By Timothy Bold
The Scene staff
Jasmine Armstrong isn’t just a college student with a part-time job.
She’s an entrepreneur with her own smoothie business, or as she puts it, an “infused-beverage company.”
Armstrong founded the business, called “JiggaJuicedUp,” last September.
“It started with my personal fashion style, Jigga,” said Armstrong, 24, a business major. “Then I wanted to embark on something else. I didn’t want to limit myself to one idea. I wanted to incorporate it into different things.”
Armstrong sells her drinks at children’s parties, college activities, art shows, women’s conferences and other vendor events.
Armstrong has been making her own smoothies for years, using strawberries, blueberries, oranges and other fruit.
“I love drinking smoothies,” she said. “It motivated me to start my own business.”
Last summer, Armstrong conducted a taste test with family and church members, who gave feedback on potential drink products.
“Once they approved it, it was time to take the business seriously now,” she said.
Armstrong recently expanded her product line to include fruit-infused sparkling (carbonated) water in recyclable pouches.
On a recent weekday, Armstrong distributed samples of her flavored water to Forest Park students.
“It’s fire,” said art major Shakir Gridiron, 24. “It tastes really good. It has lots of fruity flavors.”
Patricia Jones, Campus Life consultant, said, “I think it’s refreshing, and it has a lot to do with Jasmine. She has a great personality, and the product is just like her.”
Crushed-fruit drinks have been around for centuries, but they became more practical with the availability of refrigeration. In 1935, Fred Osius invented the Waring blender, saying it would “revolutionize American drinks.”
The 1960s brought a smoothie craze, as Americans became more health-conscious.
The national company Smoothie King was founded in 1973 by Steven Kuhnau, a lactose-intolerant teenager from Louisiana, who came up with a concoction of fruit juice blended with ice to replace milkshakes.
For more information on JiggaJuicedUp, call Armstrong at 314-820-4627 or visit her Instagram site at JiggaJuicedUp.