HOPE TARIN
CEO & Creative Director at Botanicool
– Merchandise Marketing ‘12 –
What does a “day in the life of you” look like?:
After Wade College, I continued to work for BCBG Maxazria as a Store Manager for 7 years. I absolutely loved the retail world, training people, and ultimately being right in the center of fashion trends. But after much debate, it was finally time for me to part ways with that world and start my future. With everything I learned from Wade College about building a business plan and the knowledge from my retail career, I knew I wanted to do something bigger and especially something on my own. I went through two prior business concepts until Botanicool stuck. Being an entrepreneur is NOT easy.
Now that Botanicool is up and running, it’s all guns blazing from here on out. If I’m not fulfilling an order, I spend the majority of my day cold emailing businesses, influencers, family members, or whoever I can find contact information for! The hustle is very real when you have nobody to rely on but yourself. I love doing pop-up’s at local boutiques and vendor fairs have been a huge hit for me as well. The goal for Botanicool is to be EVERYWHERE at all times.
How did education at Wade College help prepare you for what you are doing today?
Honestly, I went to school for fashion. Now, my business is designing and making planters! It is completely opposite, but still very much the same. Even though I don’t play with clothing fabrics anymore and see what the latest trends on the runway are, I still use my creative side every single day. Taking graphic design and learning Photoshop are now a huge part of my day-to-day. On top of that, I learned how to write a business plan early on as well as how a business should function (Thank you, Mr. Conte).
What advice do you have for students beginning their careers in your profession?
Know that failure is okay. After quitting my career in Retail Management, I had so much failure after always feeling so successful. Walking away from comfort is extremely hard, but is so worth the risk. Everybody is going to fail no matter what, but it’s what you do with that failure that makes you successful. Like mentioned, I had two prior business concepts before Botanicool. I invested so much effort, money, and time into both ideas and they ended up failing. As time progressed I started to realize that those failures were only setting me up to be a stronger, more determined entrepreneur.
What opportunities, decisions, and events have shaped your professional life?
I was blessed with the opportunity to have my product in West Elm last year, which was HUGE. When I started my business my goal was to collaborate with them and it surprisingly happened very quickly and was a major success. Also, I have my product permanently in Gather Kitchen, Ruibals Plants of Texas, and lululemon at Stonebriar Centre. A major decision I had to make when creating Botanicool was the choice to provide a cost-effective product for the consumer while still obtaining a quality design. Most of my competitors still slap a high price tag on their products making it not as attainable for everyone, so I chose to go the opposite route and still give them a beautiful product at a low price.
Are there things that you know now that you wished you had known as a student?
I wish I had some profound answer, but I loved school and took it so seriously which is probably why I am disciplined as a business owner today. I highly advise you to TAKE SCHOOL SERIOUSLY! Study, work hard, and put your best effort into everything you submit to your professor. Before owning my own business, I interviewed people every single day for 7 years and was let down way too many times but non-hard working young adults. The effort starts in school and where you put your priorities. Some may say that statement is very cliche’ but it’s not; it’s just true.
List a fun fact about yourself.
I’m married, have a son, and am running a successful business on my own, all at the age of 27.
