Gordon Ford College of Business News

A love for crafing and celebrating life's everyday events prompted Brittany  Young to start her own business a few years ago. She came to WKU's Grise Hall on September 17 to relive the ups and downs of her journey with entrepreneurship students at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation's Entrepreneurship Speaker Series. 

A family and consumer sciences major for undergraduate work, Young then earned her graduate degree in Leadership Dynamics. During her time in the work world, she thought about what she really wanted to do for a living. She knew that she wanted to find something that incorporated her hobbies.

Young loves crafting and that strong love sparked an interest. She decided that she wanted to start entering crafts in craft shows. She questioned the success of these shows, but wanted to give them a try anyway. Young ended up being very happy with the reception her crafts received at the shows. Every time she would take creations to sell, it would be a similar pleased reaction from the people. Their reactions gave her high hopes for the future.

After this little taste of success, Young wanted to try and span a larger audience. She was hoping that she could do this by opening her own Etsy store online. Her crafts started to become well known, orders were coming in constantly, and it kept her busy. She made great money with this online shop, and that ultimately helped her decide to turn this hobby into a full-time business. She followed through with that dream and made it happen in 2010.

“I decided to take a leap of faith with this business and I am so glad that I did," she said because she is now known as The Certified Celebrator with more than 129,000 page likes on Facebook and more than 53,000 Instagram followers. She is a lifestyle expert who describes herself as a resource for all things party, holiday, gifts, and home. Being an entrepreneur is hard work, but the benefits are well worth it.

She explained some of the efforts she makes to get the word out about her crafts, ideas etc. She appeared on televsion shows such as The Rachael Ray Show, Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family, Pickler & Ben, and Nashville’s Talk of the Town. Young has also been included in publications such as Southern Living and Country Living Fair.

Since her business is 100 percent online, social media is one of the main platforms she uses to get the word out.

“When I began this business, I poured my heart into my social media postings and they all just seemed to blow up.” she said.  She said she feels the social media presence has been a positive factor that has truly set her apart from other businesses. “I want what I put out on social media to be of value to my followers. I hope to entertain, inspire, and get people to intentionally celebrate.”

Social Media allows personal relationships to be built and it also allows for increased amounts of engagement with the brand. Young sees what her followers want and she tries her best to give them that content- this allows both Young and her followers to reap benefits. She also works with other brands to create content for them as well. Brands tend to have a specific idea in mind of what they want her to do and she does everything she can to carry out their vision. Her ideas are sought after by many people and she hopes to continue to share them with the world.

“We are so appreciative of Brittany giving her time, energy and talents to share her entrepreneurial journey," said Dr. Whitney Peake, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. "Brittany is a wonderful success, and we’re so happy that she was able to give insight to our students.”

Young has had quite the journey to get to where she is today and it seems that all of her hard work and dedication has paid off.