Meagan Ellis ✱ Hoosky

Meagan Ellis

Hoosky

APR 2021 - APR 2025

Small business transforming hyper-professional Northeastern University merch with a little bit of spice.

TEAM HOOSKY

Hannah Bai
Maddy Chang
Chloe Colipano · Director
Meagan Ellis · Director
Andrew Lau · Director
Emily Li
Samantha Lioanag
Michelle Liu
Olivia Meola
Krishanu Nigam
Emma Rensin

MY JOB

During the height of the pandemic, Northeastern University’s class of 2025 needed a form of representation that was approachable and quirky, just like our online community

When Hoosky was born as a line of merchandise for students, it grew into a school-wide phenomenon through collaborations with other student-run organizations on campus.

CONTENTS

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

-> WHAT IS HOOSKY?

-> OUR COLLECTIONS

-> THE BIG PITCH

COLLABORATIONS

-> OUTOBER CONTEST

-> FRISKY HOOSKY

-> WORKING WITH N.U.

GOING VIRAL

-> STICKER DROPS

-> HOOSKY’S FUTURE

What is Hoosky?

In 2021, Northeastern University’s class of 2025 bonded online through a massive Discord server. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the server’s 1,000+ members needed a symbol to represent themselves, something they can connect to as an online community.

With that, Hoosky was born! Hand drawn by a close friend, Chloe, I took the initiative to clean up the design in Adobe Illustrator and set up the first Hoosky merchandise store for people to represent Northeastern University with pride.

Our Collections

CORE COLLECTION
‍Yes, I drew the Northeastern letters on top of Hoosky! Team Hoosky has recommended that I create my own typeface with my handwriting.

Check out our online store here!

INTERNATIONAL AND BEANPOT COLLECTIONS
‍With our international drop, we represent Northeastern students no matter where in the world they’re studying.

After winning 2023 and 2024 Beanpot hockey tournaments, we also used this opportunity to show pride in our Huskies. Or Hooskies.

The Big Pitch

In 2021, Team Hoosky (a tiny team of 3 members at the time) jumped head first into Northeastern’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as a finalist for the Entrepreneurs’ Club’s Husky Startup Challenge.

From this experience, I’ve learned the importance of branding and the impact it can have on our community, targeting my brand towards students and organizations on campus. Hoosky may be a simple design but it has come to represent something greater than I could have ever imagined.

Outober Contest

To promote the University’s Outober campaign, Northeastern University’s Athletics Department spearheaded a T-shirt design contest, and Hoosky won first place!

Collaborating with Athletics, we gave away free Hoosky T-shirts with a pride flag at hockey, field hockey, and soccer games for the month of October, 2023.

Frisky Hoosky

We collaborated with Northeastern University’s Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern (OPEN)! OPEN’s Frisky Husky program delivers free sexual health and wellness supplies for Northeastern students.

As part of our weekly sticker drop campaign, we worked together to combine Frisky Husky’s logo and our brand into a Frisky Hoosky! I also created Instagram promotion, and we had a rather large crowd come for the surprise drop!

Line of students for Frisky Hoosky stickers

Working with Northeastern

At Team Hoosky, we’ve even had the opportunity to work with the University itself! We’ve participated in cross-posts on Instagram for giveaways, holidays, and even a handful of memes.

As Hoosky grew in demand, it adapted to its community. Northeastern’s class of 2025’s creativity and community meant that the possibilities for Hoosky were endless.

Sticker Drops

A big part of our marketing strategy involves surprise sticker drops. Every week during the school semester, we create a custom Hoosky design and print out a limited quantity of stickers to be given out at a random location and time on the Boston campus.

Students will rush to the given location in a frenzy to grab a sticker before they run out. We’ve also sold blind bags in pop-up shops where students get random stickers and can trade Hooskies with friends.

The Future of Hoosky

In 2023, we doubled in size from 3 team members to 6. In 2025, we doubled in size (again) due to high demand! I’ve learned so much about the onboarding process, delegating and managing projects with designers on the team.

From sticker drops to University-wide recognition, Northeastern’s independent student-run newspaper even wrote an article about our mission. Read it here!

‍The legacy of Hoosky is set to live on as I pass the torch to our next generation of the Northeastern undergraduate community.