Sitting Down With Aujenay Cianciola

Cianciola features several of her products on set. Photo by Abigail Cloutier/The Jambar

By Abigail Cloutier

Cianciola features several of her products on set. Photo by Abigail Cloutier/The Jambar

This week, I sat down with Aujenay Cianciola, a senior telecommunications major. She owns and operates an accessory business “Elese Luxuries.” For the full interview, tune in to JambarTV Friday at noon on thejambar.com or YouTube.

What inspired you to start your business?

I wanted to start my own business because I honestly just wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to show my brothers that they could do their own thing, and I wanted to take a risk and see how we go. I feel like when … you add accessories, it completes the outfit. It’s like we’re making a sandwich. Okay, you have peanut butter and jelly. No one wants the dry peanut butter sandwich. The jelly is very important. So I feel like accessories are the same way. I just wanted to get into something that I really love, which was fashion.

 

What was it like getting that business off the ground while you’re still in school? How do you do it all?

I’ve only had a business for about two months now. So it’s still hard. It’s honestly trying and you know, it’s difficult. But every day, I’m motivated to get up and try more. So I mean, it’s difficult, but it’s something that I’m ready to see what it’s going to turn out like. [It’s] time management, time management, organization and more time management. I have a planner that I write in every single day, I start my week off, which is Sunday, I start my week off where I plan everything. So I’ll write down every class, every meeting, every study session, if I have to ship out packages, I write it all down in detail, so I won’t miss out on anything.

 

How does having your own business make you feel?

Empowering, you know, I wanted to start Elese Luxuries. So that, you know, the people that feel invincible in this country, you know, I want it to showcase like, look, you don’t have to fit in a box to enjoy the luxuries of life. So I created this for those people. So it feels empowering to know that, you know, people support me and people want to shop with my business. So that’s what it means for me.

 

Do you have any advice for students looking to start their own business?

I would tell them to do it. Just start you know, I’m a perfectionist. I basically, I want to say for a year I wrote down everything. I didn’t do anything for like a year and a half. So take your time plan but just do it because if you don’t start then what’s the point.