Hobbies are activities pursued for pleasure and by choice, but occasionally a hobby can be repurposed into a business. That’s exactly what former ISU student Riana Lejeune-Copeland has achieved with Repinned, her unique take on a thrift shop.

On Dec. 7, Repinned officially opened the doors to its storefront, which is located at 2604 Beaver Avenue in Des Moines. Although the store itself was launched just days ago, the beginning of the idea for Repinned goes back much further.

“I actually went to high school and was in the orchestra with the creator of Pinterest, so that’s kind of how the idea for this business came about,” Riana said. “All my girlfriends loved Pinterest, and they’d pin stuff, but no one ever has time to do the projects. I thought to myself, ‘Well, I’ve got the time.'”

Riana has worked part time for the Iowa Cubs for years, and was exploring avenues for extra income in February when she undertook her initial project.

“I got a dresser and decided to fix it up and sell it. I really liked it so I did another and another, and started getting more adventurous with my ideas,” Riana said. “In May, my husband and I talked and decided we were on to something. We made a commitment to do this work full time.”

Riana said the timing was perfect for her and her husband, Justin Copeland, who is not only her partner in life, but also in the new business venture.

“I was working in insurance and didn’t like it. I was looking for something else and Riana had this idea,” Justin said.

In the beginning, the idea was simply to buy up old furniture, make it modern, and give it a pop of color. However, Repinned evolved and expanded even in its first few months, Riana said.

“We originally did the work out of our basement and garage. People would stop by and talk about how much they loved the work, but didn’t make any purchases because they already had a dresser at home,” Riana said. ” So I thought we’d start customizing for people. That’s really what this business is now, redesigning what a customer already has in their home and making it personalized and unique.”

Advertising on Craigslist, a Facebook page and a handful of business cards was the extent of the marketing campaign in the early days of Repinned. The response to that simple, inexpensive strategy was quite staggering, Riana said.

“We had an event outside our home to promote the idea. We probably ended up having about 200 people stop and get business cards, and it just grew from there,” Riana said. “We haven’t really paid for any advertising. It’s been mostly word of mouth.”

The small amount of advertising hasn’t been a hindrance to Repinned, mostly because of the utilization of social media, which not only helped to inspire Riana’s business concept, but is now helping to circulate it more effectively than she could have ever imagined.

“We’ve got fans all over the world. After I finish a creation, I post it back on Pinterest, so I have a lot of pieces that have been viewed all around the world,” Riana said. “Our local business comes from all over Des Moines, and people drive down from Iowa City, Ames and even Omaha.”

Social media isn’t the only tool of which the Copeland’s are taking advantage.

“One of our dining room sets will be on HGTV’s House Hunters,” Riana said. “They filmed it in August, so it’ll be on the next season.”

The home-spun nature of Repinned is also apparent in their customer service, which has attained impressive reviews. Jenny Spears, a resident of Des Moines and one of Repinned’s earliest customers, has enlisted Repinned on two previous occasions, and is currently collaborating with Riana on a third project.

“I love working with Riana because when I have an idea I’ll send her a message and she gets back to me immediately. She is very creative in ways that I’m not,” Spears said. “It’s very much like working with a talented friend, and I recommend her to anyone because working with her is just an amazing experience.”

That level of personal service is a primary goal of Repinned, and something Riana tries to achieve with every customer.

“I want to sit down with clients and talk with them about their vision,” Riana said. “I think that’s really what this business is. I take it one day at a time and focus on making my clients happy. I’m in constant contact with the client throughout the project, sending photos and discussing back and forth. I want them to feel like they’re a part of the process.”

While a student at Iowa State, Riana majored in psychology and minored in criminology and anthropology. Her professional path to Repinned was something she never expected.

“I got into law enforcement and went through the academy in Lawrence, Kansas,” Riana said. “I was injured during survival training there and unfortunately didn’t get my badge.” 

Despite the disappointment of moving on from a career as a police officer, Riana has found happiness as well as success with Repinned.

“I could have given up and been sad and depressed that I wasn’t in law enforcement, or scared that I wouldn’t live up to my potential,” Riana said. “But, I found a new dream. I found something else I was good at, and it provided me with a way to persevere and change the community.”

Even though Riana’s education wasn’t directly related to the work she does now, she stressed the importance of her experience at Iowa State and how it has helped her as she pursues her new dreams.

“I would say everything I did at Iowa State brought me to this point, whether I knew it or not,” Riana said. “Working with campus police helped me gain the confidence dealing with clients. My psych classes helped me to understand people, and the connections I made at ISU helped me develop networking. I am so thankful for Iowa State, and the connections I made while I was there.”