Scrolling through her Instagram page, sophomore Siani Garcia smiles as she sees a post of someone asking their significant other to the Winter Formal dance with a poster she made.
What originally started as a way to help her friends turned into an opportunity to help others whilst making a profit. Selling her posters, Garcia works toward making sure people are happy not just with the posters she makes, but with the moment they can propose too.
“I found an interest in it, and I thought I might as well have fun doing something for friends. Plus, it’s been a good cause. It just makes me really happy to see that people are asking others out to dances with the things that I made that they appreciate so much. I see that they post the poster reveal to the girl they’re asking out, and they look happy overall,” Garcia said.
After posting about her business on social media, people reach out to her and ask her if she can make a personalized poster that they could give as a gift to their significant other. After finalizing the design and estimating how much time and effort it will take her to make the poster, she gives them a time frame and the price. Garcia then buys the materials and starts working on the poster, sending daily updates on her progress to the person buying the poster from her.
“I keep them updated throughout the whole process. Every time I work on it, which is [almost] every day, I give them an update,” Garcia said.
With her extracurricular activities such as soccer, Garcia often finds herself managing her time between school, soccer practice and making posters.
“She makes them because she loves doing things for other people. No matter how late Siani gets back from soccer practice or all the homework she has, she still fits in time to do these commissions which shows a lot about her hardworking and dedicated nature,” Siani’s friend sophomore Angelina Martinez said.
Garcia makes posters for all occasions, whether someone wants to ask someone to a dance or simply wants to give a personalized gift for Valentine’s Day. After being commissioned to make a poster for sophomore Charles Rodriguez, she later saw a video of the moment he asked his girlfriend, sophomore Rachel-Leigh Peiten to the Winter Formal. Seeing how her work helped bring the moment to life, it left her feeling heart-warmed and happy for the couple.
“I know she spent a lot of time and talent on the project. She’s incredibly talented and the poster came out amazing. The detail on the poster shows how she put her heart and soul into it and, I couldn’t thank her enough,” Rodriguez said.
Besides posters, Garcia sometimes makes cards and clay figures and personalizes the characters on the requests she is given. One example of a card she was commissioned to make was a card of Batman for Valentine’s Day.
“I think the card I bought from her was really good,” sophomore Elliot Perez said. “I’ve gotten other stuff from her that was really good too. Her art is amazing, and just by looking at the card, you could obviously tell she had spent a ton of time working on the card- it was so detailed.”
After witnessing the impact she has on the students that she helps by making the posters, Garcia hopes to continue her poster-making business throughout high school.
“I’m reaching out and helping people who want that kind of help to [make their moment memorable]. I see myself continuing to do it since not only is it a good way to support myself and my friends, but it’s also a small income. I see myself doing it in the future because I just like seeing the outcome of my efforts,” Garcia said.
