Starting from a discovery of an artistic ability in a Villanova water coloring class, turquoise.’s cute and unique designs have made the vision of three sisters, Melissa, Ashley, and Courtney Reed became a reality and successful enterprise. Turquoise. is a company which offers trendy designs for cell phone cases, laptop cases, notecards, prints, pillows, wedding programs, and graduation announcements. It also provides special custom designs for specific companies they work with. 

Courtney, Villanova graduate of 2010 with degrees in Education and Communication, provides the original artistic designs for the products and manages the social media. Melissa (VU ’10) has a degree in Finance from Villanova School of Business and is the Bartley Medallion Recipient. Ashley (VU ’08) graduated Villanova with a degree in Mathematics and a minor in business. Together, the three sisters have successfully run their creative business with the combination of their different skills. 

Turqouise. began with Courtney’s discovery of her interest and talent in art in a water coloring class intended to fill a fine arts requirement while studying at Villanova. This experience allowed her to realize her passion for creativity and went on to pursue it in graduate school where she developed her skills in painting, drawing, photography, and digital design. After a few months of having founded the turquoise. brand, the Reed sisters realized a lack of creative products in the Villanova bookstore, and decided to add a specialized line to their company called “Villanova Designs by turquoise.” With this, they added a unique trend to the generic Villanova logo items being sold. A portion of the proceeds from “Villanova Designs by turquoise.” go to towards the Villanova Annual Fund to help others be able to experience the greatness of Villanova that the Reed sisters all cherished. 

 “It is uniquely special for us to be able to combine all three of our amazing experiences at Villanova and share artistic designs that we feel visually express what we believe is so great about Villanova University,” Melissa said.

 “In a family-run business, we know each other’s strengths and we capitalize on those strengths to make the business run at its maximum potential. The creation of turquoise. has been an incredible experience for the three of us to work as a team and we are grateful to be able to strive towards this vision together.” 

The sisters remain connected to their Villanova roots, keeping in touch with the community and promoting their business on campus. On events such as Parents’ Weekend, Homecoming, and VU Holiday Bazaar, they set up tables with turquoise. products to share their creations with the Villanova community. They were also very excited to have the opportunity to mentor Villanova Business Students when they were invited to speak at the Women in Business Conference. They are happy to have been able to share their experience at the university together: “The knowledge we gained and the experiences we had were truly invaluable,” Melissa said. Because of their unceasing school spirit, the Reed sisters were eager to incorporate Villanova into their designs, as they truly believe that turquoise. would not have become a reality without Villanova.