In one sense, Karen Sentner is like a lot of people. In another sense, her story is wholly unique.
Today Sentner owns an online business called Haley Madison Design Studio. It's an Etsy business, where she designs and sells party invitations, announcements, and posters. In just a few short years she's grown her business from nothing to nearly 30,000 sales.
Her story is part of a series of SWFL Reinvented stories. We spotlight people who lost everything in the recession, and then came back with a new business. We also showcase people who built something from the ground up, or had an idea to do something different and took a chance to build something new.
Sentner's story starts in a way a lot of people can relate. She went to work every day but always saw herself doing something else.
"I was working in a bank for about five years, but I always knew I wanted to do something creative," she says.
Around the time she had her first child, she decided to leave the bank and start her own business.
"So I started juggling things right away."
And Haley Madison Design Studio, named after her daughter, was not an overnight success.
"I think I went two weeks when I opened my shop online and I had absolutely nothing," Sentner says. "I did not have any emails, no orders, nothing come in. And I thought, 'oh my goodness, there are so many people out there doing things even better than what I was making."
But a funny thing happened. Customers found something special in Sentner. Her designs were part of it, but there was more.
"I feel like I have a connection with moms and making their special occasions stand out," she says.
And over time, that meant more orders and more juggling. She worked when her daughter napped, and late at night when she was asleep. Two more children over the next few years, meant there pretty much always a toddler or an infant in the house.
And then things got even more overwhelming.
"This past October 2018, I was diagnosed with cancer," Sentner says. "So I had to juggle even more."
There were months of surgeries. There was chemo and radiation, and most importantly, three young children who needed their mother.
"Although it seems like a lot to run your own business, to be a mom with three kids, and to have to fight cancer, my small business was one of the greatest blessings during that time," Sentner says. "That was my outlet. This whole room right here is full of things that I make. So yes it is a job, but I am so blessed to have a job that I love and it was something that I needed that was not cancer-related."
Sentner caught the cancer early enough and she beat it.
"It's been challenging, but I'm just grateful I get another chance."
Her children are thriving and her business has become like a network of family members. She's there for her customers every birthday and special event. And they were there for Sentner when she was sick.
Her business is in a good place right now. She wants to keep it growing, and eventually look for a warehouse and a couple of full-time employees. After everything she's already been through, that doesn't seem like too much to juggle.
"Find something that you do love doing. Because if you don't love what you're doing, you're not going to do it with the same passion. With the same desire."
