A woman in Lincoln is expanding her business through local classes

Carmen Castillo kicked off her party prop and decorating business, RC Party Accents, at her daughter’s seventh birthday party almost five years ago. She wanted to build party props and rent them out, but she learned people needed her help to see the final vision.

She created a backdrop and added balloons — which she hadn’t used before — for her daughter’s celebration.

Then, friends and family started to ask her to create photo backdrops for their parties.

When Castillo wanted to take her business further, she discovered ECHO Collective. The organization connects immigrants and refugees with one another and helps them with their business ventures.

“ECHO Collective is made for people like me, who are from another country and we might not be able to understand everything because of the language barrier,” Castillo said. “They explain everything in terms that we can understand.”

Castillo immigrated from Mexico and has been in Lincoln since 2006. Through ECHO Collective’s business classes, she learned the ins and outs of running a business, including making a logo, understanding taxes and registering her business.

She finished the ECHO Collective program in May 2022. Recently, she wanted to take her business a step further. Castillo signed up for Doane University’s Go For Launch, a class to help those who are developing small businesses. She graduated this week from the program.

Now, Castillo is implementing the idea she workshopped in Go For Launch: DIY balloon garlands.

“We know that not everybody’s budget is the same, so we are launching the DIY balloon garland kits,” Castillo said. “These DIY kits are seven times more affordable than a balloon garland fully built and installed.”

She said the garlands are currently available at The ECHO Shop in Lincoln, which opened earlier this month. She hopes to sell them online soon.