Our Third IA Maker Market!
April 24, 2025 2025-11-24 0:34Our Third IA Maker Market!
By: Kaelyn Fu and Arshia Rampuria
Overview
The IA Student Enterprise Club promotes entrepreneurship through the organization of IA’s very own student-run maker markets. Students can reserve a table to set up and sell their crafts during the mornings, lunch periods, or even through their virtual classes. These events have been phenomenal opportunities to get the IA body involved in business, acting as the bridge between students and teachers alike. Just this year, we had a Christmas market, a Valentines Day market, and most recently, our Spring Market, wrapping up the year in the final April 15th – April 17th timespan.
IA’s Spring Maker Market
This Spring Maker Market, the Enterprise Club invited ten vendors to share their products. While the timing of this market is right on the cusp of final exams, our vendors have responded with extreme enthusiasm about creating and selling their art to their community—using their passions as fuel for managing tight schedules and sustaining academic performance.
Vendors even got the chance to sell their wares at the Annual IA Phoenix Fest, welcoming incoming freshmen and their parents for the next school year. This was an amazing opportunity for the vendors to not only continue selling their arts but also introducing incoming freshmen to their hobbies and to the Student Enterprise Club as a whole.
Organization + Process
Meryem Babanazarova, the organizer of the activity, made sure the logistics of the event were planned and carried out, from the coordination she had with the members and the allocation of space for each of the individual markets.
Aanya Rampuria, one of the vendors, shares her experience as a part of the market for the first time. “There were three allocated days for the maker market, and, as expected, sales were slow on the first while they picked up on the second and the third. Coordination was key especially in the regard to scheduling shifts for 4th and 5th period in which profits came from both times. In total, alongside setting up a vendor stall in Phoenix Fest, we raised a total of $300 in cash for our non-profit as well as $130 in commissions, almost reaching our goal of $500!”
While her market primarily sold crocheted items and portraits, others surrounded jewelry, coasters, crochet animals, molded items, and various other products, with their own successes and obstacles in the vending process.
While this year’s markets come to a close, we are excited to see what awaits the Maker Markets in the future!
