Hand-made earrings, cover songs for food banks, unique cookies, and a pro bono initiative
This year has certainly been unusual. The U of T community made the best of summer 2020 and did a lot of cool things! Ultra Vires was able to sit down to chat with some of the U of T community. Below are interviews with Charlotte Butler, Anna Zhang, Maggie Arai, and Davina Shivratan.
Charlotte Butler (2L), Dr0ppesh0ppe
Charlotte sells hand-made earrings and necklaces through her Instagram account. Her crafts are priced between $10 and $15 and half of the proceeds goes to organizations dedicated to racial justice. To this day, Charlotte has made over 170 pairs of earrings, including gifts for her friends.
Ultra Vires (UV): What brought you into making earrings and necklaces? How did you learn?
Charlotte Butler (CB): I have loved crafting since elementary school. I went to an arts day camp, and that was where I learned about beading, clay, and jewelry-making. In elementary school, my mom bought me some bakeable polymer clay, called Sculpey, and my friend and I became obsessed with making Harry Potter figurines at sleepovers.
I am drawn to tactile activities when I feel stressed about school. I started embroidering during my final year of undergrad, and I took up knitting last winter. Last December during my 1L exams, I decided to make Sculpey earrings. I had seen something on Instagram, so I made a bunch feverishly and gave some away for Christmas.
UV: Was that when you started Dr0ppesh0ppe?
CB: No, not yet — I initially put the rest of the earrings I made in storage. I did not think the first batch were good to sell, but when the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement gained momentum in June, I started thinking about earrings again. Like a lot of people, I felt confused about how to contribute in a meaningful way. I decided to try to sell some earrings I had made and promised to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to BLM-related organizations.
That was when I made an Instagram account called Dr0ppeSh0ppe, added some of my friends who I thought might be interested, and posted the first bunch of earrings on June 7. I was amazed by the response. The 11 pairs I posted sold out that afternoon and people direct messaged me on Instagram saying they wanted more. I continued getting more specific requests for earrings — lemons, cherries, ice cream cones — so I made those too and posted them as “custom orders.” It was busy!
UV: How do donations work and which organizations have you been donating to?
CB: I initially had people either send me a receipt of their donation in order to secure a pair of earrings, or donate to me directly and I would make a donation on their behalf. The first organizations I donated to were For the Gworls, Assata’s Daughters (in Chicago), and Taking What We Need.
I eventually adjusted the donation amount to 50 percent, because I was spending a fair amount of time making earrings and I had to pay for extra materials. I decided I wanted to focus on Toronto-based organizations, so I donated to the Black Legal Action Centre, Ocama Collective (a community-directed organization that supports Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour birthworkers) and Black Creek Community Farm (an urban agricultural centre that empowers diverse communities through sustainable food). It was a great way to learn about Toronto-based organizations that support the BLM movement.
UV: How did making earrings affect your experience with the pandemic?
CB: It was a good reason to reconnect with friends I had not seen for a while, even for a brief visit as they picked up their earrings. I asked people to send me photos in their earrings, and it made me so happy to post them on the “Sh0ppegirls” part of my Instagram page. It was also a great opportunity to learn about other people in my community who use Instagram as a way to promote small businesses or art projects.
Even after we are somewhat used to the pandemic new normal, I will continue making earrings on the side. I will not be taking commissions or posting big collections now that the school year has started, but it’s a good way for me to unwind after a big school day and to counteract lots of reading.
Dr0ppesh0ppe has been such an amazing part of the last few months, and a lot of that came about because of COVID-19 and BLM. This is a trying time, but I think it has given people an opportunity to take initiative and be intentional about things we care about.
Anna Zhang (2L), Keys for COVID
Anna started Keys for COVID to fundraise for food banks during the pandemic. In return for donations, she creates piano or instrumental covers that people request. At time of writing, Keys for Covid has raised $5,750. The project’s Instagram page features videos Anna has made so far, and she plans on adding new content during the school year.
UV: Has the pandemic affected you as an artist? How do you think the music community has coped with it?
Anna Zhang (AZ): Musicians and artists in general have been hit hard by COVID-19. People who used to do live performances no longer get those gigs. If you teach students, you need to make it work through Zoom or FaceTime. I was teaching at a piano studio during 1L, and moving over to online sessions was quite weird at first.
But the community has been adapting. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra started streaming virtual performances quite early on. That was how I came up with the idea for Keys for COVID.
UV: What was it like to play the piano for Keys for COVID during the lockdown?
AZ: It was comforting to go back to Alberta to live with my family, and I had a piano back home (I just got one for my Toronto place as well to keep making covers for the project). The whole experience brought me closer to people. I reconnected with friends I grew up with in the music community and got to collaborate with some talented artists within the law school.
Making covers also exposed me to lots of different music. Some requests were such interesting challenges that it would take me days to record the videos.
UV: What was the most interesting or difficult song you have been requested to cover?
AZ: Mo Bamba by Sheck Wes. It was almost the same note over and over, so I resolved to banging different kitchen stuff to create sounds that make the cover interesting. Being in a lockdown made you more creative – I used breadcrumbs for tuning and incorporated the sound of aluminum foil.
UV: Keys for COVID has been featured in multiple news articles including CTV News Edmonton. Do you have any marketing-related advice for students trying to start their entrepreneurial projects?
AZ: I reached out to several media outlets and no one got back to me for weeks at first. Then the Edmonton Journal contacted me out of the blue and published the first news piece about Keys for COVID. The other outlets just followed suit. It was easy after the first one, so my advice would be—I know this sounds cheesy but—don’t be afraid of rejections!
Maggie Arai (2L), Vagabond Cookies
Maggie and her partner’s Vagabond Cookies takes only 100 orders each month. Other than baking and developing new flavours, they also post mouthwatering Instagram photos.
UV: Do you have any flavour recommendations for your cookies?
Maggie Arai (MA): Definitely “The Safe Option.” That’s the only flavour that we have every single month, and it’s amazing. Everyone we have met so far is obsessed with it. It’s stuffed full of milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and SKOR bits. You’d be surprised how huge of a difference the toffee bits make in terms of flavour!
UV: Many of us tried to pick up baking during the lockdown and were not all successful. How did you start baking cookies? Did you have any tips for aspiring bakers?
MA: I’ve been baking these cookies for about two years because my partner is obsessed with cookies. I think for the two of us the lockdown really changed things because suddenly we had a lot more free time. We’re both pretty entrepreneurial, so we jumped at the chance to try (yet another) business!
In terms of tips for aspiring bakers, my lockdown experience taught me […] don’t make sourdough! (Just kidding, everyone else but me should totally try this. But in my case, I think I just ended up growing a jar of horrid smelling gunk in my oven.)
UV: How has the pandemic affected Vagabond?
MA: It has definitely affected shipping for Vagabond. At the moment, we are paying for a faster shipping option than we would technically need if all shipments were on time. Obviously, since we’re dealing with an edible product, we want people to receive the cookies when they’re as fresh as possible! We hope that eventually, once shipping times return to normal, shipping will be less expensive for our customers (particularly the ones outside of Ontario!)
UV: Any fun stories about baking or running Vagabond Cookies?
MA: Every month we offer three different flavours: the Safe Option, a New Option, and a Mystery Option in which you don’t know what you’re going to get. We try to create something that’s totally different from cookies you can get anywhere else. It is really hard to be 100 percent unique with food, because a lot of the flavours haven’t been done for good reason.
The very first Mystery flavour I tried to develop was a Nutella Cheeto flavour. We kept videos of Ademola (my partner) and I dipping flaming hot Cheetos into a jar of Nutella to see if the combination would work. The surprising thing was that it totally did! The unsurprising thing was that trying to translate that into a cookie involved weeks of attempts, several unlucky taste-testers, a whole lot of imagination, and ultimately, total failure. Somewhere in my heart, though, I still really want to make this flavour work. Someday.
Davina Shivratan (JD/MBA 2020), LawLinks
Davina and her sister, Nadia, started LawLinks to connect law students to volunteer opportunities. Over 400 students from 16 law schools across Canada have registered with the non-profit initiative. Davina and Nadia have matched students with over 100 projects since May.
UV: What inspired you to start LawLinks?
Davina Shivratan (DS): Amidst the massive impacts COVID-19 had to our society, Nadia and I noticed that many firms were cancelling hiring due to financial uncertainties in the pandemic. As such, many law students were unable to find employment or had potential employment opportunities cancelled. We saw a need that wasn’t being met and wanted to find a way to help.
In response, we launched our non-profit initiative, LawLinks, to connect law students with project-based volunteer opportunities at law firms and organizations. This both provided students with meaningful experiences while providing smaller firms with hands-on assistance.
UV: How long did it take you between coming up with the idea and starting LawLinks?
DS: Once we had the idea, we moved immediately to getting our thoughts formalized and creating our website. Within a matter of days, we build a strong foundation that we were confident launching. We didn’t overthink it; if you don’t start working on an interesting idea, it may never happen.
Our business backgrounds and complementary skills helped quite a bit. Nadia was great at marketing and design. I focused on setting up a matching process. We managed to be up and running within 24 hours. We had quite a lot of interest from students early on, so we eventually took on volunteers to help reach out to lawyers and organizations throughout the summer.
UV: What were some of the channels you used for marketing or reaching out?
DS: We did a lot of social media marketing and also relied on our personal network. The Faculty of Law was also very supportive.
LinkedIn is a useful platform if you are a law student interested in entrepreneurship. You can find and connect with law professionals who have chosen entrepreneurship as a career interest. They understand the challenges involved and are usually willing to help.
UV: Do you have any advice for law students interested in starting their own projects?
If you’re contemplating starting something, just go for it! The downside is minimal, and it is completely fine to fail. You’ll learn so much from the process.
There are a lot of resources you can access as a student, and many great programs if you’re interested in entrepreneurship. At the law school, the Not-for-Profit Board Governance Clinic provides students the chance to help an organizations’ board of directors solve real problems. Within the JD/MBA program, Rotman’s Creative Destructive Lab program allows you to work with a start-up throughout the school year.
These interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity.
