Kenzli Todd

When I was little I would always have mini stores that my family and close friends could come to. Sometimes it was a spa where I would do their nails and give the them massages. Other times it was a restaurant where I would make a menu of things in the fridge that I knew how to make. But my favorite was making a candy and toy store. I would always take the shoeboxes from wherever I could find them. My family called me the box queen because I would always finds someway to use them in a craft or add to my store. In my box store, I would make a clear window out of plastic wrap or clear sheet holders and the other side have a door for me to access. I then would add shelves and prices to the items I was selling. I would sell my leftover candy from Halloween, Fourth of July and other holidays. I would also sell little crafts that I would make out of anything I could find. 

Later in life when I was fourteen years old I started making bracelets like the Alex and Ani bracelets for myself. I loved making bracelets! When I would wear my bracelets, people would ask me about them and I would tell them I made it. Excitingly, they would ask me to make them one. During a summer, my friend Emily and I wanted to make a bit of cash over the summer so we decided to sell jewelry and her lettering prints that she makes. We named our little business KEM's. "KE" for Kenzli and "EM" for Emily. The bracelets that I make can be personalized by adding charms that people want on their bracelets along with circle pendants that I stamped with initials or other things. 

When I was 15, I got more involved in stamping metal so I started making personalized necklaces. The necklaces I make are circle pendent necklaces and bar necklaces that customers can put what they want on them. Some great ideas that customers have put on their necklaces are, initials on the circle pendents of their kid, grandkids or themselves. On the bar necklaces, customers put names, scriptures, initials, special dates, inspirational words, etc. 

Now I am selling bracelets, necklaces, and watercolor paintings. For the future, I want to expand to clothes especially for tall/long legged people. My family and I all have long legs and struggle to find long pants and shirts for long legs and arms. Most of our clothes are like capris and half sleeves so I want to make a store where people like us and of course others too can go to find clothes that fit.