Heart Eyes for Gen Z

Millennials are changing the world: we’re the most educated generation, we aspire to help as many people as possible in any way available, we believe in equal rights for everyone and we understand that scientists are almost always right (huffingtonpost.com). Aside from Generation Z being so pro-minority groups and “for” changing how the world works, we are also the generation that vastly creates and controls entrepreneurship roles. This group of our generation is named “millennipreneurs”.

This is a generation that is overshadowing the efforts of the previous generation, Generation Z; our generation is discovering entrepreneurship much earlier meaning more companies are created, larger staffs are being managed and higher profits are being targeted. Our generation is also very concerned with how their companies will impact society in the earlier stages of their business versus Generation Z: who thought of the philanthropical aspect after they thought about wealth (fortune.com). One of these young entrepreneurs is Dawson’s own Giulia Caruana.

Caruana is the creator and owner of Heart Eyes Press, a small Montreal-based button pin business. She started her company in April of 2016 on a whim of loving button pins and wanting to express her creative side. When asked how she got her business started, she said: “I had the idea one day last year, did lots of research, bought a button pin machine, and started designing some pins! I get some help from family and friends.” Customers have the option of choosing amongst designs on the site which are also featured on the Instagram page, or to create their own designs; “it is our mission at Heart Eyes Press to provide you with pins that give you heart eyes!”

In terms of how she gets known on the market, she had this to say: “A lot of the marketing with Heart Eyes Press happens through our Instagram, which directs sales to the website (hearteyespress.com). I try to follow people that I think would be interested in my products, and if they follow back, I've just made a potential sale. I can meet a lot of cool people; I've made a lot of friends through Heart Eyes Press [since my customers are] mostly young, artsy, super nice individuals. Mostly feminists, environmentalists, social rights activists. I’ve also got some really cool adults rocking my pins and that makes me very happy!”

The pins are more than adorable accessories to deck out you bags or jackets; they, as well as the shipping costs (which reach an international audience) are affordable. In terms of the philanthropical aspect of Caruana’s company, she tries “to make Heart Eyes Press as environmentally sustainable as possible. I make sure not to waste paper and use materials that are not harmful to the environment; Heart Eyes Press is also a cruelty-free brand. All of the pin parts are made in the US, and I assemble them myself.”

“The money is getting saved up right now. Just recently, however, I hosted a sale at Dawson for Women's Week, and all the profits went to Rock Camp for Girls, a summer camp in Montreal for girls and gender non-conforming youth. I hope to use Heart Eyes Press to do some fundraising for other causes that are important to me, hopefully sometime in the near future!”

So, although Generation Z and Millenials are labeled for being entitled and narcissistic (forbes.com), it is obvious that Caruana—among the thousands of young people of our generation—aims to change the stereotype for our generation by creating, distributing and sustaining the environment. We are the generation of progress and of innovation towards a better tomorrow; Generation Z will change the world.

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