Often times 17 year olds spend their time with friends, or focusing on school work. However, for Beau Thistle, she spends most of her hours making custom vans.

Thistle is the definition of a hard worker even outside of her shoe business. She graduated a year early from one of the most academically prestigious schools in the Las Vegas valley, The Meadows School, and did so with a very high GPA. She was able to thrive in high school while also running an extremely successful day job.

Like her other siblings, Thistle had to start some business of their own in order to pay for her college. She now attends University of Utah and pays for all of her tuition, room and board, and other expenses on her own. “It was very difficult, but I am very glad I worked hard to get where I am today and I am very proud of myself,” said Thistle.

Thistle started her company in 2017 as a way to start saving, and grew successful with an Instagram following of over 700 people. Thistle decorates shoes with album covers, collegiate mascots, tv shows, and everything in between, giving every show a personalized touch, leaving no two the same.  

“Each pair takes about 8 hours, but it’s so worth it because making shoes is so fun for me and I love seeing the reactions on people’s faces when I give them their shoes,” Thistle states. Her custom designs usually come on a pair of plain white vans, but she is willing to do designs on just about any shoe one could think of. Thistle has done her custom work on air force one’s, as well as regular white lace up vans.

Shoe prices start at around $175, however prices could potentially increase depending on the type of shoe and design requested. The vans themselves are $60, and her 8 hours of creativity and artistry cost around $115.

Visit @bthistleart on Instagram or http://www.beauthistle.com/ for more information.