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How a “happy accident” led one nurse to forge a whole new career and share hope and positivity.
Melanie Van Sistine, BSN, RN (@mels.crafty.corner) was nominated and voted for by the nursing community as Nurse Entrepreneur of the Year for Nurse.org’s Best Nursing Awards. There have been many challenges in her career.
After failing her first attempt at the NCLEX (after answering all 285 questions and working on the exam for the entire five-and-a-half hours), she not only passed and became a pediatric acute care bedside nurse; , passed the exam three times. Daisy Award nominated nurse. Sistine is used to facing challenges head-on.
But when COVID-19 forced the cancellation of nearly every shift scheduled for more than 18 weeks, Van Sistine was reminded of some of the negativity she’s seen in the nursing world. faced with the awakening of an event.
She decided to make a difference and created a rainbow-themed t-shirt to symbolize hope for her fellow PED nurses. That one T-shirt sparked a movement that today leads Van Sistina to run Mel’s Crafty Corner as a full-time business. Mel’s Crafty Corner sells nurse-themed merchandise, apparel, and digital products, and she boasts more than 61.2,000 followers on Instagram. She participates in her pop-up markets to connect with her customers.
Nurse.org spoke with Van Sistine to learn more about how she started her business, what it means to be a nurse entrepreneur, and what 2024 has in store for her. I had a chance to find out.
@mels.crafty.corner
@mels.crafty.corner
In Bob Ross-esque fashion, Van Sistine admitted that his business started by “happy accident” after shifts were canceled due to the pandemic.
Ms. Van Sistine is usually busy with her day job as an acute care pediatric nurse specializing in GI/GU diseases, endocrinology, genetic abnormalities, and pulmonary diseases, in addition to providing diabetes education and charge nursing. . But spending time away from her bedside sparked a new interest in sharing her positivity, and thus her first rainbow-themed T-shirt was born.
Van Sistine said the shirts simply “got to me” at work, so she started taking orders locally before creating a Shopify website and accepting orders from all over the country. Her desire to take her apparel business seriously was also sparked by an unfortunate back injury she sustained while working as a nurse. As Van Sistina explains, during her 3 a.m. admission, she was moving a total care patient who didn’t have a rotation system under her.
“The doctors and I got creative and used a fitted seat on an ER stretcher to move him,” she says. “I felt a slight fever on my back, but I didn’t report it. Long story short, the straw on the camel’s back was putting the pizza in the oven two weeks later. The pizza was L4- I herniated L5 and L5-S1.”
Van Sistine said her injuries were “debilitating,” required her husband to help her dress from the waist down, and was forced to take six months off work due to doctor restrictions. Became. And while the injury and the uncertainty it caused her future was difficult, the silver lining is that she will have more time to focus on her business, and that she will have more time to focus on her business than her “fRNds”. “I was able to find a way to continue to support my nurse friend (name of a nurse) who died.” These are people who have suffered in the same or similar situations,” she added.
She quit bedside nursing in September 2022 due to a combination of “lower back injuries, weight restrictions, and not feeling supported by the organization,” and said, “My sunshine… I wanted to deliver it to more people who want it and can receive it.
@mels.crafty.corner
“Management gave me a choice: suffer in silence with a toxic culture or give notice,” Van Sistine says. “It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I’ve worked my whole career to get to where I am now, and I was thinking of retiring as a bedside nurse. But my body and the universe have other plans for me and I’m moving with them. It’s become very clear that we can’t change the culture and that patient safety is an issue. Something happened that proved to me that I was the only one who had my back (literally and figuratively).”
@mels.crafty.corner
Now, Van Sistine primarily sells the apparel she creates in the second bedroom of the apartment she shares with her husband and dog. She sells her products on her own website (Shop Mel’s Crafty Corner), as well as Adni Marketplace and her TikTok Shop.
She believes her work is dedicated to nurses who continue to give so much to others.
“We have fostered a creative and supportive community where nurses can see their work on and off the floor and feel appreciated, heard and loved,” Vann said.・Sistine said. “I know firsthand how difficult it is to feel unsupported as a nurse, and I do my best to make sure my nurse friends have someone on their side.”
@mels.crafty.corner
Part of Van Sistine’s mission with her products is a focus on mental health, as well as a whole-of-life approach. In fact, her personal favorite product is her Build Your Own Mental Health crew neck sweatshirt, which allows customers to choose the color, design, and front-to-back placement.
This sweatshirt features a design from her first bestseller, “Be Kind To Your Mind,” which she scribbled during a dark time in my life. “My therapist always says this to me – and still does.” “Be kind to yourself” And I wanted to create something to help us remember that,” says Van Sistine. The sweatshirt also has the option of adding a floral “happy drug” component and choosing from serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin.
“I had a lot of fun designing these and it took me back to my days studying organic chemistry in nursing school,” says Van Sistine. “Why I love this so much is knowing that not only has it given me peace and grace, but it has helped so many others with their mental health journeys. I think it’s because there are.”
Being open and honest about her own challenges, from mental health to physical health, is a big part of what Van Sistine believes is central to her success as an entrepreneur. She is an advocate of sharing her entire trajectory.
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done on my mental health journey and the way I’ve been vulnerable with my audience about certain subjects,” she says. “I am proud of my integrity in showing every aspect of myself and my business, even if it means shedding tears. I would rather be authentic and raw than fake or deceptive.” I like it.”
@mels.crafty.corner
@mels.crafty.corner
So what does it really take to go from bedside nursing to full-time entrepreneur and running your own design and apparel business? Well, here’s what I learned when I took the NCLEX for the first time. Sometimes it’s easy to be okay with trying and failing along the way, Van Sistine says.
“Ninety-nine percent of my business was trial and error,” she admits. “It was actually more like throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.”
She encourages other nurse entrepreneurs that it’s normal to feel like you have “no idea” what you’re doing, especially since nursing school doesn’t teach you about business.
And while there are many business and entrepreneurial resources available to new business owners just starting out, she says it can be difficult to find the right resources for you and your personal business path. “What works for someone else may not work for me, and vice versa,” she points out.
However, Van Sistine suffers from chronic pain from a back injury and knows how important it is to be your own advocate and find a way forward that works for you. That’s exactly what she does every day as a patient, nurse, and nurse practitioner. And a business owner. “Some days are better than others, but every day comes with its challenges,” she says. “I’ve created a nickname for her back pain and call her ‘Becky.’ When her husband asks her in her free time, ‘What’s wrong?’, she says, ‘Becky’s sick again. “I’m here!” is all I say. ”
“I still have a weight limit and have to be careful about certain postures, but I am grateful to be able to stand tall and move,” Van Sistina added.
Despite having already accomplished so much, from bedside nursing to starting her own successful business, Van Sistine is excited about what the next year will bring. Her goal is to find ways to physically expand her business with more space and increase engagement with the community. That’s why we tell our followers to look for more Mel’s in the Real World corner pop-ups, collaborations with fellow nurses who own business, and events for nurses. Her nurse friend.
“I hope that in 2024 there will be even more room for activity,” says Van Sistine with a smile.
Starting this year as Nurse.org’s Nurse Entrepreneur of the Year is also a highlight for Van Sistine. Because despite all the criticism she faced when she left her nursing career to start a full-time business, she truly achieved her goal.
“This award means the world to me,” she says. “When I left nursing to pursue my passion, I faced a lot of hate for leaving nursing. He made comments like “I’m going to die,” and “I’ll be back,” and even wrote pages of hate mail in my DMs.”
Sadly, Van Sistine says she has even lost respect from some of her family members who no longer speak to her. “So winning this award is a validation of what I did, that I made it happen, and that I proved them all wrong,” she says. “With the help of my online community, I started and successfully built a business that aligns with the same passion and values as them.”
She also hopes other nurses and budding entrepreneurs can draw inspiration from her journey. Because she believes it is proof that change is possible and that it is possible to pursue her dream of combining her work as a nurse with business.
“Winning this award proved to me that if I am able to do it, nothing will stop me from pursuing my passion and benefiting my community,” she says. “Although I am not currently working in nursing, I am using my knowledge and expertise to help the medical community.”
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