Co: Connect Co:(Prefix)Together Linked: Through your Permanent Jewelry
About CoCo Linked
Hi! I’m Emma, founder and CEO of CoCo Linked. CoCo Linked was born in my college apartment senior year, with my co-founder and best friend Madeleine. I had noticed someone wearing a permanent bracelet and soon realized that it was out of my price range as a college student. At this point in 2021, permanent jewelry was just gaining popularity in many areas, but it was not yet super accessible. I became determined to figure out a way to offer permanent jewelry that was high quality, at an affordable price. After doing some research I went to Madeleine and asked her if she wanted to take on this venture as a team. Luckily, though with much warranted hesitation (I had a thing for starting businesses without thinking through it) she agreed. After late nights spent creating the brand and figuring out how the heck permanent jewelry even worked, we launched in October 2021. We had countless pop-ups and sisterhood events during the year and before graduating, conjured up the idea for the CoCo-University rep program. Since then, Madeleine is pursuing her corporate career and I have taken over as owner & CEO.
Meet the Owner
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and moved before high school to the Fox Valley area in Wisconsin. My passions and interests have changed throughout the years, and I initially planned on going to college for elementary education. While I still have a passion for teaching, I realized that I was very business minded and had an entrepreneurial side that I wanted to dive deeper into. This shouldn’t have been a surprise since I spent most of my childhood selling various things to my family members, and turning hobbies into side businesses. I even had a jewelry business when I was 7 years old and it was called “Emma’s Designs”, oh how creative I was!
I went to the University of Kansas and majored in Strategic Communications with a minor in business. I had planned on going into marketing or public relations with an end goal to start my own pr firm. During COVID, I lived at home and spent time creating a digital agency as my side hustle for the time being, and gained a lot of experience that helped me realize it may not be my true passion. Out of boredom, I also started a polymer clay earring business, Carpe Diem Clay, and sold them at my local farmers market for the summer before going back to school.
After Madeleine and I started CoCo Linked and graduation neared, I decided to pursue yet another passion of mine which was cosmetology school. I started the summer after graduation during the first semester of the CoCo-University rep program, and spent every spare minute that I was awake working. A few months of that brought me to realize that CoCo Linked was more than a side hustle and needed my full time attention. I dropped out of cosmetology school (cue beauty school drop out) and have been running CoCo Linked full time since December 2022. I truly am doing my dream job that incorporates all of my passions: teaching, marketing, entrepreneurship, teamwork, problem solving (a little too much of it), and fashion! If only I could go back and tell seven-year-old Emma running “Emma’s Designs” that she would be running a company with 36 college reps, she wouldn’t believe it. To be honest, most days I still can’t.
CoCo-University
CoCo-U is our expansion of CoCo Linked. We want as many universities as possible to experience the excitement of permanent bracelets and the bond that they bring. From campus coffee shop pop-ups to sorority sisterhood events, CoCo Linked is a unique addition to any campus community.
Our vision was to hire college students like we were, who will work as reps and continue the growth of CoCo Linked on their campus. This will provide college students with a unique work experience where they will gain insight in entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, event planning, customer service, teamwork and more. We strive to cultivate a supportive community of reps who can connect with each other and build their network.