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Accounting student's education helps her business thrive

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Nina Luo turned her hobby of making jewelry into a business two years ago, and with the help of the skills she has gained at the KU School of Business, it is still going strong.

Luo started N&M Jewelry with her friend Megan Pfau, who goes to Kansas State University, in 2007 after taking a jewelry class in high school. Luo made a pair of earrings out of an Altoids tin, and a friend asked if she could make a pair for her.

"That gave me the idea to see if I could try to sell them," she said. "If one person wanted a pair, they couldn't be the only one, right?"

All of the earrings Luo makes are created from items found around the house, such as bottle caps, wine cork, playing cards and buttons. The earrings are sold in two stores: Beyond the Door in Lawrence and Lulu's in Kansas City. In addition, N&M Jewelry was featured in Kansas City Star Magazine on September 14, 2008.

Besides being an innovative jeweler and entrepreneur, Luo is also an accounting student in the School of Business. She serves as an executive board member of the American Business Women's Association. She said this helped her realize how important communication was to the efficiency of a business.

"Before I came to KU, I would occasionally contact the store owners to see how our earrings were doing," Luo said. "Now, after realizing how important communication really is, I make weekly calls in order to have regular contact with them, making sure they have enough earrings and whether or not they need more delivered."

However, for Luo the earring business remains something fun on the side.

"I enjoy making earrings, so I often think of it as more of a hobby than a business," Luo said. "That would be fun if I could make a living out of it. Unfortunately, I don't think I could. I think I'll stay on the Accounting track."