The hard work of sisters Lauren Schwing ‘18 and Lexi Lindemulder ‘22 can be seen on campus at Texas A&M every day. It glints off the wrists and fingers of college girls, with the iconic look of gold beads tied into large bows.
In true Steve-Jobs-garage-startup fashion, the two sisters started their business — Beaded Blondes — at their parents’ dining room table in October 2020, co-founder Lindemulder said. Now, the brand is available in more than 2,000 stores nationwide, licensed to create merchandise for 18 universities and has grown from a team of two to a warehouse of 70 employees and friends alike.
Now a household name for many College Station residents, the journey started when co-founder Lauren began accenting her Aggie Ring with small gold beads to add her own personal touch to the tradition, Schwing said.
“Finding something that’s a void needing to be filled is so important when starting something,” Lindemulder said. “The affordable way to accent your class ring really wasn’t a thing, so when Lauren started pairing it with her ring, that’s when we felt like this is something that we need to share with the world.”
As they began sharing and selling their gold-beaded Aggie Ring wraps, the two college students soon realized they had entered an untapped market. Schwing and Lindemulder saw that the stylish gold-filled beaded jewelry was the quality and price that A&M students were seeking, according to @beadedblondes on Instagram.
It all started growing up in a tight-knit family and watching their parents run their own businesses, Schwing and Lindemulder said. With Schwing being more analytical and Lindemulder favoring the creative design side of the business, the pair was confident they’d make strong co-founders — being sisters was just an added bonus.
“It’s a perk that we’re so close, just because we can really tell each other exactly how we’re feeling, and we both want what’s best for each other and what’s best for the brand,” Lindemulder said. “So it’s honestly really nice that we are sisters in business.”
After both sisters graduated, one year into the business, they bought a 12-by-24 shed for their parents’ backyard with a single extension cord running through the grass to supply power. They named it the “She Shed” and hired four girls to be the company’s first stringers, Lindemulder said.
“Once we had a space that was outside of our parents’ dining room, we felt like that was a good point to where we could start hiring people,” Lindemulder said. “Because it was a little more separate.”
In 2023, Lindemulder said the duo decided to upgrade to a 1,600-square-foot shed where they worked to grow the business for another year and a half. The shed commonly fell victim to the Texas weather, leaving the girls on both extremes of the hot and cold spectrum throughout the year.
As they noticed themselves growing out of the shed once again, the sisters moved into a new 4,000-square-foot shed in February — opening up their first Beaded Blondes showroom attached to the workspace, Schwing said.
“It’s funny because we always know when it’s time for us to go ahead and move to the next step,” Lindemulder said. “We get to a point where we’re covered in boxes and can’t really move anymore.”
With supplies and employees already piling up in their newest workspace after nine months, Lindemulder said the sisters are already looking to move into a larger space.
Beaded Blondes is currently licensed with 18 universities like Tennessee, Alabama and a majority of the Southeastern Conference, Schwing said. Texas has not yet made the list.
“What’s funny is the University of Texas tried to pick us up,” Schwing said. “But they didn’t approve us for licensing, so it’s a joke that it’s because we’re Aggies.”
Schwing and Lindemulder began to notice their social media following growing in 2023, after participating in #RushTok and sorority recruitment on TikTok and Instagram. Since then, Lindemulder said they’ve steadily grown their following and began licensing their brand to do gameday colors for schools across the country.
“We constantly grow and grow and grow, but now we’ve started doing marketing ads and TikTok, so within the last year, it’s really taken off,” Lindemulder said. “I think this last year, we’ve probably grown like 10k to 20k in followers —not just from paid ads but also from TikTok videos going viral.”
While paid advertisements have helped Beaded Blondes gain exposure on social media, Schwing said the most important thing to the Beaded Blondes sisters is the organic connections they’ve made with the stores and communities that they sell to.
“People like to see a familiar brand and want to support you even more, because they kind of know the story behind the brand,” Lindemulder said. “So we really try to put out that it’s more than just the product but it’s about the team that we’ve built, the woman-owned business and young entrepreneurs.”
The sister’s mission to connect with their customers is a sentiment that marketing senior and Event Coordinator Halli Eagle attributes to their supportive customers. Eagle said she believes people keep coming back to Beaded Blondes because of Schwing and Lindemulder’s efforts to value every purchase.
“They’re very giving, to not only their employees but also the people that they surround themselves with and their customers,” Eagle said. “I feel like that’s because they’re still kind of small, so they remember what it was like to only have the two of them working.”
By sharing milestones and victories with their followers and staff, Eagle said the Schwing sisters recognize how much customers value that kinship and insight.
“They’re very public about how much we’ve grown too, they share that with the world,” Eagle said. “I feel like we’re really close to our customers, and so they also celebrate with us whenever we reach new goals.”
Another big priority for Beaded Blondes is creating an environment for employees to feel like a part of the bigger picture, Lindemulder said. Both sisters want Beaded Blondes to be more than just a job, so they work to make their employees feel heard and appreciated.
Of all the employers Eagle has had, she said Beaded Blondes has been the most grateful for her continued employment. Whether they’re bringing the girls Crumbl cookies on a Friday or giving them free merchandise for showing up to work, Eagle recognizes how much Schwing and Lindemulder do for them.
“We definitely try to make it a very open environment so that they can come to us with stuff,” Schwing said. “Because ultimately, we’re learning too. It’s our first time growing something to this magnitude.”
As Beaded Blondes continues to grow, Schwing and Lindemulder hope to inspire other women to start a business themselves. Since owning a business comes with risks and high upfront costs, Lindemulder said they had to be okay with not making any money at first.
“We didn’t pay ourselves for a long time, because everything goes back into the business,” Schwing said. “But for us, it was more than just money and making sales, it was creating something that we can leave behind or we can do good with.”
Schwing and Lindemulder attribute their continued success to their parents and partners as well. Beaded Blondes has provided them the flexibility to give back to their parents, who have been known to drop everything when Schwing and Lindemulder needed help, Schwing said.
“We were just able to get a beach house for our family in Galveston, and that was a huge milestone that our families have talked about for as long as we could walk,” Lindemulder said. “We’ve always wanted a beach house in Galveston, and now we’re able to do that for our parents.”
As the Beaded Blondes sisters continue to grow their team, their priorities and personal lives have come back to the center, and while Lindemulder plans her wedding, Schwing hopes to start a family in the coming years.
Keeping every mission in mind, Schwing and Lindemulder said they look forward to being able to help other women create successful businesses in the future.
“Just as women, we need to be more confident,” Schwing said. “Because we’re all capable of great things.”
