Kendra Scott is donating $1 million to help expand Dell Children’s Medical Center and create a new event center.
Kendra Scott began making jewelry in her home as a teenager. In her mid-20s in 2002, she founded Kendra Scott LLC with $500 in material and sold the jewelry she made door to door at boutiques in her home town of Austin, Texas.
Three years after the company began, her designs were chosen for several high-ticket runway shows, and they took off from there. Now, not quite 20 years later, Scott is worth an estimated $1 billion. The brand, which sells in Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and her own 102 stores, includes fashion and fine jewelry, home accessories, nail polish, and other beauty products.
The main campus of Dell Children’s is adding a fourth tower with 72 new beds for children in need of critical medical care. Scott’s donation will pay for a portion of that expansion. Half of it comes from Kendra Scott LLC, half from her family foundation.
“We want to make sure that we have state-of-the-art equipment and the best treatment facilities right here in Austin, so our kids don’t have to go to other cities to get treatment,” said Scott. “For me that’s the biggest thing that I hope our contribution can do is get those treatments here, right here in Austin, Texas, so we don’t have to split those families up anymore.”
The proposed Kendra Scott Child Life Event Center, which will be in the new tower, is a small auditorium to be used for patient and family activities, such as karaoke, art therapy, bingo night, or storytelling.
“It’s going to be a place that we can not only just host events but also go to the kids who can’t come out of their rooms through DCTV, which is Dell Children’s Television,” said Scott.
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