Author Archive for hensontc21

Maya Penn: Maya’s Ideas

Maya Penn is a 22 year old who started her business at just 8 years old with her passion for sustainability. Maya created her brand called Maya’s Ideas in 2008 as a slow fashion brand that creates sustainable accessories and clothing. The products are artisan made from organic, recycled, and vintage materials. Maya took her passion and turned it into a business where others can now share in her passion as well. Maya’s brand is also making people aware, who were not already, of sustainability through her mission and products. Today, Maya is an award-winning founder and CEO, keynote speaker, 3 time TED Speaker, artist, and author.

 

Maya is driven by being eco-friendly through sustainability. What is so outstanding to me about Maya is that she was ahead of her time with her passion and business model. It has not been until recently that people are becoming extremely cautious with the fast-fashion industry. Maya however, was ahead of the curve by starting a sustainable fashion and accessory business in 2008. Maya was not seeking out what the newest trend or social issue was going to be, she was just passionate about it herself. That is inspiring to me to think that just a passion of yours can become something so large. It is interesting to think that someone’s passion right now may become a hot topic in the future. Maya’s story is encouraging because she acted on her passion without considering what the future may hold. She just wanted to share with others. It is motivating to me to just do like Maya. She was passionate and created a business out of it. It encourages me that I do could act on my passion without hesitation and one day it may become the current social issue. I too want to be ahead of the curve simply because I am passionate, that to me is genuine.

Neha Gupta: Empower Orphans

Neha’s social enterprise all stemmed from her family’s tradition. Her grandparents would take Neha and her family to local orphanages to help provide meals to the children. At only 9 years old, this really opened Neha’s eyes and she was struck with motivation to help these kids in need. She organized a garage sale to sell her things to raise money. With the money she made, Neha began a library for the orphanage and got sweaters and food. Neha continued to find ways to raise money so she could provide for the orphanage and work to break the cycle of poverty.

 

Neha’s organization began from the empathy she felt for the children she saw in orphanages. The Empower Orphans website even states that “Part of our mission is to inspire youth to convert their empathy into action and join our ripple effect. Because we strongly believe in the power of young people to create social change, we are a fully youth-run organization.” All stemming from Neha’s empathy, she has now created a whole non-profit organization with the mission to provide for underprivileged children to get them on their feet and break the cycle of poverty.

 

This story is very inspiring to me to see how Neha’s empathy and motivation to help turned into a non-profit organization. I also find it interesting that this all started from family tradition. From a family doing good together and exposing their children to give back, lead to an even bigger result. It is amazing to see the impact that empathy had on Neha at only 9 years old. She took action without any hesitation. That is so inspiring to see in all these stories of young entrepreneurs who just did and didn’t hesitate to act.  I see how empathy and the desire to help others has been the driving factor is so many young entrepreneurial stories.

Lani Lazzari: Simple Sugars

Skin conditions can be extremely hard to find remedies for and also are just aggravating to those who suffer from them. Founder of Simple Sugars, Lani Lazzari suffered from eczema and tried so many products and doctors visit to try to help. Nothing was working, so Lani, being in high school at the time, took it upon herself to research and mix up her own home remedies. She finally made one that helped her clear her skin. This was the first time in her life she was eczema free; that is a long time to suffer from a condition, so to finally find a solution had to have been a wonderful feeling. After seeing results on herself, her aunt saw results from her psoriasis and her friend who had rosacea. She began her business after realizing that her product is actually helping people suffering from their skin conditions. As she was still only in high school, Lani took her junior year off to work on her business and decided to work on growing her business and not continue her education at college. She actually went on Shark Tank and received an offer from Mark Cuban. Needless to say, her business is doing well, and it all started in her high school years.

Lani’s story is so impactful to me because it again is another example of someone trying to solve a problem for themselves and it ends up helping others. What is so amazing is the authenticity of these young entrepreneurs who find a solution to their own problem, realizes it helps others, and they want to find a way to provide others with their solution to solve their problem. Lani is innovating with her organic products that help with a multitude of skin conditions. I personally feel that the area of skincare is so overwhelming and aggravating. But it is also an area that is very popular as people simply just want to find a way to clear and heal their skin. Lani found a solution herself because nothing worked for her, and now she shares it will others because she wants others to feel the way she felt. I love the story of this product and the genuine care Lani put into starting this business. It inspires me to want to solve a problem that will help others and provide it to them in a sincere, genuine way.

David Lauritzen: David’s Toy Project

At just 18 months old, David was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma and was treated at Texas Children’s Hospital. Now 12 years old, David has started a non-profit that raises money to buy toys for pediatric cancer patients. His non-profit began by his mother asking him how he wanted to commemorate pediatric cancer awareness month in September. David, being only 6 years old, decided he wanted to “buy toys for kids with cancer.”

David memorizes script to ask everyone he passed by to donate to his cause. He even sets up a stand in his neighborhood to collect money. His very first year David raised $1,100 to buy 220 toys for children. Today, he even gets corporate donations.

I am inspired by David’s non-profit and the social impact he is making. David took his own experience being a pediatric cancer patient and used that to help others like him. It shows the immense empathy young David had to be only 6 years old and want to give back. I see how David, along with his family, took this horrible situation in their life and used it for good. David’s mom notes how they had to cling to focusing on the positives, which in turn is one of the reasons they started the non-profit. This model shows the entrepreneurial mind of David being empathic and using his own experiences to make a different in the world. He is meeting a need that he experienced firsthand. I think we can all learn from David, at only 6 he wanted give back to those who are in the situation he was in.

John Feinsilber: Gimkit

When John Feinsilber was in high school, he was assigned a class project, which today became more than just that. John took his idea and developed an education-based quiz platform. This platform is a mobile app where teachers can create quizzes in the form of games as a resource in their teaching. Students also can create questions that they submit to their teachers who then can accept. The game allows students to compete with one another to place on the leaderboard. John’s educational game also involves imaginary currency that students can win, and lose if they miss a question, to purchase upgrades and powerups.

 

John was driven by the idea of making learning more interesting and created a solution based on his own experiences. He states “Games really helped me become engaged in school. That’s why I built Gimkit — to be the kind of game I’d want to play in class.” This demonstrates the entrepreneurial mind of John seeing something missing in his experience and changing it for others. It shows a level of empathy in his innovation. The idea sprang from his own learning and now helps many with the same issue.

 

I am inspired by John’s product because the idea started from a class project. It shows how innovation can start anywhere, as long as you have the motivation to continue pursuing it. John saw a need in his life that is also shared among many other high school students and solved the problem by creating his app Gimkit.

Alina Morse: Zollipops

How many of you were told as a child how candy was going to rot your teeth? Alina was just like everyone else being told this, however, at seven years old she did something about it. Alina Morse decided to create a lollipop that was actually good for your teeth. Thus, in 2014 Zollipops was created.

Alina demonstrates the traits of an entrepreneur because she saw a problem and did something about it. I find her idea so interesting and remarkable, because it was so simple! Every kid is told at least once by an adult how bad candy is for your teeth. Alina heard it, yet she was the one to do something about it. She is innovating by making a lollipop that will not rot your teeth. She solved the problem by making a recipe for a vegan, all-natural, sugar-free candy. In addition to her business, Alina is using it to raise awareness of America’s tooth decay epidemic. Her company works to raise awareness of this problem by providing a solution through sugar-free candy. I am inspired how Alina is using her platform to bring awareness to a higher issue.

Alina is specifically inspiring to me because at only seven years old she saw a problem and she actually created a business to solve it. I find is interesting the mindset we have as kids to just go for it and not have any hesitation. Our imaginations are so pure and innocent when we are kids, yet somewhere along the way we grow a sense of fear. Alina inspires me to rediscover that young imagination and boldness we have when we are kids and act on it.