August 29, 2024 Vol. 25, No. 15
In This Issue FOUR SEASONS
Jewelry designer
& passion for hiring disabled Four Seasons, by Kevin Box, in real life is located in front of the Center for Transformative Learning on the UCO campus, but this week is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information, see page 2.
A look at upcoming city bond issue See pages 4, 5, & 8
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 Thunderstorms High 85° Low 69°
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 Partly Cloudy High 88° Low 70°
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 Isolated Thunderstorms High 86° Low 67°
PHOTO PROVIDED
Hannah Barnthouse, jewelry designer and owner of Feed Me Gems, inspires a team of co-workers who share her love for sparkly gems: (first row from left) Emily Nelson, Kacie Lowe; and (2nd row) Kylie Walters, Abigail Leggett and Hannah Barnthouse. If you ask Emily Nelson and Kacie Lowe why they love working at Feed Me Gems in Edmond, the coworkers and best friends will shout ‘Hannah!” Their boss Hannah Barnthouse, a jewelry designer and business owner, hires a diverse team with and without disabilities to welcome customers to her upscale accessory shop. “We’re all besties,” she said about her youngest employees who have Down Syndrome. “That is the magic -- getting to spend time with all my friends.” Everybody is surrounded by sparkly creations, girly glitz and glamour courtesy of Barnthouse. Nelson and Lowe wear the gems they sell and are dressed in the latest fashions. “The company dress code is dopamine dress, whichmeans wear the boots, sparkly eyeliner or all the jewels and polka-dot toes if it brings you joy,” Barnthouse explained. She met Nelson and Lowe at the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma where she worked for seven years before launching her business in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. The gem designer called her first sparkly creations
“hair candy” because customers wear them in their hair. This fact led to her company name Hair Candy by Han, LLC, which does business as Feed Me Gems. Han is short for Hannah. “When the business took off, it was a huge blessing, but I was handmaking each and every item,” Barnthouse said. “Then everybody wanted earrings to match.” She began to design all types of jewelry, headbands and other popular items to meet the demand. “I had one baby on the ground and another one on the way. I was working full-time (at Down Syndrome Association). You only have so much fuel in your tank. “Stepping away from the (Down Syndrome) community was not something I could easily do,” she said. “I cried when I told my boss, ‘I feel like I’m supposed to do this right now but leaving is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’” “No. No. No. Here’s the vision,” Sarah Soell, Down Syndrome Association executive director, reassured Barnthouse. “You’re going to hire our self-advocates, and we’re going to work together forever.” continued on Page 6