Sabrina Jarkowski owns a bedazzling business, and it’s booming — right out of her house, in fact.
Jarkowski started Bling by Design in her garage nearly three years ago, and her endeavor now takes up all of that space as well as several rooms inside her Vail home.
“I’ve got a nice car and I can’t park it inside,” Jarkowski said, laughing.
Jarkowski and her employees — two full-time and four part-time — take regular shirts, jerseys, jackets and bags and make them into something more, usually eye-catching and always unique. They use rhinestones, embroidery, screen prints and glitter to adorn not only the outfits of local cheerleaders, dancers and gymnasts, but also sports teams, coaches and parents of athletes.
Sales have increased about 150 percent since last year, she said.
“We make it all ourselves,” she said of her business, which was recently named Pima County’s rural business of the year. “It’s very much hands on, the whole process.”
Jarkowski, 48, said she has loved working out of her home, where it’s been easy to care for her two teen sons. But when materials and machinery recently began encroaching on her living room, she started looking for an industrial space. That search is still underway.
“I know I need to make it happen,” she said. “When we’re slammed, there are boxes everywhere.”
Many of her customers used to order from out-of-state companies, she said, and those orders often took a long time to be delivered. Jarkowski said she pushes for a quick turnaround as well as careful attention to detail.
“She’s definitely good at what she does,” said Luis Ortega, who owns Chaos Elite, a Tucson cheerleading, dance and tumble gym. “I was referred to her from one of our moms. She does everybody’s work now because her products are good.”
Ortega, a coach with 27 years experience who opened his gym three years ago, counts on Bling by Design to turn orders around quickly.
“I can always call her and say, ‘I need this by the end of the day or the end of the week,’” he said.
Jarkowski said she has made a point of hiring women for her business, and allows them a flexible work schedule when it’s needed.
Denise Sides, 45, is grateful for the flexibility. Last week, for example, she left early to get her son to a baseball game.
When someone needs to leave to care for a child, Jarkowski “gets it,” Sides said.
That flexibility is also important for Jarkowski.
“I don’t ever want to look back and say, ‘I wish I’d done more with my family,’ ” she said.
Before Bling by Design, Jarkowski sold PartyLite candles and was ranked the top seller in Tucson. When a friend offered her some equipment for making personalized shirts a few years ago, she decided to give it a go.
Jarkowski’s younger sister, Morgan Jameson, also works on the Bling team. Right now she’s doing screen printing in the quiet of the garage, where she enjoys listening to books on tape.
“She needed help one day so I came out,” said Jameson, 30. “It just stuck.”
One of her part-time employees is Anna Schutze, a graphic artist from Sierra Vista who has worked for Bling out of her home for two years.
The two women met after Schutze did artwork design for a “Relay for Life” event.
“Sabrina was doing those shirts and she liked my work so much she hired me,” said Shutze, 29. “It’s been a great opportunity for me staying home with the kids.”
The number of hours she works varies from week to week. Schutze enjoys her work, especially doing the cheerleading outfits.
“It’s very fulfilling,” she said. “You get to take somebody else’s idea and turn it into something they really enjoy.”
