Liberty student launches safety key chain business
SafeBabe is a student-owned and operated self-defense key chain company that offers an affordable tool to students who wish to protect themselves.
Senior Guinevere Collins started a key chain company that offers a multitude of self-defense essentials.
“As a college girl in general, we need to be able to protect ourselves,” Collins said.
Collins started SafeBabe as a project for an event planning class.
She recognized the need for a more cost-effective self-defense resource and decided to create one for the Maker’s Market hosted by the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences at Liberty University.
“I kept seeing these self-defense key chains all over the place, and I really wanted one, but they’re so expensive,” Collins said. “So, I was like, ‘What if I do that, and then make it affordable for college students?’”
SafeBabe key chains include protective essentials that Collins believes every girl should have. The deluxe key chain costs $30 and includes pepper spray, a seat belt cutter/window breaker, a safety alarm and flashlight, a kubaton, a key knife, a whistle, a wristlet, a ChapStick holder and a pom-pom.
Multiple versions of the keychain are available for purchase. Each option features a different combination of the safety tools and is available in 25 different colors. The SafeBabe Lite, for example, costs only $22 and comes with a more compact selection of tools.
Collins never thought that her business would continue to grow after the original Maker’s Market, but her mom encouraged her that the product might be successful. After only two weeks of selling the key chains, Collins made a profit and sold out of what she had. This is when she started growing her company to make it accessible to everyone who needed it.
Collins said that multiple girls have already reached out and told her how safe they feel while having the key chain. In other cases, girls have said they want to order a key chain because of a situation they previously felt uncomfortable in.
The passion behind the key chain is just that: to make every girl feel safe and empowered as they go about their day-to-day lives. She hopes to give an affordable self-defense option to those who may not be able to afford other resources.
“It became really important to me because this is a big deal,” Collins said. “People need to have things to protect themselves, and there’s so much on here (the key chain) they can use to do that.”
In the upcoming months, Collins plans to spread awareness about the safety that SafeBabe key chains can provide. They will be featured at Liberty’s upcoming Maker’s Market and Christmas at Hydaway, as well as at Freedom 4/24’s Freedom Market.
After the upcoming markets, Collins plans to make her small business an LLC and continue production in more effective ways so that she can continue selling the key chain to those interested in buying one.
“When people buy it, I hope they never have to use it. But if you do, I’m glad you have it,” Collins said.
More information can be found on her Instagram, @safebabe.keychains, or on her recently published website at https://www.safebabeselfdefensekeychains.com/.
Mullet is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.