When you love the holiday season as much as junior Alexis Forgy does, you make it into your brand. Despite already running a small business beforehand, she recently shifted her focus into a festive, holiday-themed shop, Peppermint & Pine Co.

“It wasn’t going terrible, but I wanted to try something new,” she said. “This has gone a lot better than my other one, and I’m really excited about it.”

Rebranding her business was a time-consuming process that required deliberate planning.

“I took a month where I just paused everything and wiped the slate clean,” she said. “I created my new logo, created all the products I was going to sell when I launched it and everything like that — just getting ready and making sure I had all my packaging stuff ready to go so that when I launched it, it was perfect and I wasn’t going to have any issues.”

Forgy sells an array of festive products including holiday decorations, scarves, ornaments and sweatshirts.

“My sweatshirts — I love the sweatshirts — they have little holiday sayings on them, and I think they’re super fun,” she said. “My packaging is also Christmas-themed, so that gets people in the holiday spirit because it’s like opening a Christmas present.”

Forgy has always adored the holiday season and enjoys connecting with her customers about it.

“I think it’s fun getting to talk to people that also love Christmas because I’ve always loved Christmas — even growing up, that was my favorite time,” she said. “A lot of people know this about me, but I literally decorate in October — sometimes at the beginning of October because I love Christmas so much. Getting to connect with people that also love Christmas as much as I do is super fun, and I love that about this brand.”

Although she enjoys running her business, it hasn’t come without challenges.

“You have to be able to manage your time really well because it does get stressful,” Forgy said. “When people order from you, you have to get it ready for them, and you have to have it on time. You have to mentally prepare yourself and make sure you have time for homework, making orders and making new stuff just to keep people interested. It’s hard but it’s really good for someone this age because it requires them to be responsible.”

Having a seasonal brand may also be a challenge itself.

“Not having as much to do during the year — that may be a problem at first,” she said. “It could also potentially lead to me having better products because I’ll have so many months to get them ready for the season.”

Being a business owner herself, Forgy has a different perspective and appreciation for shopping small.

“It’s so much more rewarding shopping from small businesses because they package it themselves and put so much work into it,” she said. “I love ordering from small businesses because every single thing I’ve ordered from a small business has sent me a little note, and sometimes they’ll include extra things for free. It just makes me so much happier ordering from small businesses because I know I’m supporting someone rather than a huge company that already has millions of people ordering from it.”

Forgy has found immense joy in running this business and hopes to continue pursuing this passion later in life.

“I have so much fun making orders and getting them ready for people,” she said. “I’ll probably continue it in the future because I just love doing it so much.”