Many of you women have probably heard of Diva Cups before.  For the guys reading this, I’m sorry.  Diva Cups are new ways to handle your period.  It is a menstrual cup that was designed to take the place of tampons and make your monthly “friend” a little more bearable.

The mother daughter team of Francine and Carrine Chambers are the ones to thank for this new product.  Francine saw the environmental problem with tampons and pads and realized that the waste created from these feminine hygiene products was insanely high.  She knew she could figure out a way to make a reusable and environmentally friendly feminine hygiene product that worked, so she grabbed her daughter and the two set out on a journey to make the Diva Cup.

The compnay started in the Chamber’s basement, and now has upgraded to a trendy office space.  The Diva Cup is being sold in 22 different countries around the world, and the company is “B Certified” which means their product is good for their customers, the community, and the planet!  They also specifically used the word “Diva” in the name because to them it means, “anyone who recognizes that our society’s views on periods are not black and white, and anyone who understands periods don’t just belong to cis women. A Diva is anyone that believes traditional, disposable menstrual care products are just not good enough.”

The creator and owner of the popular brand “Kate Spade” was Kate Brosnahan Spade.  She lived in New York City in 1985 after earning a degree from Arizona State University in journalism.  While there, she worked as an accessories editor for Mademoiselle magazine, eventually working her way up to senior fashion editor and head of accessories.  She left six years later in 1991 so she could focus more on her own company that she was trying to start.  With her extensive knowledge of accessories and fashion, she started her own handbag company and opened a small boutique in 1993.  “Her handbags were distinctive for their modern, sleek look, pops of color and utilitarian shapes.”

As time went on, her husband, Andy Spade became her partner, and their business soared.  It expanded to other countries outside of the United States, and she began to create more products than just her luxury handbags.  She designed multiple new product lines and categories, and sold them in over 450 stores worldwide.

In 1999 her and her husband sold a 56% stake of the company for 33.6 million dollars to the Neiman Marcus Group, and then in 2006, the remaining stake was sold to them for $59 million.

The Scrub Daddy…America’s favorite sponge.

Aaron Krause originally started to design “Scrub Daddy” when he was looking for an alternative way to wash his dirty hands from work.  Using his 14 years’ experience making urethane foam buffing pads, Aaron started his journey to make a comfortable way to wash working hands.  Once he came up with his rough prototype, he realized it worked really well, and wanted to share his awesome new discovery with everyone, so he started by marketing it to body shops in hopes that they would love to clean their cracked, oily hands in a better way. Unfortunately, Aaron’s product got awful backlash and people said it was “unnecessary” and “overpriced.”  So with this news, Aaron went back to the drawing board.

A few years later, Aaron needed to clean his lawn furniture, and the average sponge scratched the furniture paint. He tried and old hand scrubbing soap which he realized got harder when it was in cold air but then got softer when it was dunked into the warm water again. He took this idea and ran with it, thus creating the beloved Scrub Daddy.

The Scrub Daddy sponge that we know and love today is a circular sponge with rigged ends that has two holes and a half circle that make up a smiley face.  It is designed to help clean spoons, utensils, and other kitchen appliances.  When a Scrub Daddy is put under cold water, it gets hard and coarse making it easy to clean tough crusty messes, but when it is put under hot water, it goes back to it’s normal, soft, spongey, self.

To continue with my theme of kid entrepreneurs, Alina Morse is a 14 year old CEO and entrepreneur.  She created Zollipops which are lollipops that are good for your teeth.  When she was younger, she loved lollipos, but her parents always told her that they were bad for her and that they would rot your teeth.  Alina didn’t let that stop her from her love of lollipops, but instead it sparked the question “why can’t there be lollipops that are good for your teeth?” And with that question came the answer….Zollipops. With the help from her mom and dad, and all the money she saved over the years, she launched her company in 2014 at the age of just 10 years old.

Today, Zollipops are sold in 10,000 stores across American including Walmart and Kroger.  They are also the second most sold lollipops on Amazon.  The comnpany itself is worth over 6 million dollars and has become “a candy empire.”

A quick fun fact about her company is how the name was formed.  Her younger sister, Lola was trying to say “lollipop” and accidentally said “zollipop.”  When she said it, Alina was in the process of coming up with a catchy name for her company, and when her sister said it, the rest was history.

This is another great inspiration for people wanting to start their own business. Alina did not create something brand new, she just took something and made it better.  Her story can inspire people because she created a million dollar company with just a simple question, which is something anyone can do!

Moziah Bridges was only 9 years old when he started his own bowtie company.  His reason was simple, he couldn’t find any bowties that “fit his style” or made him “look sharp.”  So, with the help of his mother and his retired seamstress grandmother, he started his own bowtie business.  He appeared on Shark Tank and landed a big deal with Daymond John to make his business flourish.  Daymond said that Mo reminded him of himself when he was younger, and that created a personal relationship between the two.

Now at age 15, his net worth of his company is over $1 million, and he just signed a 7 figure deal in May to make bowties for all 30 of the NBA teams.  He said that the league found out about him and said “he’s a cool guy with some cool ties.”  This is a huge opportunity for him and is helping him grow him company to even bigger ends.

From 2013 when he was first introduced to the world during Shark Tank, he captured the heart of people with his passion for bowties, and now he is a CEO of his own million dollar company.

Mikaila Ulmer, founder of Me and the Bees Lemonade.  Unlike a lot of other entrepreneurs, Mikaila started her business at the very mature age of eleven years old.  Her entire company started when she got stung twice by a bee.  Instead of becoming scared of bees, she became very interested in them.  She did research about them and learned about all they do for the ecosystem.  As she was researching, she thought about making a lemonade that incorporated her Great Granny Helen’s lemonade recipe and bee’s honey.  From this simple idea, she created her business, Me and the Bees Lemonade.  She was eleven when she appeared on Shark Tank, and from that experience, she walked away with a $60,000 deal in exchange for 25% of her company from Daymon John.  Along with selling lemonade, she also aims to help educate others about bees and their honey, and she donates money from her company to local and international organizations fighting hard to save the honeybees.

Mikaila, now 14, has an incredible business.  She recently signed an $11 million deal with Whole Foods where “Bee Sweet Lemonade” will be sold in 55 different stores across four different states!  Mikaila is a huge inspiration to entrepreneurs and business people everywhere, but most importantly she has inspired the next generation of young entrepreneurs to make a difference and to stand up for what the believe in.  Mikaila not only started a million-dollar company, but she gives back to organizations that she believes in, and she didn’t let age or anything else stand in her way.