Meet Arianna Simone

We were lucky to catch up with Arianna Simone recently and have shared our conversation below.

Arianna, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

One day on October 20th, 2020, I thought about the question that I had always struggled to answer my whole life. “What do you want to do when you get older?” I never had a straight answer. All I knew was that to my parents, anything creative wasn’t going to cut it. It wasn’t going to “make me enough money”. They meant well, but this discouraged me and made the answer more difficult to think about. So, as I sat in my room that one day on October 5 years ago, I took the time to actually think about it; and boom…it hit me like a tsunami all at once. I did not want to work a 9-5 for the rest of my life. I did not want my entire career to be in the hands of a “boss”. I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to get up and work on my own time. I wanted to make whatever I wanted, sell whenever I wanted to, and be happy doing it. Being a business owner was the only thing that made me feel passionate about doing. So, I did my research over the next 2 years and became an entrepreneur. I had already begun baking and selling cakes to friends and family as young as 8 years old. I also had many other talents that I wanted to incorporate into a business. This fueled me to operate multiple businesses and become an inspiration to everyone watching me do it, but especially to my generation. I loved hearing how cool it was to do what I was doing at the young ages of 16, 17, 18, and now. People looked up to me, and that’s when I realized that I found my passion AND my purpose: To inspire. Now I am in college studying Management with the intention to begin an Entrepreneurship minor. I educate myself more every day about the ins and outs of business so that I can continue to be the example of greatness to those around me. This is only the beginning of my prime!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is Arianna Simone, SHEO of Ari’s Dollhouse and Dollhouse Bakery, and I was born in Dallas, Texas. Ever since I was little, I have always leaned towards my creative side. You could always find me by myself somewhere with a book, pencil, paintbrush, or a marker in my hand. I was kind of like the introverted sweet girl that everyone was curious about. As soft and sweet as I was, I also grew up as the only child in the house with a dad who had nothing but boys in his family. So, in addition to my artistic side, I also had a sporty and gamer side. I had so many hobbies, it was ridiculous. It is actually still true! To this day, my closet is filled with different projects and hobbies I have yet to get back to. As a young girl with all these talents, what I did not know at the time was what everyone would tell me: “You can do anything you want if you put your mind to it”. I believed it, but to an extent. I thought that I was way too shy to do the things I had already accomplished before even turning 20 later this year. I have been blessed with so many opportunities to express my art and talents, that if I told my younger self about it, she would think it was a joke!

As far as new projects for my main business, Ari’s Dollhouse, I am working on expanding my versatility. I have sold many different products for different seasons because there are just so many cool things to make that I cannot stick to one thing! There will even be returns of most if not all previous products each season. This season, I brought back Valentine baskets, accessories, and gifts! I will also offer these products after Valentine’s Day as well. Because of how much I have expanded, no matter what season, my business is the place to go for anything! From baskets and gifts, to ribbon rose bouquets, to jewelry and more; at Ari’s Dollhouse, you can find it all! Do not forget about Dollhouse Bakery, I bake cool things too! I have been baking ever since I was old enough to reach an oven. Check out my baking page to see some cake cups, which are the products that brought the most popularity to my baking business! You will also see some different cakes, Texas-sized cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, and more!
For both businesses, you can catch me at pop-up shops around the DFW area in Texas during summer and winter, or Baton Rouge, Louisiana while I am at college during spring and fall. I always post pop-up shop info on my pages. The coolest part about it is that you’ll be supporting a young entrepreneur and a student-run business, and I believe that is all that counts at the end of the day!

My ultimate goal for my business is to design, build, and sell cute and fashionable shoes for wider-foot women one day. I see and understand the struggle of finding appealing shoes that are comfortable; so, I want to make that happen in my business! The most exciting part about it all is how far I am going to set myself up for success all on my own. I appreciate my family for being there to support me and use their resources to help me, but it takes so much courage to really put yourself out there in multiple industries where it may feel intimidating to shine and stand out. Apart from my career, I am really making a name for myself, and I encourage any young person to do the same as well. What’s crazy to me is how my love and passion from all of my little excessive hobbies as a kid have now become a large part of my legacy. Now anytime I learn a new skill, I think “Oh! Business idea!”. Whatever you love to do, do it and run with it!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I have come a long way from my early teenage years. I have grown so much maturely, emotionally, and mentally. I am often told that I have an old soul, so my wisdom is the first example of one of the most important skills in my growth journey. I feel like I have always been psychologically aware of everything around me, even as a child. I found the art of listening very fascinating, as there was always something new to learn from just listening. My family always told me that even as a baby, I wouldn’t cry. They said that I would just stare at other children crying and wonder, “What’s your problem?”. Wisdom is often associated with being old with grey hair, and while I did have a couple of those on my scalp, I know that experience is the true root of wisdom. I have experienced so many life obstacles that taught me very valuable lessons, which just stuck with me. It wasn’t until I became a teenager that I was finally able to think about it and process it all. I mean, being stuck in that house all day during the Covid era, all you could do was think. I realized that I was smart, yes, but it was a different kind of smart. It was intelligence beyond this generation. I started listening to older music because it resonated more, I began pondering more, and I experimented with my words often. I had developed the “woke mind”, and after I found that out, I was unstoppable. My favorite part about being an old soul is that I can easily flip it on and off whenever I want. One second, I might be an 80-year-old woman explaining the difference between real love and fake love, the next second I might be a Y2K icon blasting “Like a G-6”, or…I could just be me, the best of both worlds. Wisdom has helped me, guided me, taught me, inspired me, and allowed me to inspire others; but one thing it will never do, is fail me.

Another example of my most important skills is my voice. Although something as simple as developing a voice may not seem like a really important skill, it is very important to me. I had always wanted to know how to sing for my whole life. However, due to some medication I had to take for my asthma, it made me grow up faster than the other kids. This included my voice maturing faster as well. Kids told me that I sounded like a boy, so I felt that I had no choice but to believe it. I was already a quiet kid, so you could imagine how my confidence lowered about speaking, let alone singing. However, I learned quickly that what those kids were telling me was far from the truth. Ever since I began high school, it’s like a switch flipped. My voice has now been the source of a majority of my compliments. People were mesmerized by me doing something as simple as talking. My voice took me so far that I was put into varsity choir after only being in my high school’s regular choir for a year. Not only that, but one day in my junior year, I took a chance by auditioning to be a part of 88.5 KEOM, which is the school district’s student-hosted radio. I was interested in audio technology, so I thought it would be a cool class to take for my senior year. To my surprise, I got in! Long story short, they gave me one of the best years of my life. They taught me to appreciate my voice and gave me so much experience beyond soundboard operation. They also treated me like family and supported my baking business, Dollhouse Bakery! Shout out to KEOM! I now use the voice that I used to hate as a way to express myself and display my other talents. It is important to me because that shy, quiet little girl whose voice was as soft as a whisper, has now grown up into a highly respected, highly favored, positively outspoken, intelligent young woman. (Oh, and if you were wondering; yes, I am a singer now!)

Because I still had that passion for writing, one day, I decided to also begin writing poetry! I am sure you can now guess what the third skill is! My poetry really took off during my senior year in high school when my dual credit English teacher taught me to always write about something I am passionate about. I took that advice and ran with it. I started by entering my high school’s poetry contest. I did not win the first year, but it did not discourage me. It actually did the opposite: it challenged me. First, I entered a local poetry contest, won a check prize, and premiered the poem at a concert. Next, I entered into the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for the first time and won 2 Gold Keys and an Honorable Mention Award. I couldn’t believe it, but I didn’t stop there. Remember that high school poetry contest? I entered it again my senior year and won nearly 40% of the votes! The poem, titled “Eighteenth Birthday”, is being submitted to the #TeenWritersProject (#The TWP Quarterly) magazine! I am now a 4x award-winning poet before the age of 20, and I am not stopping there!

Valuable advice that I would give to folks who are early in their journey is to have an open mind. I know there’s an introvert or quiet person somewhere reading this, yes, I am talking to you, and I just want to say that you have more confidence than you could ever imagine. Everyone does! To all of my young and old people: There is always a “Start” button hidden in your heart, you just have to push it. You have to be aware of yourself. Look at all of your amazing talents, skills, and qualities. Embrace yourself in anything you do, whether it’s writing, painting, singing, dancing, teaching, speaking, or whatever other super cool things you do. It doesn’t matter how big the playing field is. You individualize your talents and your journey by making it yours. You are in control. Add your own flare to it. That is how you get seen because you are built differently, and people can resonate with you. Some might say, “Well, I don’t have a skill or a passion”, yes, you do. I challenge you to start looking within to find it. Whether you want to display your journey to the public eye or not, always remember to keep your standards as high as your head. If your head is low, raise it. You are the only person you have to live with for the rest of your life, so you might as well make yourself interesting! You can do it, and I believe in you.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Because I like to do so many things, I tend to overwhelm myself often. During high school in my baking business, I used to make cake cups for my customers almost every day during my senior year. I was excited to be receiving so much support. However, I was also in 2 varsity choirs, multiple honor societies, multiple clubs, and suffering tremendously with my mental health alone. This is only one example of many. Overwhelming myself causes burnout and uninterest in the things that I used to love doing every day. What do I do to conquer this? I slow down. I am in control of my actions and my businesses. For my businesses, if I feel like I am receiving too many orders while also juggling other things in my life, I make announcements to my customers. I may either announce a short break to gather myself, or I make time slots to space out orders. As far as my personal life, I make sure to take more breaks from my daily activities and engage in the things I love doing to distract my mind. This may include playing video games, writing songs or poetry, napping, listening to music, or my personal favorite: walking. Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed with stress or even dopamine, I say “I need to take a walk”. Something about a nice walk with good music playing to physically reduce the tension is the best thing ever. These are my methods, and you can try them or even think about things you do to distract yourself. Human bodies take a lot of work to manage, we must give them breaks and take care of them so that they can take care of us!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/TheAriannaSimone
• Instagram: @arisdollhouseboutique and @dollhousebakerytx
• Facebook: Ari’s Dollhouse
• Twitter: @thedtxprincess
• Youtube: @AriePlayedThat
• Other: Thank you so much for reading my story!
  – Support the businesses by contributing to my registry! 🙂 https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/179UQCIIMWVWL
  – Business Email: [email protected]
  – Other inquiries: [email protected]