Following their bliss: Local mom empowers her kids to craft their future

Meet Summerville's young moguls.

For the Taubers, creating a curriculum that's led two teens to spin and carve their future is an award-winning family affair, and the most recent accolade they’ve earned is just one of many.

Beginning with a homeschool syllabus and enhancing it, Astrid and Aidan Tauber and their mom, Meagan, have turned standard education on its ear and taken the kids’ interdisciplinary classes in fiber art and woodworking from something like a cottage industry to a global audience, using an online presence and social media to boost the work of their looms and laser cutter.

Astrid took the "Learner's Choice" first place award and Aidan third over-all in a recent, "Shark Tank-style" competition through Outschool, an online learning community of interactive classes and discussion groups, and its inaugural entrepreneurial competition, "Elevator Pitch." Described on its website as a "money-making edventure" that drew contestants from all over the nation, voters in the educational hub narrowed the contestants down to a group of 10 finalists. The goal? A $500 prize.

That $500 was just another chunk of profit generated by the Tauber siblings’ evolving professional partnership and Astrid's handwoven fiber art business on Etsy. Facilitated by 15-year-old Aidan's custom-made tools that he designed at his sister's commission and working together through trade agreements, last year netted Astrid $10,000. That was in addition to what the 14-year-old weaver made on Instagram as a paid influencer — one with more than 120,000 followers.

According to Astrid's artist statement, it all began with a craft class at a local store that her mom enrolled her in when she was 7.

"Little did I know that all these years later I’d be a girl who can shear a sheep, spin balanced yarn and weave my own fabric to create garments with," writes the weaver, who has been published in several international magazines and can be seen working at her loom every Saturday at the Summerville Farmer's Market.

As a student at The Cut Fashion Academy in Vancouver, B.C., the young fiber artist's next educational goal is in footwear through a London-based course called "I Can Make Shoes.com." Using the $500 Elevator Pitch prize money to pay for half the class, Astrid's plan is to learn custom shoemaking from her own hand-made fabrics.

"As a parent, never in a million years did I think our lives would look like this," said Meagan Tauber, who landed in Summerville in October with her husband, two kids and the family's pets due to her husband's work with Volvo.

"Astrid is basically sharing her art and living her purpose; that's her big thing: ‘Do what you love and the money will follow.’ She's speaking in Orlando soon at ‘Raising a Mogul’ event. When she started out, she was doing what she thought she needed to do, but she wasn't happy. I told her, ‘You’re 12. Do what you want.’"

So, while Astrid shifted gears and went into fashion, Aidan can do just about anything that requires artisan-level trade skills. The carver matriculates at Trident Technical College in North Charleston in January after he turns 16. An internship in the school's machining department will earn him an associate's degree by the time his peers graduate from high school. From Trident, he has the option to apply for jobs through companies partnered with the college.

"Now, Aidan, he's woodworking as we speak. He's interested in a gazillion and one things; if it's 3D printing, laser cutting, blacksmithing, wood-working, anything trades-y, he loves it," his mother said. "Aidan can do a bunch of stuff from an entrepreneurial standpoint, but the supplies he makes that are related to weaving and sewing are where he makes most of his money because those are the ones Astrid can feature in her business. He created this thing she wanted for her loom at Reforge in the Charleston Mall, and now he's tweaking the design so he can make more of them to order. The marketing and negotiations dynamic they already have with each other is really funny."

The kids aren't the only ones following their bliss. Leading by example, Meagan Tauber left her corporate job in pharmaceutical sales to be a full-time mom because it was what she wanted. That was the first risk, coming as she did out of an "aggressive" all-girls private school where careers were queen and her peers were "getting their Ph. D's in Sanskrit." The second was taking a look at the public educational system and deciding to recreate it from scratch for her children.

"I pulled my kids from public schools very early; I didn't see how the path laid out for them there was what I wanted for them. Public education was established during the Industrial Revolution so parents could go to work and schools could churn out factory workers. It hasn't evolved enough to take into account things like work-life balance or modern technology. Education and the corporate world — the two dovetail. In the corporate world, I woke up either wanting to curse or cry, and I wanted my kids to have an adulthood where they woke up excited and happy. So, I decided to strip anything that looked like standard education out of theirs and blew up the whole picture of what it looks like… Plenty of people are doing this. It's a scary leap to do but when I look at my kids, I know it's working."

Summerville Softball had a historic season in 2023 and should be a championship contender in 2024. Read moreGreen Wave should continue to be a force

Ashley Ridge infielder Caroline Ingram and catcher Ellie Rapson will participate in the South Carolina Coaches Association of Women's Sports 2023 North-South All-Star Softball Series. Read moreSwamp Foxes named to North-South All-Star team

Decades after its creation the golf tournament hosted in honor of George "Chick" Miler continues to draw big crowds and provide exciting golf in a festive atmosphere. Read moreMcCollum edges Traylor for Chick Miler Championship

A man known for coaching championship football and wrestling teams claimed a golf championship May 28. Read moreLaPrad captures first Chick Miler senior title