By Naomi Marshall
“INSTEAD of just being on the internet and just being caught up and getting into trouble, go and Google, see and learn. You could learn so much things on YouTube,” said owner of Creative Hands, Michel Howell, the woman with a love for craft.

Howell grew up in Mabura, Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice with her single-parent mother and sisters. The third of four siblings, she was always the creative one. Howell found herself interested in craft and doing decorations at an early age.

The 33-year-old attended Annandale Secondary School, but due to accommodation issues, she migrated to Linden and resumed schooling at the Christianburg Secondary School. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned so Howell dropped out of school in the Fifth Form and entered the world of work.

In 2008, Howell’s mother got a stroke which made Howell stop working so that she could take care of her mother.
Speaking with the Pepperpot Magazine recently, Howell stated that she began her own business of selling clothes which did not quite work out for her.

“I start into business of my own, always selling stuff and then I tell God, ‘All these businesses I’m trying and it’s not working out. You bless me with something that will work out,’” she recalled.

One day, Howell was scrolling down her favourite social media site, YouTube and came across a video which taught her how to make flowerpots out of cement, sand and a towel. She described that day as a miracle.
“I always on YouTube, that’s the only thing I have on my phone. I’m always looking into things that I can do because I even use to be spraying bottles and making vase out of that and I end up running into the one with making the plant pots and I start with the plant pots and then I continue and then I see the vase and I fell for these vase,” said the mother of one.

This would have been the start of something new for Howell, who began making vases for herself, but with the encouragement of her mother, she started making vases for a living.
She said, “When I started, I started with a couple for myself and my mom loved how it was done and so she encouraged me to do it as a business, my mother encouraged me to go into business because I’m so creative with it.”
Howell added, “When I first made a vase, it came out so good. It’s like God just show me that way and say ‘You know what? You don’t work, this could be it for you’ because I’m always praying to be self-employed.”

The young entrepreneur explained that creating the patterns of the vases and decorating them are her favourite parts of the vase making process. Howell also expressed her love for providing excellent customer service and boasted about the quality of her products.
“I’m the cheapest on the market, I got to work with people’s pocket. I love to please my customers because I does want them to be happy.

When you collect your stuff you must be happy. To me you have to please your customers for your business to keep growing,” she enlightened. “I explain to people if your children push them down they won’t fall and break because I make my stuff with good quality. I make sure that it is very cure, have good quality so that when they come to purchase and you feel, it’s not bending.”
Howell is encouraging youths to make use of their talents and keep striving for higher heights.

She stated, “Everybody is blessed with a talent, it may not be that you can make vase, but it could be different things that you can do, just don’t give up. Not because you didn’t get to write CXC that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Youths out there don’t give up, keep striving for higher, just keep motivating yourself and keep saying that you could do it, always put God first, always pray because with God all things are possible.”

Howell stated that in the next 10 years she sees herself having her own company which can create jobs for people.
Howell can be contacted on telephone number 592-672-8652.