Mercer student starts Instagram business: JeweledbyAQ 

Mercer junior Alexis Quarcoo, the owner of an Instagram shop known as JeweledbyAQ, has been making jewelry since the summer before her sophomore year. 

She started after her aunt took a jewelry-making class and offered to show her what she had learned. 

“I just kind of fell in love with it. I was like, 'wait, this is exactly what I am into, like exactly what I wear. I could make the things that I like just by myself,'” Quarcoo said. 

Entrepreneurship runs in Quarcoo’s family. Her grandmother owns a school in Ghana, and her father owns a pharmacy, so her family was behind her when she decided to start selling her pieces in September of last year.  

Quarcoo is an accounting and marketing major, but she also works in admissions on campus. 

“I am running constantly — it has forced me to become a more organized person for sure, like prioritize things over some things and say no to people when I can’t,” Quarcoo said. 

Her target market is college and high school students due to the trendy and bohemian style of her jewelry.  

“They’re neutral things that you can wear with anything, but there’s an element of it that is fun and trendy,” Quarcoo said. 

There are also a variety of styles that JeweledbyAQ offers, such as chokers, bracelets and necklaces. 

Quarcoo also has an ambassadorship for her business with her business partner, Nadia Pressley. At the moment, they have six girls on staff to help them as their business grows, assisting in making jewelry, marketing and advertising for JeweledbyAQ.  

Quarcoo has been interviewed by VoyageATL about her jewelry-making, but her branding has mostly been on Instagram. She is also working on setting up an Etsy page, as well as a website. 

For now, when someone wants to buy a piece of jewelry, they can direct message JeweledbyAQ on Instagram. 

“It’s been nice being able to communicate with people about exactly what they want in a necklace versus them ordering it on a website and them not knowing what they’re getting. I can just communicate with them directly and if they want adjustments made on it I can do all that over (direct message),” Quarcoo said. 

The pieces on JeweledbyAQ run typically for $18-25 and can be found on Instagram, where she currently has 315 followers.