Interview: Headbands of Hope

I promised in my opening blog to share stories of entrepreneurship and student entrepreneurs from a sideline view. With that in mind, I wanted to profile Jessica Ekstrom, a senior in Communications here at NC State, this week. She is the founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, a company creating hope for young girls with cancer. Her organization's profile seemed like the perfect fit for in-between holidays!


Jessica started as an intern at Disney where she was introduced to children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She immediately took an interest in the children and the organization, which lead to an internship opportunity for her during the summer of 2011. During the internship she met with children in hospitals and went on "wish trips."  Over the course of the visits she discovered young girls liked to wear headbands after losing their hair to make themselves feel girly and pretty. Jessica took this observation to heart and immediately began brainstorming how she could make a significant impact in all little girls' lives who are battling cancer. Headbands of Hope became her passion and creative form of involvement, designing and selling headbands to raise research money for childhood cancers. The name for the company described a feeling and product that Jessica wanted to pursue. Jessica wanted to meet two needs: one directly for the little girls and another for all children battling cancer. It was difficult at first when starting the company, but Jessica reached out to our campus departments to ask questions and form her business plan. She was surprised and grateful for the help and encouragement the Wolfpack was able to provide through her start-up journey. After the website was created Jessica began to promote the business's purpose--once you purchase a headband on her company's website another is simultaneously made for a little girl to receive at a participating hospital. The headbands are available online as well as in some local stores.  Jessica also manages a campus representative program across the country to spread the word. She continues to promote the business through social networking and its website.  Headbands for Hope also has plans to expand into a boys line, which will allow the current Miss. Alaska to endorse the brand as a part of her platform! The business will become a full time opportunity for Jessica after graduation in May and she cannot wait to see what other avenues are available for her business!