In 2018, Seanna Mullins, age 13 at the time, started a business as part of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA) program. To be apart of this program, young individuals are sought out and recruited, and they are put through a rigorous course over a span of multiple weeks to develop their ideas and practice speaking in front of investors. 16 students presented business ideas to the panel; however, Mullin’s idea won.
As a seventh-grader Mullins has been through a lot. The previous September her dad passed away after a tragic traffic accident. “I didn’t have a gift to help me,” she noted; Mullins felt extremely alone during this time in her life. Therefore, she came up with Healing Hearts.
Healing Hearts is a business that produces special dolls for young people going through a similar hardship to Mullins’. The dolls are made to be personalized and customized with a background story about a challenge that he or she faced. Each doll can be made from fabric from a loved one’s item.
“The doll has gone through a difficult time, like they lost a loved one or had a disease, have broken an arm or leg. It can teach someone how they’ve gone through that and gotten through that,” said Mullins.
After pitching her whole idea Mullins got $1000 from a local investor as well as a four-year scholarship to Campbellsville University. She hopes to continue her business in the future and pitch more ideas as she gets older.
This is a really good example of redemptive entrepreneurship. She has a sad story but she’s using her skills in such a positive, amazing way.
There was a need that she related to and she found a way to fill it in a unique and thoughtful way.
The impact she had is really wonderful!
I’m glad she used her past experiences to grow her business and make it into something meaningful.
I love how she used her own pain to relate to others and fill a void that she herself experienced during her difficult time. In a way, I think this brings redemption to her as well as to the ones that Healing Hearts helps.
This is a really cool example of how someone took their past experience and turned it around to grow her business. She found a problem and then she solved that problem.