Cousins create their own clothing store during pandemic
"If I could have too many bows, I would wear all of them at the same time," said Khyla Phelps.
Khyla Phelps and Jeriya Haynie are also known as Ky and Ry really bows.
"If we wear bows, we might as well just start our own business and make bows," said Khyla.
The pair are only eight and nine respectively but the cousins are as close as can be just like their mothers Ieisha and Tykesha.
"One day, we were in Walmart and we actually went down the aisle where it was just a whole lot of ribbons and so Khylah was like 'mom, can we make bows?" said Ieisha Phelps, Khyla's mother.
And that's when Ieisha Phelps had a new idea. They started their own bow-making business and turned their garage into a store that's now known as the Ky & Ry Bow-tique.
"It was like, a light bulb that went off in my head and I said 'Kylah wants to make bows?'" said Ieisha. "I said 'dude, JeRiya loves bows too,'" said Tykesha Robinson.
"We were going to open up a building, but then COVID hit," Ieisha said.
Quickly the girls realized, their creativity didn't stop with bows.
"And then we added shirts, making shirts, book bags, gift baskets," Ieisha said.
Even though the Bow-Tique is a big deal, the girl's parents make sure their schoolwork still comes first.
"They have to keep their grades up if this is something that they want to do. We update their report cards every quarter, just so the world can also see that they're doing a phenomenal job in school" Phelps said.
Ieisha and Tykesha recognize how the business has helped their daughters put the things they learn in school into real-world experience.
"And so she has to use her mind to go back to see how much change she has to give them back," Phelps said.
And as for the girls' goals with their bowtique?
"We’re trying to make the world a better place to shop," Khyla said.
If you would like to support the Bowtique, you can check out the Ky & Ry Facebook and Instagram pages.