Meet the Girl Behind Temple’s Favorite Funky Earrings

By: Maryam Siddiqui

If you go to Temple University, chances are you have seen a pair of Rita Thompson’s funky, colorful jewelry on someone’s ears, either out and about on campus or flaunted on an Instagram story. The junior communication studies major started selling her handmade earrings only last semester, but has already developed a substantial following on her business page, @earringsbyrita.

While she has always been creative, jewelry making is actually a recent endeavor. It all started during a study abroad program.

Thompson went to London through one of the Klein College of Media and Communication’s “Klein GO” programs at Goldsmiths, University of London. As the program came to a close, she wanted to find something she could occupy her time with when she went back home for break.

While she was in London, she attended a craft show and saw a booth with a woman selling clay jewelry. Thompson figured it would be a good creative outlet to both keep herself busy while she was on break and to make some money.

“I’ve always been crafty and I feel like I’ve been in kind of a slump. So, that’s what this has been for me,” Thompson said.

She taught herself how to make the earrings from clay, using the Internet to identify the best supplies. At first, she just sold to friends at home in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. When she came back to campus, she sold pairs to her roommates, who told their friends, and it rippled from there through word of mouth.

“Growth was fairly steady once I was at Temple instead of on break,” Thompson said. “[Customers] would send me photos and tag me in their posts. I also did two giveaways on Instagram, and the first one got [the page] over a hundred new followers.”

As her Instagram page suggests, Thompson exclusively does earrings, but she’s gotten some requests for other types of jewelry like rings. However, she has stuck with earrings thus far because that has always been her favorite type of jewelry.

“I’ve always loved big funky earrings,” Thompson said. “I call them an outfit in an accessory.”

That sums up her pieces perfectly. Thompson’s earrings have a specific look to them: bright and contrasting colors with fun shapes. Circles in different styles seem to be her signature, but she has also done snakes, hearts, triangles, and more.

She’s made 32 collections in all of the colors of the rainbow so far, including ones for St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Her favorite one so far has been the Sandstone Collection, a seven-piece set that featured lilac, navy, and orange.

“They were actually colors someone requested and they sold out super fast,” she said.

The Sandstone Collection was so popular that she made a second part to the collection a few weeks later, which again sold out.

Thompson has achieved a lot of success with her business, but that success is not without its challenges. On top of regular coursework and an internship, Rita has to juggle the logistics of running her shop.

“It can get complicated sorting through all these messages. Scheduling all of that, and trying to find people on campus, and remembering which ones sold and to who,” she said.

Thompson has been using Instagram to promote her pieces, as she finds it to be an easy way to connect with her largely Temple student customer base and schedule meetups on campus, which is how she typically sells her pieces.

However, with Temple transitioning online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and students moving back home, she can no longer meet up with customers.

Small businesses across the board have been impacted by the pandemic. A member survey by the National Small Business Association found that almost 50% of owners saw reduced customer demand, and almost 40% were not confident about the financial future of their business.

Thompson has temporarily lost the convenience of an active college campus, but she is not letting that stop her. She already had plans to branch out her business to Etsy this coming summer, but Temple’s transition and her move home has pushed her timeline up.

“Etsy would be more organized, and since I don’t have the ability to meet up with people, it would be better for getting them to more people,” she said. “A lot of my mom’s friends keep asking me where to buy them.”

She also has plans to use her earrings to give back to marginalized communities. In early April, Thompson will be releasing the “420” collection, which features cannabis leaf designs, and promoting the collection through Emerald Magazine, a cannabis-focused magazine she interns for. Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit that advocates for prisoners convicted of low-level cannabis crimes.

While she has her professional sights set on writing, she still hopes to continue making and selling jewelry after graduating next year.

“I’d love to keep doing it after graduation,” she said. “I think it’s important to have something you like doing after graduation besides your career.”

If you’re interested in grabbing some earrings, you can purchase them through her Instagram page and her new Etsy shop.

Cover photo courtesy of Rita Thompson.