Entrepreneurs create ‘The Original Cheese Lights’

MARQUETTE — Packer fans rejoiced Sunday after Mason Crosby delivered a game winning field goal as time expired. No one may have been happier about Green Bay’s win than Nicole Lackey.

“Yeah that was a pretty exciting game. I think the momentum of the Packers will definitely be on our side,” Lackey said.

Lackey is a lifelong fan of the Packers. Nicole and her friend, Lorri Smith, had the idea of creating lights resembling that of a Cheesehead, a clear sign of being a diehard Packers fan.

“We looked on the internet and it didn’t seem to exist in the marketplace. We decided it would be a really fun adventure,” she said.

The two ladies created a business called, ‘two cheezy chicks.’ They went to Invent@NMU for help.

“They have some business professionals there that you meet with. They review your idea and give feedback on how viable the idea is. We went through that process and decided to go forward with the project,” said Lackey.

“It’s a cheese light. You’d think there would be something out there with the Packers, but it didn’t appear that there was,” said Rachel Barra, a program liaison at Invent@NMU.

Using the aid of Computer Aided Design, NMU Junior Austin Morris brought the ladies idea from an idea to reality.

“It took me about one work today working on it to get it to look like cheese,” said Morris. “But then the technical aspects of it- getting all of the tight dimensions right- that took a little bit longer. It was fun just to make something that looked like cheese,” Morris added.

What started as a concept in April of last year turned into an actual product in December. The two cheezy chicks began selling their Authentic Cheese Lights.

$25 buys you one set of lights. So far, Lackey says they’ve sold a quarter of their inventory in the month they’ve been on the market.

“We’re really happy about the finished product and people are really loving it,” said Lackey.

“It’s pretty awesome especially when you can help local people that have local ideas with small products that who knows might turn into a big product,” said Barra.

Packer fans across the country are big fans of the novelty lights. They’ve made their way to twelve different states, including North Carolina and Hawaii, proving that Packer fandom is everywhere.

“Go Pack Go!” said Lackey.