Growing up in Glen Burnie and Baltimore, Maryland, Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse owner Ariell Johnson became adept at learning new skills and finding ways to monetize them.

Whether it was learning how to knit or needlepoint from her grandmother or cutting out comic strips from the Sunday paper to sell for a penny, Johnson always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

“When people made plastic lace keychains when I was in middle school in the ‘90s, I was cranking them out and would go to classes with a coat hanger, a cash box, and sell the ones I made,” she told Technical.ly. “It was always something I did. I feel like that was always in my bones. It was just a matter of figuring out what that looks like as an adult.”

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