Ryan Be Tryin' creates festive Coach O earrings for game day

Ryan Be Tryin' creates festive Coach O earrings for game day - The Reveille, LSU's student newspaper

Posted: 01 Oct 2019 12:00 AM PDT

Does anything show your dedication for the Tigers more than having Coach O's face on your earrings for game day?

Ryan Be Tryin' caught the internet's attention last week when Barstool LSU posted a picture of a customer wearing earrings with LSU football coach Ed Oregeron's face on them. The caption said, "High fashion at its finest."

Louisiana native and Ryan Be Tryin' creator Ryan Sonnier had no idea where the influx of customers to her Etsy shop was coming from. Sales were coming directly from Instagram with many LSU fans ready to get their hands on the unique item.

Sonnier sells a lot more than the face of Coach O, even though that's enough for a lot of Tiger fans. She also sells earrings with the faces of other famous coaches and football players. You name it, she has it: Celebrities, TV and movie characters and emojis.

With a fun name filled with as much spunk as the shop itself, Ryan Be Tryin's name came about by accident.

"It was just kind of a joke between my mom and I, and I just rolled with it," Sonnier said.

Sonnier worked for a criminal defense attorney for 12 years before she became pregnant. During her pregnancy, Sonnier was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, a type of severe morning sickness women can get during pregnancy, which caused her to quit her job.

After her son was born, she was still recovering and not yet ready to return to work, so she started making t-shirts, earrings and other monogramed items to make money.

One day, one of her friends sent her a business logo and asked if she could put it on a pair of earrings. After that same friend posted the earrings on social media, Sonnier recieved hundreds of messages from people requesting to purchase a pair.

After completing 100 earrings with the help of her mother and realizing the

potential of her business, Sonnier decided to branch out even more with her designs.

"My imagination just started going wild, and I started making all kind of different ones. Then my friend encouraged me to open up an Etsy shop, so I did that, and now I make all kind of different designs, and it's my full-time job," Sonnier said.

Ryan Be Tryin' has a wide variety of choices, with earrings for football and spooky season already up on Etsy. Seasonal choices are always huge, but

Dolly Parton, Biggie and Tupac are some of her biggest regular requests.

The designer thinks of all of the popular people and things related to the season or events happening at that time to get ideas for her earrings. Once she makes a custom earring for someone, she will post it to her Etsy and repost it on her Instagram so people can have inspiration and buy that certain style if they're interested.

Along with earrings, Sonnier makes necklaces, pins, bracelets and key chains. The best part is that everything is available to be custom made, with the opportunity to change the size and design of the earrings.

Imagine going to a concert with the lead singer dangling from your ears or to your best friend's wedding with her on your left ear and the groom on your right.

From family members, pets, bachelorette and birthday parties, Sonnier has done it all. As long as you can think of it, Sonnier will make it.

"I don't know if I should say, but I made it," Sonnier said when asked what was one of the craziest custom order she's ever made. "I learned I don't ask questions; I just make the earnings."

Sonnier's regular earrings sell for $10 and her custom earrings sell for $15. With unique items and great prices, Ryan Be Tryin' will continue to be a stand-out competitor. The shop was already an Etsy top 5,000 shop in 2018, and Sonnier sells to every state in the country. She also ships internationally.

Sonnier taught herself how to do all of the editing and printing required to make her jewelry, making Ryan Be Tryin' a true home-grown, self-run business success story.

"Ryan Be Tryin' to get out there," Sonnier said while speaking about her desire to continue to grow her business.

Getting into more boutiques and making her business bigger and better are her main goals. She already has many distributors in multiple states that buy wholesale from Ryan Be Tryin', including Baton Rouge's very own Hey Penelope.

Sonnier is in the process of opening up her own website in addition to her Etsy shop. She also wants to look into getting her earnings into more boutiques.

Ryan Be Tryin' is quickly going from a one woman show, to a full-blown business, with the many faces showcased on her earrings making hers one to know.