In the bustling world of college life, where tuition bills loom large and dorm closets overflow, students are finding creative ways to make ends meet. From painting nails to flipping thrifted threads, young entrepreneurs are blending passion, skill and a dash of ingenuity to build side hustles that not only pay the bills but also spark joy.
Two sets of first-years at Point Loma Nazarene University are redefining the grind: Yasmin Ariana Martinez of @nailzzbyyazz on Instagram and duo Stella Fergeson and Alex Ornee of @shop.pointloma, who’ve turned their wardrobe woes into an Instagram goldmine.
For Martinez, a first-year business management major, the journey to her nail art empire started with a simple need: nice nails after moving away from home.
“As a freshman, I don’t have the resources to get a job, and it was a little difficult for me to get a job on campus,” Martinez said.
Left to fend for herself financially, she picked up a hobby she’d once enjoyed with a friend: nail art. What began as self-taught practice sessions in her dorm evolved into a thriving small business.
“I practiced on my friends, and the more complicated designs I got, they encouraged me to make a small business out of it,” she said.
Martinez spends two to four hours a day perfecting manicures and squeezing clients into the gaps between classes, she said.
“I work in my dorm, so I’m still around my friends majority of the time,” she said. “I always leave my door open so people can come and talk to me and my customers and make new friendships.”
Her hustle aligns with her business major; she’s learning to manage money and build a brand – skills she hopes will fuel her dream of owning multiple businesses one day.
“I get to meet new people every day and see them walking down Caf Lane showing their friends,” she said, beaming with pride.
Other nail techs on campus are also cashing in, though Martinez laughed about her early flops: “I had some funky-shaped nails or really bad designs at the beginning that I remember being so happy about, but they looked so bad looking back now.”
Those hiccups are a part of the fun, along with the “pretty crazy conversations” she enjoys with clients, she said.
A first-year biology and child development double major, Stella Fergeson, and Alex Ornee, a first-year business marketing major, tackled a different dilemma: too many clothes, too little space.
“We both have a lot of clothes and were running out of room in the tiny dorm closet,” Ornee said.
An Instagram shop selling their excess threads was their solution.
“We figured we should sell some and make some extra money,” Ornee said.
What started as a practical fix morphed into a creative outlet, with hours spent curating an aesthetically appealing page. Ornee said getting the business started took most of the work, but it got easier from there.
“We’ve put a lot of thought into the marketing behind it,” Ornee said, from choosing Instagram over Depop for its campus proximity perks to crafting a vibe that draws buyers.
The duo’s gig has opened doors to meet students across years, a social bonus they didn’t expect.
“It’s pretty easy to run because everyone is close by,” Fergeson said.
While they admire the “nail girls at Loma” making bank, as they put it, their lack of polish skills led them down a thrifting path instead. So far, there have been no epic fails, just a growing follower count of 350.
Martinez, Fergeson and Ornee are part of a wave of college students turning creativity into cash.
Martinez said she dreams of a business empire; Ornee is honing her marketing skills for a future career and Fergeson said she’s just happy to declutter with a profit.
Their hustles are not about the money but about the moments, the laughs and the chance to build something of their own, they said.
Tessa Balc