University of Baltimore alumna Shelby Blondell, a two-time graduate of the Merrick School of Business and a noted entrepreneur, tells CBS Sunday Morning that there are distinct advantages to being a small-business owner who chooses to make her products in the United States. Blondell, B.S. '14, MBA '18, is a successful musician and inventor, and the originator of the Sheller, a tool beloved by fans of Maryland crabs.
As part of the Sunday show's overview of companies that produce holiday gifts in the U.S., Blondell and her business offer an inspiring story about deciding to produce locally, but sell widely.
"As a proud Marylander, Shelby Blondell dreamed of a better way to dig into the state's official unofficial cuisine," the Sunday Morning show says. "Her small business, in a quiet Baltimore suburb, is a labor of love that is keeping manufacturing close to home."
Blondell tells the program that her decision has had unexpected benefits.
"All along, I even had a lot of people when I was, you know, creating it saying like, 'You should just be making this overseas, you'll make so much more money,'" Blondell tells the program. "And money's great. We need money to live. But you know, the cost of what that would've been didn't seem to outweigh kind of that value in my mind of wanting to have this be made here."
Notably, Blondell says that the product's use of American steel has helped her avoid paying tariffs—a crucial difference for many small makers around the country.
Read about Shelby Blondell's company on CBS Sunday Morning.
Learn more about Blondell and all things entrepreneurial at The University of Baltimore.