Junior marketing major builds beauty business with tools gained at KU School of Business
Andrea Atwood finds new ways to market her business venture, Scented Queens, to the KU community
Andrea Atwood grew up making her own skin care products and perfumes, and at 16, she turned this hobby into a business.
The junior marketing major and entrepreneurship minor from the Chicago area began her business called Scented Queen, selling all organic perfumes and sugar scrubs.
“I market toward health-conscious people and women as a whole, which is why I call it Scented Queen,” Atwood said. “The health and eco-conscious people tend to care, and when I market it, I try to explain the benefits of using my product rather than another product.”
Atwood mostly uses Instagram and Etsy to market and sell her products besides her website, ScentedQueen.com. Atwood manages the website herself, applying her marketing major to a real venture. She has had booths at events, such as Mom’s Weekend at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house and a pop-up shop, where she made her biggest sales.
Scented Queen has a mission of helping women achieve their skin care goals by offering affordable options that don’t compromise the quality of ingredients. The products feature organic ingredients, dedicated to safeguarding the skin.
“Ultimately I feel like I am selling confidence to women,” Atwood said. “People think you can only have good skin or be healthy and not both, and so I am trying to sell both.”
Her business began in 2020 when she was 16, but it picked up when the pandemic ended. She participated in the summer farmers market in her hometown, which was outside in a busy area with lots of pedestrian traffic.
Now at KU, she has gained a deeper understanding of her specific audience. She’s found that women in a sorority usually are more likely to spend on these types of products.
Being a marketing major has helped her and her business, and she knows there are still ways to improve thanks to the things she’s learned in the classroom and practiced in her business.
“I want to be better at customer facing,” Atwood said. “Behind the scenes I know how to make my products, I know how to do my website, but I want to make the customer-facing part of my business better and more appealing. I want to continue to network and grow my business, and I think when you are growing a small business, you really need a community.”
Being from Illinois, she wanted to go out of state and try something new. and felt that KU would provide her with new opportunities opportunities and ways to build a community.
At the KU School of Business, Atwood has been involved in The Catalyst program since fall of her sophomore year. Through the program, students develop themselves and their ventures through connections to valuable industry insights. She has been an active member in Women in Finance, and Women’s Business and Marketing clubs since her freshman year. Women in Finance provides women interested in the finance industry opportunities to explore potential career paths through guest speakers and events. The Women’s Business Club promotes the advancement of women in business through professional growth, networking and service to the community. The Marketing Club listens to guest speakers in the marketing or advertising field and provides students with real-world knowledge about what it is like to work in those fields. Through this involvement, Atwood feels what she is gaining most is a sense of community.
“Now that I have been in those clubs, I have gotten to know more people in the School of Business,” Atwood said. “It is so nice to see and know people; it makes me feel so much more comfortable.”
At KU, she works at the University Career Center as a student specialist and has been there since August of 2023. She works at the front desk taking phone calls, reviewing resumes and scheduling appointments. She also helps with events like Mocktails and Mingle, which introduces students to alumni and local leaders for networking and career exploration. She has helped with internship fairs, which allows her to meet recruiters.
Atwood is also involved with choir, her hobby of 12 years. She was involved in the Crimson and Blues acapella group her freshman year and part of her sophomore year, performing at the Kansas Union. Every fall she participates in the Oread Singers, a choir that performs music ranging from classical literature to contemporary pieces. The group performs with the KU Glee Club and is open to all majors.
The summer before her senior year at KU, she interned for Centier Bank in northwest Indiana as a retail banking intern. She spent most of her time working in a bank and conducting market research and presented her findings to a group of 100 people.
In the future, she hopes to gain more marketing experience, and she’s still working on her business. If she is able to get it off the ground, Atwood hopes to be working on her business full time and have started another business. Her goal is to be a serial entrepreneur.
“I hope to find myself in another new environment, coming from Illinois to Kansas; I want to be somewhere new again and continue to expand myself,” Atwood said.
By Grace Ludes
