Go onto a Google search and look up the statistics of kids who attain their dream job or one in a similar field. Depressingly, only 30% of people attain their dream job, according to Huffingtonpost.com.

If one wishes to reach their dream there is only the barriers they themselves put there. Saying one cannot because of such and such reason is balderdash.

Lauren Kennedy, a sophomore at Fraser High School, is carving a path to her ideal future in her own way: running and managing her website (www.etsy.com/shop/LaurensCraftsnThings) since July of 2013. At the moment she has 30 orders and over twenty products on her site.

“I make a bunch of stuff. I make accessories. I paint shoes and I make jewelry. That’s mostly it but I can customize anything they want,” said Kennedy. “I use the money I make to buy more art supplies for painting and drawing.

According to collegeboard.org Trends in Higher Education, with each passing year the price of a college education increases. Saving is a must for a student, yet for some parents that is not possible, so the student needs to work his or her way through college.

“My business helps me achieve my dream by helping me save up for more art supplies and getting into a good art school and what not. It’s also helping me save up for things like my tattooing apprenticeship and tattoo supplies and things like that,” Kennedy said, “Tattooing and just dealing with more “out there” and alternative styles of art, like body modifications and what not, just kind of grabbed my attention the most. But of course, I won’t just stop there with my art.”

Kennedy explores not only her crafting, but her drawing and painting. In the Festival of the Senses, Kennedy made a wonderfully crafted 4×4 graphic design of Anti-Black Racism featuring icons from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Bob Marley. Her art teacher, Mrs. Di Pace, had nothing but praise for her.

“The products on Lauren’s website are interesting, some more than others,” said Drawing and Painting teacher Mrs. Di Pace, “It is important to have confidence in your ability to create.  That must be tempered with reality. Confidence can be built by practicing a craft and increasing one’s skill set.  Creativity can be increased by exposure, and by allowing one’s self more and more opportunities to create.”

Kennedy’s accessories range in cost from $5-$20. Her highest-priced item is her hand-painted vans, which go for $120. Just after her webite’s launch, her highest grossing item captured an England band’s attention.

Late August 2013, she posted an incomplete fanart picture of a pair of vans on instagram for an England based band Neck Deep. The quality craftsmanship on the Neck Deep inspired shoes were so extraordinary it caught the band’s eye.

“The band noticed them and wanted me to make some for them. They know of me, and they said “If you’re ever at a concert, you could hit us up and talk to us about selling shoes,” Kennedy said. “They asked if I would make five pairs of shoes for them to sell/auction (they would cover cost of production) and donate a percentage of the proceeds to a charity and to myself.”

Opportunities such as Kennedy’s happen only if the person gives the world a chance to have it happen. Putting oneself out there is the first step to any endeavor from auditioning for a school play to applying for a job. Nothing can start until one gets in motion.

“I’m making portfolios for CCS, college for creative studies. It’s in Detroit; I first heard about it 6th grade but I never got into it until 9th grade. I heard people talk about it a lot. I’m not sure what I want to go into, but I know I wanna go there,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy has a goal in mind, much like everyother student. What sets her apart is her talent in the arts and her actions to attain her aspirations.

“I don’t know what’s expected of a tattoo artist, but the skill set she possesses could take her farther,” said Mrs. Di Pace, “She is extremely talented, hard working, and has highly developed art for a 10th grader. Her touch is sophisticated with a good sense of design.”

Not every person knows what he or she wishes to do in life. It might be discovered down the road, or tomorrow. All one can do is follow their heart to where they’d like to be and let nothing extraneous hold them back.