by Aanisah Husain

This story was updated on Nov. 26 at 2:23 PM.

With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, University of Maryland students like Elaine Sanico found themselves with more time than they knew what to do with on their hands. 

Sanico used the time to co-found Handmade 4 Aid, which sells handcrafted jewelry during winter and summer break.

“It was literally just a shower thought,” said Sanico, a sophomore mechanical engineering major. “One day I was in the shower and thought ‘oh I can do this.’”

Sanico and Lei Danielle Escobal, a sophomore sociology and American studies double major, started the company in the summer of 2020.

The pandemic spotlighted social inequalities and spawned social movements. Sanico and Escobal wanted to help the movements through the company because they didn’t want to go out on the street. 

“Since it was COVID, I didn’t feel safe going out to rallies,” Sanico said.

Handmade 4 Aid sells handcrafted jewelry and donates a quarter of its revenue to social and humanitarian causes dominating the headlines. At the time, they focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and donating to people in Yemen. 

UNICEF considers the Yemen crisis the biggest humanitarian crisis because the country is experiencing a food crisis, growing numbers of malnourished children and few functioning health facilities.

Now, the two entrepreneurs of Filipino heritage are donating proceeds from their company to causes like Stop Asian Hate and to organizations who support Asian women that were sexually assaulted.

Maria Lessis, a sophomore aerospace engineering major, said she wasn’t hesitant to support the business.

“[The product] was different. It wasn’t something you could just buy somewhere else like at a store,” Lessis said. “I knew that I wanted to support the causes that they were donating towards.”

Handmade 4 Aid has seen significant growth since it started by expanding its following from the East Coast to nationwide.  

Handmade 4 Aid sold and marketed its jewelry virtually because of the pandemic. With the help of Asian American influencers like Ashley Alexander and Frederic Chen on TikTok and YouTube, Handmade 4 Aid saw its sales skyrocket and reach more communities. It donated $2,000 as of October, after just over a year of existence. 

As the campus transitioned back to in-person learning and in-person events this semester, Handmade 4 Aid gained new customers. It was able to table at events in person, including at the Clarice Performing Arts Center’s September NextNOW arts festival.

“Being on campus, there’s a lot more people, our age, our demographic that would be interested in these products so success rate is definitely higher in person,” Sanico said.

Both said they enjoy meeting customers and seeing their products advertised. 

“Not only did we impact these communities that we were donating our money to, we also impacted our own social circles and our own local community,” Escobal said. “Jewelry and accessories [are] a way that we can express ourselves and just be confident in how we present ourselves. If we can help with that, that makes me really happy.” 

Featured image: Butterfly earrings made by Handmade 4 Aid. Photo courtesy