Funny Business

Northwestern students are notoriously overcommitted, but senior Ebony Sims is busy clowning around.

That’s understandable. The economics major co-owns Giggles and Grunt Clowning Service.

It began at Sims’ 7th birthday party, when a hired clown didn’t show up to her home on Chicago’s South Side. In an attempt to make the most of the situation, her mother, Saretta, rushed upstairs, put on colorful and mismatched clothes, splashed her face with powder and filled in as entertainment.

Both kids and parents said Saretta, a full-time psychiatric nurse, did a pretty good job. So she attended a weeklong Ringling Bros. clown workshop in Texas and started the company. When Ebony turned 10, she became her mother’s assistant, a.k.a. Grunt.

Now the mother-daughter pair own Giggles and Grunt together. “It takes a lot of commitment,” Sims says. “I constantly have to learn new tricks, new balloon sculptures, new skits — you have to stay in the game.”

Every weekend Sims drives home to her Chatham neighborhood to perform. On the business end, Sims participates in business plan competitions and offers presentations to teach children the value of entrepreneurship.

Sims says her passion for entrepreneurship has guided her interests at Northwestern, helping her find research opportunities at the Kellogg School of Management.

She doesn’t know what shape the business will take after graduation, but she is committed to keeping the business running and using it to empower youth at the same time. “Some people succeed and fail to reach back to help others who may need support and guidance,” she says. “I cannot wait to be in a position to help others as others have helped me.”

— Christopher Danzig (J08)