When Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Liz Klein first started making COVID-19-inspired holiday ornaments with her sons over the summer, she didn’t envision it turning into a national business operation.
The family’s clever coronavirus craft — hand-painted foam balls with “protein spikes” made of cloves — has been ordered more than 1,200 times on Etsy and shipped to all 50 states.
The viral venture began after Klein’s handmade COVID-19 ornament captured the attention of friends and public health colleagues.
“My family has a tradition where we create an ornament that serves as a memento of the year. As an epidemiologist, my No. 1 choice of ornament was the coronavirus,” she said. “After sharing on my social media account, people immediately started asking if I had them for sale.”
Turns out, their interest was contagious. So she enlisted her 7- and 12-year-old sons as business partners to evaluate the marketplace, estimate the cost of materials and assist with production and distribution.
“I didn’t have time to do all of the work, and it would be a way for them to learn some entrepreneurial skills,” Klein said. “They are learning about deadlines, quality control and long-term savings.”
The project has even expanded to a “West Coast facility” (Klein’s sister and nieces) to keep up with holiday demand.
“It’s been an amazing, strange and unforgettable aspect to our family’s pandemic experience,” she said.
