Childhood best friends and college roommates Hayden Belshe and Karlee Conn never expected they would one day become business partners.
In 2025, they started Button Up BSU, creating custom “Bronco Buttons” for students to showcase their Boise State pride.
Belshe and Conn met in middle school, dancing together and remaining good friends through high school. After growing up together in California, college took them their separate ways when Belshe decided to attend Boise State.
The duo didn’t stay apart for long, though. When Conn came to visit Belshe last year, she fell in love with the campus and culture of the university.
“I knew that Hayden would be the perfect roommate,” Conn said. “Once I got in [to Boise State] it became reality. We got to live together and go to school together, and now we run Button Up BSU together.”
Over the summer of 2025, Belshe and Conn saw TikToks posted by students at other universities showing off their custom school-branded buttons. These were popularized by schools like the University of Alabama with prominent football cultures, and the pair saw an opportunity at their own school.
They purchased a button machine and began creating designs. They chose the name Button Up BSU and created an Instagram account to start advertising their product.
Belshe and Conn, after years of being best friends, were a perfect fit as business partners.
“We’re very close, and we’re very similar people, so we think alike in many different ways,” Conn said. “It also gives us a branch of creativity where we get to bounce ideas off of each other.”
All of their original designs are created on Canva. Sometimes drawing inspiration from other schools, Belshe and Conn have dozens of unique patterns and images to pick from.
“Every design is completely different and customized, so that definitely allows us to be creative,” Conn said.
Most of their early designs revolved around Boise State football. These gameday buttons were their most popular products, offering a simple way to add a fun display of Bronco spirit to any outfit.
Additionally, Belshe and Conn created Greek life designs. They began receiving custom orders for different sororities on campus, another way for students to showcase individuality with a simple button on an outfit or bag.
“We have put a lot of time and energy into Button Up BSU,” Conn said. “Seeing them on backpacks around campus, hearing people talk about them, seeing people talk about them on social media and tag us in their posts wearing our buttons is definitely rewarding.”
Some of their first large business opportunities came from Belshe’s sorority, Tri Delta, which opened the opportunity for the pair to create and sell Tri Delta buttons at a sisterhood event.
“We’ve definitely seen it take off from when we started in the beginning with a few small orders from my close friends, to sororities now reaching out to us to do sisterhoods,” Belshe said.
They were also invited by Indy Clover, a consignment shop in Boise, to sell their buttons at a pop-up event in-store.
“It was so fun, and it was so sweet of [Indy Clover] to reach out,” Belshe said. “A lot of people from [Boise State] came to the store to support us because they saw we posted about the pop-up on our Instagram.”
The girls even had the opportunity to create hundreds of buttons in collaboration with Panhellenic.
“We made about 200 buttons that they sold,” Belshe said. “We had been working on that since August and we got to give them out in October, so that had definitely been in the works for a little bit.”
Sammy Weiss, a sophomore studying marketing and a good friend of Belshe and Conn, has bought several of the button designs and supported Button Up BSU at sorority events.
One of her favorite buttons she has bought is a design Belshe and Conn created specifically for the Tri Delta social event, featuring the sorority’s Greek letter signature with a cowboy hat and lasso.
According to Weiss, Tri Delta members were excited to support the small business.
“Everyone was super excited about it, because it’s something new and something cute to add to your outfit for game day,” Weiss said.
Weiss noted Belshe and Conn take great care when creating each button, ensuring each button meets their high standards of quality.
“They’re not just thrown together,” Weiss said. “[They] take the time to make sure they’re all even, and all the letters are right, and there’s no bumps.”
Above all, Weiss is proud of her friends for the success they’ve found with Button Up BSU.
“They worked hard to make this an actual thing, because it just started as something not super serious over the summer, just making them for fun, and then were able to turn it into a bigger thing and spread awareness about it around campus.”
As a business administration major, Conn feels her education has helped her with the more technical sides of the business. She has gained firsthand experience in setting prices, tracking inventory and calculating costs.
Through social media and tabling events, the pair has also learned the ins and outs of marketing their products.
“There’s a lot of marketing that it teaches us [as we] get it out there and spread the word,” Conn said.
Besides their newfound business expertise, Belshe and Conn have also grown as friends. Relying on each other and working as a team has built their trust in their bond.
“We do everything together, and I think that helps better our friendship,” Conn said.
The pair has laid the groundwork for a lifelong friendship, whether they remain business partners after graduation or not. For Button Up BSU, they have yet to decide what the future holds.
Will they expand the business, aiming for bigger markets, or will they pass the button machine along to the next generation of sorority sisters? Belshe and Conn still haven’t decided.
“I’d love for Button Up BSU to stay at Boise State even after I graduate, or carry this out into something bigger for more schools.”
For now, Belshe and Conn are enjoying the creativity and community they get to share.
“It honestly warms my heart so much and makes me so happy when I’m with my friends and I see one of the buttons,” Belshe said. “I look over, and I’m like, ‘Oh, guys, that’s my button.’”
