Archive for Beauty

Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight

Twins Brooklyn and Bailey started their famous YouTube channel in 2013, when they were just 13 years old. Since then, the 23-year-old duo has taken off in the world of influencers and now have 7.06 million subscribers on YouTube and 9.3 million on Instagram. They post all kinds of lifestyle content from beauty tips to road trips. They make sure to keep both of these accounts well-maintained by posting YouTube videos once weekly and keeping their Instagram stories full on all days of the week.  Followers of Brooklyn and Bailey are always well-informed on what is going on in the lives of the twins, whether it’s that they’re getting married, buying their first homes, or launching a new line of clothing.

Brooklyn and Bailey have a well-established online persona of cute, fun girls who live their lives by going on adventures and maintaining their relationships with each other, their husbands (they were both married within the last year), and their families; and of course, by maintaining all their entrepreneurial ventures.

On top of their online presence, Brooklyn and Bailey maintain their own online fashion line, LashNextDoor; their skincare line, stayitk; and their recently opened drink shack, Sip City.

LashNextDoor features fashions of all types (dresses, shirts, skirts, pants, jewelry, etc.) designed by Brooklyn and Bailey that reflect their fun personalities in a trendy and cute way.

Stayitk (standing for “stay in the know”) is a vegan and cruelty free skincare line that promotes the idea of its users to “stay in the know” on what they are putting in their skin.

Sip City is a drink and snack shack that sells fruity beverages and sodas as well as a few different cookie options.

I have followed Brooklyn and Bailey for a while now, and I always feel very inspired by their ability to run all of their entrepreneurial undertakings as well as show their love for each other and their family; and their drive to not let anything get in the way of their dreams and goals. It’s very uplifting for me to view their content and see their positivity on my Instagram every day.

Zandra Beauty

Right before her 10th birthday, Zandra Cunningham launched Zandra Beauty. After she was told “no” to buying a lip balm at the store, she decided she would make her own at home. She and her mother would experiment with different ingredients and scents until finding formulations they liked. Slowly but surely, their little experiments at home turned into a brand.

Known for her love of beauty products at a young age, she wanted her company to empower other young girls like her. What makes Zandra Beauty unique, is that her products are packed with natural ingredients filled with nutrient-rich, plant-based skincare that promotes healthy skin while improving self-confidence. She targets her passion towards young girls, donating 10% of every purchase made to support the education of young girls across the globe. She also partnered with a non-profit corporation in Buffalo, NY called Girls Education Collaborative (GEC) that also helps young women gain access to education.

Reading about Zandra’s experience and how she flourished in her company is really inspiring. Being 21 years old now and learning more about the industry, she continues to refine and her formulas and inventory. She said something that really stuck with me, “There are so many brands doing similar things, but there’s still so much room to grow,” she says. “Your customers are out there, you just have to find something that’s going to set you apart.” I think this is great advice, the economy is growing every day, what can we find that sets our own business or ideas apart from everyone else?

Maddie Huang—a head start to entrepreneurship

Maddie Huang may be a senior in high school, but she is way ahead of most other people her age. She has worked at both a preschool and a local coffee shop before, but her main source of income comes from her artistic ability and creativity. She developed a talent for nail art about a year ago through a lot of practice and trial and error. She does not have a job at a nail salon though, despite the stability it would offer and risk it would eliminate. She is a business minded entrepreneur that started her own salon out of her room: Nails by Maddie.

Maddie, however, did not always have her eyes on specifically maintaining a business permanently. When she started her nail business in February, her “original plan was to fundraise enough money to go on a missions trip to Panama.” Even though her business was only initially for fundraising purposes, she still attacked it with an entrepreneurial mindset. She created her business on a personal (yet universal) identified need. In her words: “salons cost way too much to be getting my nails done consistently.”

Before too long, she encountered great success. This success was not without risk though. “Starting off my business was a big investment for all the supplies and tools,” she said. “I believe I spent around $200 to get started but I have earned all that back and then some.” With $30-$35 appointments about four times a week, she is making a significant profit.

But what brought her this success? How is her business any different from just driving down the road to a local salon? When I asked her this, her response was: “I think my little at home salon is very set apart in that the prices are way cheaper, and each manicure is done with love and care. I love connecting with my clients and keeping up to date with them. I want every person that gets their nails done to feel valued and leave 100% satisfied.” By paying for Maddie’s nail services (and by paying, I mean paying significantly less than you would at a salon), you are not just paying for a manicure. You are paying for an experience.

I know I personally traveled an hour from Grove City College to my nail appointment with her. Why? At a salon, a random adult will do my nails, and that’s about all that happens. I leave with pretty nails, but that’s all. When I go to Maddie’s at home salon, I leave feeling full. I am able to talk and connect and relate to a fellow girl my age. There is more friendship and relationship involved with the very personal elements of her business. Though her setup in her room is just as professional as that of a salon, there is an added factor of connection.

Maddie’s business has been successful, but it has not just fallen together naturally. There have many numerous challenges that have had to be ironed out as well as hard decisions to be made. Maddie reflected on these and said, “I have definitely made many connections and grown closer with a lot of people through my nail business. Being it is done in my house, I keep my clients limited to close friends and family, with the occasional exception of a friend of a friend, etc. Because of my public Instagram account, I have had people reach out to schedule an appointment, but I have to turn them down due to the fact of it being my home.” Maddie limiting the scope of her customers reminded me of what Blake, a speaker in my entrepreneurship class once said: “as a business owner, you have to often say no to people.” From both Maddie’s and Blake’s experience, it is evident that this is a necessary challenge of being an entrepreneur.

Also, entrepreneurs are real people. Sometimes the business owner’s emotions can affect his or her work. In Maddie’s case, she has experienced moments where she has become disillusioned with the idea of doing nails. Between becoming bored or burnt out, she told me that it has not always been easy to continue Nails by Maddie. That’s just something she has had to figure out as her business has matured. She said to me, “as my business is continuing, I am learning to balance all my activities and nail appointments, along with school and time with family.” That is a real thing that almost every entrepreneur has had to experience. As exciting as dreams are, they can be very hard work to fulfill.

Hannah Grace – Founder of BeaYOUtiful

In 2016, young Hannah Grace was challenged by her dad to make her own beauty products. This challenge was brought up because Hannah was growing an interest in bath bombs and her dad encouraged her to make them herself. Right away, Hannah jumped on the opportunity to make her own. 

When Hannah Grace was 11 months old, she was diagnosed with Diabetes type 1. Her parents were worried about how she would grow up with her health issues, but they never stopped Hannah. She grew up to be a determined young girl and eventually became a CEO of her own company with her bath bomb-making skills. Now only 14, Hannah is doing whatever she sets her mind to and is still a successful young entrepreneur. 

Kylie Cosmetics

Kylie Jenner, a very successful millennial entrepreneur, used her social media platforms, as well as her fame through the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” to advance her networking. Because she had a large platform to begin with, her cosmetic business launched quickly and successfully. Since her early teens, Kylie and her sister, worked alongside the retail store, Pacsun to create a clothing line that teenage girls, specifically, would enjoy. Building off of that experience of reaching teen girls through retail, Kylie started up a cosmetic brand that was launched in 2015 and took off because of her massive fan base. Because of her great interest in fashion and makeup, Kylie was very successful in her business. Creatively, Kylie came up with different names for the makeup in her brand such as: Kyliner, and Kyshadows. Along with coming up with creative names for her products, she also created tutorial videos using her snapchat platform to explain different makeup routines and products. A critical and interesting piece to Kylie’s story as an entrepreneur, is the fact that when she began creating her business, she chose to begin to set herself apart from her family by separating herself from them on special platforms in order to make a name for herself to expand her business success. Kylie is a brilliant millennial entrepreneur because she saved money and built revenue by not spending on advertising but rather used her media platforms to spread word of her business. She uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to formulate videos and tutorials about her business and products. By using social media as her main source of marketing, she can reach millions of people and therefore maintain a large fan base while also maintaining a very successful business. Kylie Jenner is a great example of a millennial entrepreneur because she strategically uses her social media platforms and fan bases to launch and maintain her business. 

 

Zandra Cunningham – Zandra Beauty

When Zandra Cunningham nine, her father wouldn’t let her buy more lip balm because of the harmful skin-damaging chemicals found in it. So Zandra made her own. Almost a year later, in 2010, Zandra launched a brand called Azariah’s Innocence, and at age 10, sold her own lip balm and body shea butter at the local farmer’s market.

As business grew and the brand expanded, Zandra renamed her brand to Zandra Beauty. Her brand still would sell lip balm made with natural ingrediants, but now she would sell more things than lip balm and shea butter, such as make up remover and face washes. As Zandra puts it, the brand motto is “No icky stuff!”

Now at age 21, Zandra has a net worth of $500,000. Her brand has expanded to making over 40 natural skincare products, all of which are not tested on animals. Not only did Zandra win awards such as the Etsy Open Call Golden PO, BE Teenpreneur of the year nominee (2016), and Small Business Administration Youth Entrepreneur of the year (2017), but she has also been featured on talk shows and other channels such as Nickelodeon.

A few words of advice Zandra has given are “be confident” and “networking is key.” The reason why Zandra’s story is inspirational is because of how young she was when she started her business, yet she wasn’t afraid of conquering the world with her skincare products. Zandra’s attitude is part of why she is such a successful entrepreneur. You can’t be afraid to change the world.

BeYOUtiful

 On a casual trip to her favorite health and beauty store to buy bath bombs Hannah Grace, a ten year old girl, was challenged by her family to create a line of bath bombs of her very own. Hannah happily accepted the challenge and got straight to work formulating her own product and experimenting with fun and new ideas for bath bombs in her home. Hannah then began to sell her product to family and friends, but her product quickly took off.

 

Shortly after her bath bombs gained large success she expanded her product line to also include a plethora of health and beauty product. She went on to name her brand BeYOUtiful. Her mantra being you don’t have to be anyone else to be beautiful, you can just be YOU. When you buy a product from BeYOUtiful you can guarantee its hand made and with all natural ingredients. 

What makes Hanna’s product so special is that 20% of every sale goes to a Diabetes Research Fund, JDRF the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research as well as other amazing charities. Hannah has grown up with Type 1 Diabetes after being diagnosed as a baby at 11 months old and is passionate about T1D research. Hannah and her product have  been featured on the Today Show, This Is New England, Teen Boss Magazine, and Our Money-Snapchat. Hannah has already accomplished so many amazing things and is far from finished! 

Check out their media here!

Adelle Archer by Anna Ortiz

Adelle Archer, CEO and co-founder of Eterneva, is on both the Inc and Forbes 30 Under 30 lists. In addition, Mark Cuban invested in her business when she went on Shark Tank in 2019. Eterneva is a business that Archer created after her friend and mentor Tracy Kaufman died from pancreatic cancer. The company produces diamonds out of loved ones’ ashes; Archer conceived of Eterneva because at the time, there were not many options for memorializing passed loved ones. Although cremation is at an all-time high popularity, the ashes get thrown away after about one generation. More lasting, however, would be diamonds made by Eterneva. Diamonds, Archer believed, not only allow people to mourn, but they also allow people to celebrate. I love Archer’s view that people should both mourn and celebrate. The idea is one that Christians should take to heart, as we recognize that death is not part of how the world should (and will) work, and yet hold that it is a gateway to the sweet next life with our loving Savior. Archer knows that the seven to eight month process for making the diamonds is not a drawback but a strength because it gives people time to mourn and process the death. The Eterneva team sends videos, pictures, and updates to mourning clients as they wait for the diamonds, which I believe is an innovative way to care for people. On the celebration side, the Archer counts on the diamonds to encourage people to share stories about the people who died. According to Archer, the diamonds help people to lean into the subject of death instead of turning away from it. Archer believes, and I wholly agree, that our culture hides death too much, and that communication about death is vital to caring for grieving neighbors.

Italian Graphic Design Entrepreneur

Do you ever wonder how you can make your social media look appealing? 

    Antia D’Alisera is not merely a successful YouTuber. Born in Rome Italy, and now a freshman at Kings College in London, she was raised by her father who is a movie producer and her mother who is an interior designer in Rome. Her older sister recently graduated from Parsons School of Design for fashion. Anita is surrounded by excellent taste and a beautiful eye for aesthetics. While on vacation, Anita and her family frequently travel to their house on an island off of Greece called Patmos. From growing up surrounded by her parents and sister’s excellent taste in style, art, and design, Anita has found a passion and deep interest for graphic designs, film, beauty and exquisite aesthetics. She is gifted with ideaphoria and can easily put her ideas into practice, since she currently has her own YouTube channel and her own graphic design business.   

    Anita D’Alisera, known as AniDali on Youtube (and for all her social media platforms), is currently a content creator for more than 6 years reaching 26.4 thousand subscribers. She is a young entrepreneur since she gets paid by YouTube, and also started her own graphic design business in 2020. The purpose of her business is to help Youtubers create aesthetic intro, outro, and banner templates for their Youtube channel. She customizes people’s needs based on what their YouTube channel is about and her prices are very affordable. There is a demand for having YouTube channels be pleasing, since the more the effort in regards to how one’s presentation looks the more people will subscribe to it. This is understandable and what a person says in their videos matters as well. 

   On the Fiverr website, an online marketplace for freelancers, Anita mentions that in addition to helping YouTubers create graphic designs, she customizes beautiful templates for clients’ social media as well. Anita has an entrepreneurial mindset because she realizes that not everyone is a YouTuber so she has branched out to help people make their other social media platforms look attractive and beautiful. Anita’s talent for design at her young age promises a lifetime of inspiration to create beauty and make it known.

Here is additional information on Anita D’Alisera: 

https://www.fiverr.com/anidali/create-graphics-for-your-social-medias 

https://www.instagram.com/anidali/?hl=it 

https://www.youtube.com/c/AniDali/featured 

Bella Weems: Origami Owl

Bella Weems is a 28-year-old who is the founder of the jewelry company Origami Owl. At just 14 years old, she turned her passion into a business after her parents told her she would have to earn her first car. Her passion for handcrafting jewelry turned into a multi-million-dollar business.See the source image

Origami Owls main product is called the “Living Locket” which is a locket which you can add in your own, personalized charms to. This is unique because each charm can represent the persons hobbies and interests and showcase them when they wear the necklace. Bella also sells bracelets, earrings, and other accessories.

Bella is a busy kid entrepreneur, but she still allots time to give back. She started the “Owlettes Initiative” in which she personally mentors young aspiring entrepreneurs ages 12-17. Bella shares tips with these kids and any advice from her success story. I think this part of her business is truly inspiring because she found a way to help others as well as keep up a successful business.

Bella says the best part of being a kid entrepreneur is, “…being able to encourage kids of all ages to not be afraid to reach for their dreams and never let anyone tell them they’re not good enough or their idea isn’t good enough.” Bella’s business Origami Owl not only lets people express themselves through their jewelry but inspires young entrepreneurs to take the risk to start making something they are passionate about become big.

11 Successful Kid Entrepreneurs Keeping Their Eyes on the Prize