taryn Park
Q&A and photos by Andrew Venneberg
Craving a bit of extra bling to help you stay fashionable during the school year? Crave no longer and come on by to Taryn’s Trinkets and Treasures!
Taryn Park is a Biology Specialization of Ecology and Evolution Major 3rd Year here at Central, yet you may recognize her more from the SURC markets hosted here at CWU. From starting as a hobby, to learning how to begin marketing herself, I was able to sit down with her and hear a bit of her story and craft.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the business you run here on campus?
A: Yeah, so I do it through the entrepreneurship club. It's called Taryn’s Trinkets and Treasures. I do markets or vending for the club. I also can occasionally do it offline, on my own time. Like, Vend-Up markets, in Ellensburg. I've also gone down to Oregon where my brother lives. It's just kind of a fun craft thing that I like to do on the side as a hobby, for myself and stuff.
Q: How did you get into jewelry making in the first place?
A: I've kind of liked crafting my whole life, actually. I had the privilege growing up of my parents giving me the opportunity to do a lot of arts and crafts, and so I've done all sorts of media. With jewelry specifically, I like to go on these girls' trips with my family, and every year, we kind of do a different type of craft for that trip. And so one year, it was jewelry, and we went on the trip, and we started making it, and it kind of just took off from there. I was sitting at the table for hours, making jewelry. One of my family members gave me tools to keep going, and so it just kind of kept going from there.
Q: Is this your first time running a business?
A: Yeah, essentially. I don't know if I would “call it a business”, is kind of, like, my own thing. I would say it's my second year into it, 'cause I did it last year, and I am doing it, like, through the entrepreneurship club .So it's kind of, like, my first time running my whole thing.
Q: What was that kind of process like from it being a hobby where you love making jewelry to something where people were like “Oh, I wanna buy some of the necklaces and earrings that you're making?”
A: I was making a lot of jewelry at the start for myself, and I was kind of just posting it on my Instagram for fun. And then I realized, a couple of people started reaching out to me being like, “Hey, you know, I actually really like your stuff, and I would like to, you know, buy this from you.” And I had a mutual at the time, that was like, “Hey, I'm part of the entrepreneurship club. I would really like it if you wanted to sell your stuff at these markets for the club. If you would like to join us here at an upcoming meeting”, and I was like, “Oh, my goodness, yes, I wanna do that.” Because I've always thought about marketing and doing my own vending stand for fun. It's like a side hobby.
Q: How would you describe the entrepreneurship club?
A: So, it’s through the College of Business. We're there to help you succeed through building your own business, essentially. If you're trying to market yourself, or you're trying to make your own business from random stuff, we'll do a “Shark Tank”, where you're given a random object, and you have to find a way to promote it. And so it's a lot of practice on being able to project yourself, because entrepreneurship in general, is marketing yourself, and your business. And so, getting the confidence to get out there, and then build connections with people in Ellensburg and through the ADA, so you can have more experience with people that are also doing their business.
Q: How has this club challenged you in beginning to market yourself?
A: I never really saw myself as an entrepreneur, saw myself having my own business. This was because I was always so nervous about the effort that goes into having your own business. But, with the club, I feel confident enough through the officers that they want me to be there. They want me to succeed, not only as someone that vends, but also as a person. They’ve helped me with my teaching skills and my projecting skills, and talking to people and whatnot.
Q: What advice would you have for people who want to start getting into maybe making their own jewelry?
A: I would just go for it. You don't need to have other people's approval for it. It's for yourself. And so I would just start small. I get a lot of my own stuff from thrift shops or really small beach stores or garage sales. And so if you find those opportunities to handle. or have a hold of the tools for it or the supplies, and I would just go for it. You don't have to have an agenda. A lot of the time, I don't have an agenda when I make my jewelry. I kind of just go off the rails, especially with the necklaces. That's pretty cliche, but I would probably just say, like, no one is gonna hold you back, and you should hold yourself back. So I would just send it.
Q: What are your plans after college, both with your major that you're pursuing, and then your hobby of making and selling necklaces and earrings?
A: My dream is to be an interpretive ranger. I really care about public education for people. I have a very deep love for what I'm doing, especially with ecology and geology. I just want to be able to teach that to the public, to people, and the importance of our environment. This place was created the way that it was created. With the jewelry, I was thinking of just continuing with markets. I think it's just a really fun side hobby for me, it's kind of like a downtime for me when, you know, maybe I've had a long day with work, for example. I'll just make some jewelry. And I will probably continue doing it, but I'm not gonna, like, have a huge business with it. I think I'm just gonna keep doing markets and keep doing vending, and just keeping it small.
Q: Where can people find your jewelry on campus if they're interested in seeing what you make?
A: We do student markets, you know, for the entrepreneurship club. We do them two times a quarter for two days each. Our next student market is gonna be April 21st to 22nd. It's a Tuesday and a Wednesday. I usually vend at those markets. I won't be on that Tuesday, though. I also have an Instagram where you can find my jewelry and just kind of help support me as a person (taryns_trinketsandtreasures). And then also the night markets in Ellensburg, they host us, we're allowed to vend as the club, and you can find me during the summer, once a month, doing that.
Q: Is there anything I didn't talk about that you would want to add emphasis on, or that you wanted to talk about?
A: I would never like to gatekeep what I like to do, or where I get my stuff and whatnot. I always encourage people to ask me, like, “where I wrap things” or “where I buy things” and whatnot, because art is a very important outlet for a lot of people, and it is a part of a lot of people's lives. And so, if you, people ever want to talk to me about art or talk to me about trading or how to do jewelry. I'm literally more than happy to do it.
Interview has been edited for clarity and length.