Crafting brilliance through jewelry, Diamond Bar High School seniors Angie Tesoro and Emily Yee have partnered up to create their business, “Snalesoup,” on Instagram. The pair decided to create their brand, inspired by pop culture, with Tesoro handling the production of their products and Yee as their financial and social media manager.
Tesoro, whose passion for arts and crafts has been prominent her whole life, started her shop in June of 2023. Her biggest inspirations are her parents and other DIY Instagram jewelry accounts.
“My parents are jewelers and I always thought what they did was amazing, making customized pieces for their customers,” said Tesoro. “Their jewelry is more professional though, and I wanted to start creating things for people around our age.”
Building a business requires skill, talent and confidence. Tesoro wanted to pursue this because it was her passion, and so her partner, Yee, jumped right in with her. Yee loves doing business and eventually wanted to pursue a career in the field.
“Angie came up with the idea around April or May of this year. As her best friend, I’ve always admired her creativity, and I could tell how passionate she was about what she did,” Yee said. “I wanted to support her however I could, so when she invited me to do this with her, I was immediately on board. And that’s when we started Snalesoup.”
“Snalesoup” all started at Brahma Palooza, an event held by commercial music, that helped start off the business. Seeing the bustling success of their jewelry stand at the event, the two founders moved on to starting their own online business.
“The best thing I’ve ever made was a custom necklace for myself. My grandma gave me a vintage gold fish charm, which wriggled around when you moved it. I thought it was super unique, so I made sure to save it to create something special,” Tesoro said. “Using other vintage stone beads from my grandma’s broken jewelry I made something new and I’m really happy with it. I would never sell it, even though it would go for a lot of money, because it’s sentimental to me.”
Although neither of them are planning on pursuing their brand after high school, it did spark interest in marketing and crafting for the duo. Tesoro really enjoys making things for people in general, so putting together intricate gifts for someone was a great opportunity.
“I don’t think I’ll keep this business long-term, at least as a serious job. It’s definitely an option to keep it on the side though, it just doesn’t pay well enough for me to keep doing it,” Tesoro said.
