Nandi Owolo’s first foray into junk journaling came by accident.
One day in June 2024, Owolo fell while walking her dog. “I started junk journaling because I broke my foot on my birthday, of all days,” she tells CNBC Make It.
She was homebound on doctor’s orders for two months of recovery. Then, by way of some TikTok scrolling, junk journaling came into her life.
The L.A. resident says junk journaling, described as “as a cross between scrapbooking, creative journaling and collage art,” made her feel crafty for the first time in her life. “I personally think that I have no artistic skill,” says Owolo, now 30. “I can’t draw; I can’t knit; I can’t paint.”
Arranging and gluing down souvenirs, photos and stickers into chaotically colorful spreads? That she could do.
Junk journaling, also considered “Gen Z’s version of scrapbooking,” has taken off in recent years. Enthusiasts say they like that the hobby keeps them off their phones. It taps into the nostalgia of collecting and displaying physical media. And there are no rules in arranging personal mementos from the grand, like concert tickets or birthday cards, to the everyday, like a restaurant napkin or coffee sleeve.
The hobby is “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” come to life, and its embrace of imperfection is part of the appeal, Owolo says: “It’s an artistic medium in which you can do whatever you want with the page,” she says.
Junk journaling, a cross between scrapbooking, creative journaling and collage art, has taken off in recent years thanks to enthusiasts wanting a screen-free creative hobby.
Courtesy of Nandi Owolo
Add in an element of in-person gathering, which many young people are craving post-pandemic, and Owolo says she felt she had a hit on her hands.
Two months after beginning her own crafting journey, Owolo launched the social media handles for Junk Journal Club and hosted her first meetup through a local social club where she was a member. The event quickly reached maximum capacity at 35 people, which Owolo says signaled to her that there was a big demand.
Owolo soon held her second event at a park with 60 people. A year and a half later, she now regularly hosts ticketed events for 20 to 30 guests at $35 to $50 a pop between one and three times per month.
Owolo says she believes her Junk Journal Club is the first U.S. club dedicated to hosting real-life events for the hobby.
She also launched a Discord channel for users around the world to connect, share inspiration, post their pages and send each other care packages via a pen pal program. The group now boasts nearly 2,000 members around the U.S. and internationally, including Canada, Germany, Australia and beyond.
From job loss to entrepreneurship
May 2025 marked a turning point for Owolo and her Junk Journal Club. The entertainment professional lost what she calls her “dream job” working to turn books and comics into TV shows and movies.
While grieving the “heartbreaking layoff,” Owolo says she recognized an opportunity in Junk Journal Club.
“As cliche as it is, it’s like I had this other thing that I had more control over,” she says. “No one can lay me off from Junk Journal Club. It is mine.”
Owolo got to work figuring out how she wanted to grow the business and decided to go after branded events. She set a goal to collaborate with two brands by the end of 2025.
Nandi Owolo launched Junk Journal Club in August 2024 and turned it into her full-time business in 2025. She hosts one to three events each month, which often sell out quickly.
Courtesy of Nandi Owolo
She found her first partner in Nuuly, the clothing rental service, which came about from “sheer emailing and networking,” Owolo says. The brand covered the cost of supplies and other fees for an event in November, making it free for guests. It was also the first time Owolo was paid as a creator to make several Instagram Reels videos for the clothing company’s social media feeds.
Throughout the fall, Owolo says she hosted five collaborative events, including with artist and creative director Ramisha Sattar, Australia-based artist and author Martina Calvi (whom Owolo calls the “junk journaling queen”), and Paramount Pictures to promote its movie “Regretting You.”
There’s so much overwhelming noise in the world right now. Junk journaling is a great way to quiet that noise.
Owolo says she was reluctant to call herself an entrepreneur as someone who had, up until now, never tried to make money from a side hustle.
“It almost felt fraudulent,” Owolo says. She questioned herself: “Am I allowed to call myself an entrepreneur? Am I allowed to call this a business? And eventually I was like, ‘I absolutely am allowed to call it that.’ It just took a while.”
Growing the business in 2026
Owolo says she’s still actively applying for a new full-time role in marketing and brand management, and that she hopes hiring managers will see her work with Junk Journal Club as an asset. She’s currently working a contract job for a beverage company to fill in for someone on maternity leave, though that ends in January.
She says that she isn’t taking a salary from Junk Journal Club and that all ticket sales go back into the events themselves to cover supplies for attendees, food and drink, the venue rental, and a goodie box with stationery and stickers for guests to take home afterward.
Owolo says her goal is to be able to pay herself from Junk Journal Club, but that for now, she’s focused on giving “people the best experience possible.”
“I recognize that there is a way that I could have hosted all these events and paid myself a little bit of money,” she says, “but it would have been at the sacrifice of less sticker sheets, or not getting a custom thing made for the event. I’ve not yet reached the point where I’m willing to sacrifice those things.”
Owolo intends to grow slowly and intentionally. Though she says her events tend to sell out, usually within an hour of tickets going live and as fast as under a minute, she prefers to cap gatherings at 20 to 30 guests to curate a cozy atmosphere.
Looking ahead to 2026, Owolo says she hopes to land more brand partnerships for collaborative projects.
Junk Journal Club events usually accommodate 20 to 30 attendees. Tickets often sell out within an hour, or as quickly as a few minutes, of going on sale.
Ximena Escobar
“L.A. is the land of activations and experiential marketing,” she says. To touring musicians, she proposes, why not work with her on an event where eager fans create a collage inspired by their favorite song? Or for the many brands that host influencer dinners, might a junk journaling session pair well with dessert?
In the meantime, Owolo expects the appetite for in-person crafting will only grow.
“There’s so much overwhelming noise in the world right now,” she says. “Junk journaling is a great way to quiet that noise.”
Want to give your kids the ultimate advantage? You teach them to read and ride a bike, but often skip money management. Sign up for our new course, How to Raise Financially Smart Kids, and learn how to build healthy financial habits and prepare them for real-world milestones. Use coupon code EARLYBIRD for 30% off. Offer valid from Dec. 8-22, 2025. Terms apply.
