BTAC
Most high school students that want a challenge sign up for a club or register for an honors class but at just seventeen years old Sydney Bellows from Winter Park, Florida began on her journey to found Better Than A Cupcake (BTAC) (also stands for Bold Talent Aiding Charities). Inspired by her love for fashion, people, young talent and the Winter Park Fashion week, Sydney began to create a website which led to BTAC. Better Than A Cupcake is a company run by college students to exhibit the work of young students from NYC, from schools such as FIT and Parsons. Different designers from NYC schools compete on the BTAC website to have their work showcased in the fashion shows, the winners are determined by the votes of the people in the community. BTAC hosts two fashion shows a year, one in the fall and one in the spring, with a charity event following each to donate to the charity K.I.D.S. to help cloth children in need. The Spring 2013 fashion show raised a whooping ten thousand dollars’ worth of clothing to be donated.

The incredibly adorable and original name has an even more original and inspiring meaning behind it. Most of us look at a cupcake and think something along the lines of “eggs, sugar, baking mix and of course, dessert!” Stepping just slightly out of that ordinary train of thought Better Than A Cupcake (BTAC) founder, Sydney Bellows looked at a cupcake and saw a tad more than that. She saw a dream, a company, a way of life and an outlet to help people with. Sydney says, “it’s about individual expression and the personal experience that a cupcake provides. A cupcake is more special than a slice of cake. It’s a portion of something larger designed just for you.” Sydney realizes that we are all a part of something bigger, we all have something to offer and we are all unique. Her company is based on these realizations, it is helping these young designers show their talent and is helping fashion fans be inspired and love themselves as well as others. Sydney is showing us that any passion and talent can and should be used, that we all have something to offer and that with that talent comes responsibility to give back somehow. Through her love for fashion, desire to help young artists and desire to help underprivileged children receive clothing this trend setter calls that “fashion going full circle.”

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