TCNJ

27 SUMMER 2026 How Adriana Carrig '12 turned beaded bracelets into a multimillion-dollar brand built on the belief that good energy is meant to be shared. W hen you go to the Little Words Project store in The Mall at Short Hills, you can grab a seat at the bar, but you can't order a beer — or anything alcoholic, for that matter. What you can order is happiness and good energy, literally. Little Words sells jewelry ( beaded bracelets are a mainstay) emblazoned with short, pithy statements designed to remind the wearer, for example, to "believe," "thrive," and "keep going." Adriana Carrig '12 Adriana Carrig '12, the company's founder, is the embodiment of good energy. When she walks into the Short Hills shop, she seems to be everywhere at once: joyfully greeting the staff, briskly reorganizing the bracelet bar (where shoppers can create their own jewelry), checking out the accessories that gleam on the wall across from the bar, where they beckon shoppers with their words of kindness, comfort, and encouragement. This shop is one of 13 across the country, from Boston and Austin to Nashville and Disney Springs. Little Words has relationships with Target, Nordstrom, Disney, Amazon, and The Paper Store. Now in its 13th year, it's a multimillion-dollar business. The Disney partnership, Carrig says, "is the thing I'm most proud of and excited about." Since 2024, the company has been creating bracelets exclusively available at Disneyland and Disney World, with new designs introduced every quarter. And it's not just parkgoers eager to acquire them. "We're seeing our bracelets pop up on resellers for two to three times the original price," Carrig says, "because everyone's just trying to get their hands on this exclusive collection." While the brand is rooted in positivity today, its origins lie in Carrig 's personal struggle with bullying. "Honestly, there's not a time in my life that I don't remember going through some sort of bullying experience," she says. Carrig traces much of the bullying — which she characterizes as "competitive cruelty" — to her outspoken and unbridled personality. "I was very much myself," she says, "and it kind of rubbed some folks the wrong way." To buoy her spirits, she started creating beaded bracelets for herself bearing words of comfort and inspiration. And, in fact, it was the experience of being bullied that kindled in Carrig a desire to spread kindness, that became the basis of the Little Words brand. Her brand was born during her early days as a sister of Delta Zeta, the sorority Carrig joined as a TCNJ freshman. As the sorority's vice

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