With entrepreneurship in her genes, and her being a student athlete, Katarina Samardzija, Founder of Locker Lifestyle spotted a great opportunity to create “wearable lockers” as she calls them. Katarina wanted to go to med school, but after starting the company she changed her major to Entrepreneurship & Marketing at GVSU. She then received her BOA in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell. Both of Kat’s parents have their own businesses so entrepreneurship has always been in her blood! She was practically raised in her mother’s bridal store and grew up selling gowns, cleaning the stock room, and travel to bridal markets.
Locker Lifestyle has won more than 15 entrepreneurship challenges and recently won the Texas Mass Challenge, winning $25,ooo.
CAMPUSTYCOONS caught up with Katarina to find out all about her journey as a student entrepreneur and how she does it so well and makes it look so effortless and cool.
Read on…
- What is the story behind starting Locker Lifestyle?
Our story begins in 2017 when our Founder and CEO, Katarina, a Division II college athlete, went to the gym with her teammates after tennis practice. All she needed was an ID and key, but she ended up bringing a bulky wallet, and other unnecessary items she was not able to store safely. When her and her teammates had their valuables stolen she knew she had to do something about it because the only alternative were bulky & poor-quality running belts. She went to her mother’s bridal salon, drew up designs, met with her mother’s head seamstress, and after a few hours, Locker Lifestyle® patterns and prototypes were born.
- What do you think are your accomplishments so far?
One of the biggest company accomplishments was being the youngest to win the FedEx Small Business grant contest in 2018. Obtaining our first patents and trademarks were a major milestone in the growth of the company.
- What was the source of your initial funding?
We started selling our first prototypes right away. Additional funding came from over 14 entrepreneurial pitch competition wins that aided our first manufacturing batches, marketing, and product development.
- What is your mission, and do you see yourself continuing with this effort even after graduating?
The mission of Locker Lifestyle® is to inspire a life without excuses to simplify the way you workout, travel, and adventure. We create products that serve as “wearable lockers” to securely stash necessities (such as cash, keys, an ID, phone, lip balm & more)!.
Our founder graduated from GVSU in 2019 and took the company full-time after leaving the university.
- Who are your customers?
Our primary target market are females ages 30-45. Locker Lifestyle® products are unique because of their patentability, high-quality, and versatility. Athletes, moms, travelers, concert-goers, and theme park lovers have tried, tested, and loved the distinctive design and purposeful creation within each product.
- Who all have been influential in this journey? You may include family, friends, mentors, books etc.
My biggest inspiration are my parents and grandparents. My grandparents came to this country with $1 in their pocket and started their lives. My parents then continued their legacy to pursue their own businesses and support their children. Without them, Locker Lifestyle would have never started. My biggest mentors have been instrumental because they were my connections to manufacturers and growth coaching support.
- What are some of the challenges you see in being a student entrepreneur?
- Challenges: I was a student-athlete so time management was very difficult. I used to average 4-6 hours of sleep per night during the week trying to get studying, work, and practice done.
- Advantages?
Many professors and people in the work force are very willing to help and support students. Don’t be afraid to ask!
- How much time do you and your team spend working on your company?
I work on the company full-time, sometimes Monday-Sunday.
- What role do you think a school plays in the journey of a student entrepreneur?
My education aided the growth of my company because my professors were extremely supportive. I was able to use my student status to enter pitch competitions and get access to many free resources and funding.
- Do you see academics getting affected?
There were times I was doing work while being in class and it was distracting. I did my best to coordinate both, but sometimes studying and school work fell behind. Although, I worked hard to still maintain my dean’s list status!
- What is the one thing that keeps you going?
I love getting customer messages, pictures and emails saying how much they love our products or that it makes their lives easier. When things get difficult, I re-read these messages to reassure myself that what I am doing has an impact on the way people are able to experience their lives.
- What are some things you wish you knew a year (or two) ago?
I wish I knew more about forecasting for inventory and how much to purchase at a time. Lead times are long for production and can be frustrating.
- What are some of the tools or resources that you vouch for?
My favorite website platform for e-commerce is Shopify, the best editing app is Canva, and what keeps me organized is my Panda Planner!
- How do you prioritize your activities in a day/ week?
I plan a general goal list for each month and then break it down week by week and organize my day the night before. I like to list my tasks from 1-10…etc in order of importance so I do the important things first.
- Anything else you would like us to know about you or your organization?
We’re in over 45 retailers nationwide and plan to launch a new patented product soon!
- What would you suggest to students looking to turn entrepreneurs?
- I would advise any student looking to start a business to stop questioning themselves and just go for it! There are so many resources available for students and your professors would love to know what you’re doing outside the classroom. Don’t ever be afraid to reach out or ask for help!
- What is the one quote you live by?
- “Find a group of people who challenge & inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them. It will change your life.”
Innovation for CoVID 19
- How did CoVID 19 affect your business?
- The majority of our retailers had to close so we had to pivot our distribution to be primarily online.
- We see you have taken a detour to help Medicos through headbands. Can you tell us more?
- We heard about the difficulty of wearing face masks for long periods of time. Front-line workers have to wear them for hours at a time which leads to serious ear irritation. I recruited my grandmother to teach me to sew buttons on our current non-slip pocket headband. We posted a short online video that went viral so we’ve been sewing buttons on our headbands ever since! From grocery store workers to healthcare professionals, anyone with a mask has been wearing our non-slip headbands to save their ears.
- How many medicos have been helped so far?
- We’ve distributed almost 600 headbands to front-line workers.
- How do you see next steps?
- We increased production of our button headbands and have created a new product to help individuals in the post-pandemic world. We will be releasing this product in about a month!
Congratulations to Katarina and her team and we wish you a lot more success in this journey.
