People of Central: Amelia and Samantha Morfe

Story and photo by: Zoey Morse

When you walk into a CMU sporting event or a local Mount Pleasant business, you may see two girls who look almost identical with a booth, shiny jewelry and a clever name.

These girls are twin sisters, and they own Linked by Twins, the first student ran business to have a cooperate partnership with Central Michigan University.

Amelia and Samantha Morfe are twin sisters who are co-founders of Linked by Twins, a permeant jewelry LLC in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

They didn’t always have it easy though, starting a business as college students has its trials. Linked by Twins was born from Ameilia’s nail business, Designs by Amelia. She started doing nails her sophomore year of college and realized it was more than a hobby, it was a real business.

She learned how to run a business while also being a full-time college student, but she wanted to expand her brand a little more.

“We went to Miami and we looked around and we said, this is a life we want to have and I want to aim for this and these experiences and to be able to afford this lifestyle,” Amelia said.

After they got home the Morfe twins sat down at a coffee shop in downtown Mount Pleasant and after hours of looking through ideas they decided they wanted to open a permanent jewelry LLC.

“We chose permanent jewelry because our demographic is towards 18-24 year olds and that’s the same demographic as nails, so we were able to combine both brands together,” Samantha said.

“Permanent jewelry also just inspired me in celebrating women, friendship, connections and belonging. I love being able to sit down and talk to clients and being able to help them express themselves in different ways,” Amelia said.

The twin sisters didn’t build their name overnight. They had many trials trying to start their LLC, balancing it with school and making connections were some of the biggest ones.

They reached out to almost every sorority in the state hoping to host events with them and heard almost no feedback from any of them so the girls went back to the drawing board.

“Who is our demographic? What events are good events? How do we network? How do we keep everyone in line without it being a huge workload on each person? How do we go about meetings and actually tabling at meetings? The hardest thing we had to learn was how to get our foot in the door,” Samantha said.

The door was closer than the twins thought. Samantha works for the CMU Athletics marketing team and found a way to grow their business through her current job. She would consistently see businesses and other people tabling at sports events, so she finally built up the courage to pitch CMU Athletics Director Amy Folan her and her sister’s business idea.

“I told her I founded this brand Linked by Twins and I would love to table here and because I talked to the main person I was able to get a connection really fast and I was on a call with the person in charge of cooperate partnerships the next day,” Samantha said.

The call was intimidating and eye opening for the girls because it was the moment they realized they weren’t just college students they are grown adults owning a business. The phone call was just the first step into getting the partnership, from there the twins went to multiple meetings where budget, plans and what their future would look like was discussed.

“We sat down with Pete Maniez and Carson Walker and we discussed how much we were willing to allocate, and we looked through our financials and really, we owe most of the success in the start of linked by twins to Pete Maniez and Carson Walker. If it wasn’t for Amy Folan, Pete Maniez and Carson Walker then the opportunities that we have no would not be at such a fast pace,” Samantha said.

The twins took a lot out of the experience and gained a new outlook when trying to book events. They realized confidence, connection and adaptability is the key.

“You really just have to have the confidence to get up and ask and what we have learned is the most they will say is no, so always shoot your shot.” Amelia said.

“And even if they do say no, it can always be a yes if you pivot, change your ways, change your approach and the way you go about it,” Samatha said. “Every single no that we have ever had we adjusted and pivoted to try and get the yes.”

Linked by Twins is growing rapidly day by day. They now get asked to table events on and off campus and often get recognized when they are out in the community. The girls both agree being present and constantly being out in the community is one of the best things they have made an effort to do to grow their brand.

Even though this is a student ran business the goal is for it to become so much more. Amelia and Samantha both see opportunities ahead of them they never thought they would get at the beginning.

Linked by Twins has a future, just not in Mount Pleasant or Michigan and maybe even not with permanent jewelry. After graduating with their bachelor’s degrees, the girls want to move to Florida to earn their master’s degrees and expand their business.

“There are so many changes that happen, and I really have no idea where it’s going to go. As far as having a plan we don’t have something set. Everything changes, our opportunities change, but we do plan and grow,” Samantha said.

For now, the twins can still be found behind their booth at CMU events and around Mount
Pleasant, linking bracelets and building relationships, one connection at a time