Bossier Parish teen combines silly socks, good causes

Jillian Maxwell holds many titles — Miss Louisiana High School America 2018, student council member, high school sophomore and another that you don’t often see for teenagers: entrepreneur.

The 15-year-old Benton High School student has combined her love for fun socks and giving back to her community to create Silly Socks, a company that aims to bring awareness to special causes through its sock designs.

After about four months of planning, the teen launched Silly Socks by Jilly in January.

“I just kind of went for it,” she said. “I have been working with charities to help promote it, and they love it too.”

Maxwell said the small town, everyone-helping-everyone mentality of her community, combined with her love of boutiques and unique clothing items, helped inspire her idea for Silly Socks.

“I love socks, and I love helping charities, so I saw that as something maybe Bossier could use,” she said.

Maxwell started by searching online for a company that she could work with to produce the socks she has designed herself.

She found a company that takes her ideas and provides with seven or eight different pairs to choose from and tweak toward her vision.

“It’s kind of cool — I’m in control of it most of the time,” she said.

The goal of her first design was to bring awareness to the anti-bullying message that also serves as her platform for Miss Louisiana High School America, a title she won last fall.

“Not only did I experience bullying, I know there’s tons of kids who have experienced bullying,” Maxwell said. “I know if you don’t have a stable home life, it’s actually kind of hard to go through.

“I’m very grateful for having both my parents help me get through what I got through,” she said. “I want to maybe be someone (others) can come to if they don’t have anyone at home.”

For every pair of anti-bullying socks sold, the book “Billy Bully” has been donated to a local elementary school classroom. So far, 20 books have been donated to classrooms around Bossier Parish.

“Not only will it be donated, but I’m going to go present it and talk about my bullying story and teaching their kids just more about bullying and how to handle it,” she said.

Her newest socks will benefit another passion of Jillian’s — animal rescue.

Proceeds from sales of her new animal rescue socks are going toward the Paws in the Park event held April 21 in Shreveport, which was organized by local Realtors and benefits multiple local animal shelters.

“I’ve always had a special space in my heart for dogs,” she said. “I also like volunteering at animal shelters, so just having another way to help animal shelters just means the world to me.”

Maxwell also organized a donation drive last winter at her school to benefit animals at Bossier City Animal Control, holding a competition between all the classes to see which could collect the most items — towels, dog food, dog toys, treats and cleaning supplies.

“That was a lot of fun because I got to deliver it (to the animal shelter), and they were just so happy to see everything,” she said.

Though still two years away from graduation, Maxwell already has big goals for post-high school life — attending LSU to cheer and major in marketing, then pursuing a career in sports marketing.

As for now, she keeps a list of sock ideas in her phone, with her eye on soon creating a Louisiana-themed sock and a pair that would bring more awareness to Usher syndrome, a genetic disorder that results in hearing loss and visual impairment.

Staying so busy is just fine with her, Maxwell said. 

“I don’t like downtime,” she said.

To purchase Silly Socks

Website: www.sillysocksbyjilly.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/sillysocksbyjilly