- July 29, 2026
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Braydon and Emma LaRusso rarely sit still. More often than not, they've got their hands full — because they choose to.
The rising senior and rising freshman at Riverview High, respectively, volunteer at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital and Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
They also volunteer at Teen Court of Sarasota and their local church. When school is in session, they're members of the International Baccalaureate program, working hard toward their diplomas.
So when the siblings approached their father, James LaRusso, with the idea of giving back through a sports card business, he was far from surprised.
"They have that pedigree of giving back. They're always volunteering, always interacting with the community," LaRusso said. "(This) just seemed like a nice, natural fit for them."
Braydon and Emma— not even in college yet — are the co-founders of Cards2Tuff, a Sarasota-based sports card business which hosts live auctions on Whatnot.
Its mission: "Collect. Connect. Give Back." The LaRusso siblings see selling sports cards as an opportunity to benefit their community.
Part of the proceeds from their July 24 live show were donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. The same will be done for shows on Aug. 7 and Aug. 21.
The siblings raised $50 on July 24, and hope to raise a total of $100 to $250 across all three shows.
“We both have a love for sports. That’s what we enjoy doing,” Braydon said. “We created this business with hopes that we can continuously give back.”
Cards2Tuff doesn't produce its own sports cards like Panini or Topps. It tries to flip them by buying low on eBay or Whatnot and selling high in online auctions.
It's an unusual method of raising funds for charity. But it's creative, no doubt, and capitalizes on a modern trend.
Whatnot, founded in 2019, is a live-stream shopping platform which has become a hub for collectors to buy and sell cards. The company is now worth $11.5 billion and surpassed one billion orders all-time in June.
There was a time when the card market was only in brick-and-mortar stores. That time has passed. The online supply of and demand for cards is a major part of the industry.
The value of a sports card depends on factors like condition, player popularity and scarcity. The LaRusso siblings take all that into consideration for their auctions — and then some.
“You always have to adapt to the cards, because they can change and fluctuate super quick,” Emma said. “A player could get a torn ACL and the card goes down (in value).”
Braydon handles sourcing for Cards2Tuff. He's constantly on eBay and Whatnot looking for the best deals on high-demand cards.
Emma, meanwhile, is the business's live streamer and content creator. She handles the promotional side of things.
She often does videos on new shipments of cards they receive, as well as on their process of packaging orders, which, they hope, will demonstrate to customers the quality of business operations.
“(My wife and I) really learned a lot about the industry from them," James said. "What’s impressed us the most is that they’ve really built a community around it.”
Cards2Tuff has 4.6K subscribers on YouTube, 1.8K followers on Whatnot and 133 followers on Instagram, as of July 28.
The business has sold 1.3K items on Whatnot and is rated 4.9 stars out of 5 after 208 reviews by users.
The most notable card the siblings have auctioned off, per Braydon, is a Kobe Bryant card which was only in one of 10,000 packs — a "case hit." That sold for $320.
They've found communication with customers has been the biggest challenge. They aren't doing this full-time, and are only high schoolers, but have been held to a high standard by buyers regardless.
“It's about making sure that every customer feels like they’re valued," Braydon said. "Over time, we’ve had some troubles with communication, but we’ve learned from it, adapted to it and changed the way people see us.”
Partnering with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties might merely be the beginning.
The siblings want to expand their following in the coming year. Most of all, though, they wants to connect with other charities and businesses in the region.
“Doing dedicated shows each week to these different charities, getting different businesses to continuously give us gift cards so we can give those away to kids, just help our community and build up our community," Braydon said.
For them, it's the perfect business model.
