Multiple districts — Some students are born entrepreneurs, with a natural aptitude for turning a hobby or skill into a business. Others just have fun doing their own thing and are fortunate to make a buck while doing what they love.
Either way, Kent County is full of young people who have gotten into the world of business, pursuing their goals and dreams through their own endeavors. SNN talked to four high school entrepreneurs to learn their stories.
Brant Cardenas
Freshman, Rockford Freshman Center
Fashion designer
Brant Cardenas didn’t set out to be a fashion designer, but that’s where life is taking him. The ninth-grader got into the clothing design and manufacturing game about a year ago, when he launched his clothing line, Basho Wear.
He learned the basics of sewing in a class at North Rockford Middle School. He had a sewing machine at home, and when the class ended, he decided to keep at it.
“I just started taking my moves from the class, and I brought it home and started learning more and more,” Brant said.
He and his friends are avid skiers and snowboarders, so Brant started out making gear for them to sport on the mountains at Cannonsburg Ski Area.
“We were just kind of experimenting,” he said, “making beanies that we would wear to the mountain. We got people saying we liked our beanies and it kind of went from there,” branching out into snowpants, T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants and more.
Brant started selling his clothing items on Instagram, and the demand grew until he had to set up the Basho Wear online store through Shopify.
“I design all my snowpants and all my products — every detail, from the sewing and stitching to the materials,” said Brant, who works with a manufacturer in Pakistan who helps bring his designs to life. Then Brant does the final details himself, on the sewing machine.
Though the business runs mostly online now, Brant hopes to start experimenting with physical pop-up shops in the Rockford area.
“I feel like the main goal is just to get out in the snowboarding and skiing community,” Brant said. “Our snowpants are 30% (lower) in price with the same material as the top-tier brands. So just giving out the right material for the right price. … I think we’ll see in the future if we will expand.”
In the past year, Brant’s learned about everything from supply and demand to marketing to website development — skills that will no doubt come in handy if he pursues a business degree, which he’s considering.
Annet Lopez-Pinedo
Junior, Godwin Heights High School
Baker
Annet Lopez-Pinedo’s interest in baking professionally started when she saw a family member making treats for events and relatives.
“I also saw other people on the internet (selling baked goods), so I was like, maybe I should try and start a business,” she said.
After discussing the idea with her parents, who supported her efforts, Lopez-Pinedo launched Annet Sweets on Instagram. She sells a variety of baked goods, including cake pops, brownies, cakes, Rice Krispies treats, chocolate-covered strawberries, flan, and pancakes with chocolate or strawberry.
“I started around Valentine’s Day (2025), and since Valentine’s Day is where you get candy, I started doing a little bit of chocolate-covered strawberries,” she said. “It was successful. I got about seven orders, but I really found passion in it.”
The business is home-based and Annet said she works directly with customers who have allergies so that she can customize items to accommodate individual dietary needs.
“I started my business because I wanted to save up for college and I wanted to start being responsible as well,” she said, but she now has the dream of going bigger by going into the field of finance.
“If I go into finance, I can help my business become stronger and hopefully have my own bakery or place to sell my treats.”
Annet said her dream school is the University of Michigan to study finance, but she also has been looking at Davenport University where she would be able to continue playing soccer.
Maggie Geurink
Senior, East Kentwood High School
Gig musician
Maggie Geurink often packs up her viola on the weekends and travels across the state with the string quintet Fellowship of the String to play classic rock and fiddle music.
The East Kentwood senior and fellow musicians Kenny Walker, Maggie Fisher, Avery Ringstrom and Dylan Gresley, all East Kentwood graduates, perform at festivals, charity events and other gigs.
The tight-knit group enjoys sharing their love of music together, Maggie said, and she loves all the relationships that form as they tour.
“The people I’ve met in orchestra are some of my closest friends to this day,” she said. “The main thing is I enjoy the people I play with.”
Over holiday break, the quintet travelled to Rose City and recorded string parts for rock band Tribe 989. Now, Maggie’s waiting in anticipation.
“They haven’t announced when they will release that yet, but that will be really exciting when they do because then I will have a song on Spotify. That will be pretty cool.”
Maggie said playing in a professional ensemble is a great gig to have. She is doing what she loves and making money as a professional musician.
“It’s not anything substantial, but we do sometimes get paid out for our gigs,” she said, noting that the band is working to create set prices for their services.
They have other goals as well.
“Eventually, we want to get a van to use, because right now we are just piling everything into everyone’s cars and … that’s not the most convenient way,” she said. “We would also like to get more gigs in Grand Rapids, because that is where we are all based and most of our gigs are like an hour to three hours away.”
Maggie started playing viola in sixth grade, in orchestra class. She joined the Anything But Classical (ABC) Orchestra in eighth grade and began to learn how versatile her instrument could be. For school ensembles, she has arranged renditions of “All I Wanted” by Paramour, and “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan.
“That’s when I really fell in love with it,” she said. “I always liked playing, but I never really thought about doing it outside of school. ABC was the main reason that I really love playing the viola, and having that connection between what I know about music in my daily life and what I listen to regularly.”
After graduation, Maggie plans to attend Grand Rapids Community College. While she’s not pursuing a degree in music, she plans to try out for the Kent Philharmonic Orchestra.
“I definitely want to at least keep it on the side for the rest of my life. Once I get out of high school, I will have played for seven years and I don’t want (my viola) to just gather dust after that,” she said.
Kayla Hillis
Senior, Byron Center High School
Baker
Senior Kayla Hillis was 6 years old when she first learned how to multitask. Cooking in the kitchen for the holidays with her mom and grandma, Kayla said she realized she could cook while holding a conversation.
From her early days with a frying pan, her skills evolved into a plan to attend Baker College for her culinary degree next fall and eventually open her own restaurant.
For now, Kayla keeps busy with the culinary program at the Kent Career Tech Center and baking orders for her own small business, which she promotes through her Instagram page, Cooking with Kayla.
“It originally started as making cake pops for the holidays and my friends asking me to make some for them,” she said.
Kayla fills orders for cakes and cake pops between school, homework and working on the weekends.
After lots of practice, she has developed a good recipe, thanks to finding the right ratio of frosting to cake.
“You don’t want to eat a ball of sand,” she said.
Kayla enrolled at the Tech Center during her junior year, after reflecting on how she struggled in school and not knowing what career path she wanted to pursue.
“After starting at (the Tech Center), I knew (baking and cooking) was what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. “It teaches so much and you’re learning how the easy things take hours of work.”
She said her instructors and classmates helped teach her teamwork, empathy and that “you can’t open a restaurant if you’re not passionate.”
Reporters Joanne Bailey-Boorsma, Riley Kelley and Alexis Stark contributed to this story.
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