What did I get myself into?!

Upon graduating from college with a Bachelor's, I had every intention of going back to school for my Masters in Teaching and pursue my desire to teach high school students about expressing their feelings through creative writing. I found myself in a state employee job that I was not very happy with and my educational plans for an MIT was put on the back shelf.

I felt like I woke up one morning and decided to create Trizanh after some friends urged my creativity. I felt like I had a new passion for a viable goal for myself. I was going to start my own small business of making purses. I knew it was going to be hard but I was going to do it. My unhappiness at the full time job continued to consume me and I decided it was time to take the plunge into full entrepreneurship. I quit, got a part time job at Starbucks and focused my energy on branding my business. Almost three years later, Trizanh has grown a lot but there is still a lot of work to do and no guarantee that it will be successful enough for me to live comfortably. Also moonlighting as a wedding coordinator (Weddings with Anh), I "accidentally fell" into the idea of becoming a Project Manager. I already enjoy the job and do part of it for both Trizanh and Weddings with Anh so why not go all the way with a Master's degree to make myself more legit?

As a partner of Starbucks, I have wonderful benefits including help with tuition for school. I went for it and applied to the graduate program at City University for my Masters in Project Management. Now that school is in session, I have not given much attention to Trizanh and now I feel like I got myself into more than I can handle.

Already applying my skills to my own life, I have to divide my time between school and business, in hopes that I don't fail at one or the other... or both. Please excuse me if I seem scattered or chaotic in the months to come. Fret not for I shall continue to create one of a kind purses and Trizanh will only grow stronger as a business as I continue to apply my knowledge to building the brand.

Starbucks Farmer's Market

During August and September, in the plaza of Starbucks' head quarters, a weekly Farmer's Market hosted by the famous Seattle based coffee company provides excitement in the SoDo area. Every Friday from 11-2, vendors of all sorts come out to set up shop. Although it is not as big as the surrounding neighborhood Farmer's Markets, the second annual market hosted by Starbucks is a great way for the company to support other small businesses. Flowers, food, and crafts can all be found in front of the Siren's eye.

In addition to hosting a weekly market during the summer, Starbucks is putting on a holiday show in December. Unlike the summer market, vendors do pay a fee to participate in the holiday show but proceeds to to the CUP fund for Starbucks employees. As a partner of the company, the CUP fund is reserved for emergencies that come up for partners in a financial bind when accidents occur.

Come on down on Fridays in September to check out the Farmer's Market and more details to come about the holiday show.

Handcrafted, just for you

A new collection came to mind since working at Starbucks. So many gift cards are tossed daily and I began collecting them to make a collection out of them. As the wheels in my head turned for ideas, I decided to line the bags with the green aprons baristas wear. However, that turned into another dilemma because I don't have much access to the aprons to continue making the purses as with the gift cards. That idea quickly was shut down until recently, when my store manager requested an iPad bag for her new toy. Not really feeling her as a Formal collection kind of girl, I suggested the idea of the Starbucks gift card bag. Upon receiving confirmation that she loved the idea, I am moving forward with the limited collection titled the WaShu SB collections since that is the name of our Starbucks location.