It’s no secret that the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences has a diverse student body. With 25 academic departments represented –– spread across the sciences, humanities and social sciences –– its graduates go on to excel in a wide careers.
It’s also no secret that an impressive number of Arts & Sciences alumni are choosing to start their own businesses after graduation, sometimes in fields quite different than those they studied in school. To get an idea of just how varied these business ventures can be, we talked to nine A&S entrepreneurs to learn about how they used the skills they learned at Baylor to achieve success in the marketplace.
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Taylor Paschal (BA ’08)
Live to Love
Only a few people can say they formed a company during their undergraduate years in college, but Taylor Paschal is one of them. Her Live to Love apparel company was started out of her apartment in 2008, the year she graduated with a degree in psychology from Baylor.
Live to Love is a faith-based company with a goal of spreading positive and empowering messages through clothing, accessories, and now prints.
“The negativity of the world, in the media, and simply seeing kids wearing offensive and negative shirts at concerts weighed extremely heavy on my heart,” Paschal said. “I decided to spread a positive message through shirts and clothing by starting a faith-based clothing company. Prior to this, I had never had a job, besides babysitting in high school, so I had zero experience and honestly didn’t know where to start.”
Paschal did some research and came up with a name for her company that doubled as a message. She also created a logo herself and got it screen printed on $75 worth of Hanes T-shirts from the local Wal-Mart.
Paschal had friends in the music industry, who agreed to promote her clothing line at concerts and festivals. That promotion, along with the use of social media and an online store, helped her reach potential buyers throughout the world.
“It was very surreal to receive an order from a country I had never heard of. I guess that was the moment that I knew I had ‘made it,’” Paschal said.
Live to Love continues to be a one-woman show and it isn’t Paschal’s only gig. She’s employed as a therapist at a residential treatment center in Tyler, working with boys from the ages of 10-18 who have endured an immense amount of trauma and abuse in their lives.
Live to Love continues to expand and recently entered the print and card business. One of Paschal’s card designs was featured in a Huffington Post story on “15 Honest Father’s Day Cards to Give Your Parenting Partner.”
“Prints are another great vessel to spread positive messages,” she said.
Paschal said her entire Baylor experience was “astronomically instrumental” in encouraging her career goals. She grew spiritually and felt a calling to make a positive impact. That led to Live to Love apparel.
“My years at Baylor sparked my passion to do something great by being surrounded by inspiring students and faculty every day on campus,” Paschal said. “I would say to current students at Baylor that you go to the greatest university in the world. Use the resources that it provides to make your dreams come true.”
––Julie Carlson