These mini moguls proving age is nothing but a number
Tweens and teens have plenty on their plate these days including being full-time students, playing sports and spending time with friends.
You are about to meet three young people who are also adding the role of CEO. These three mini-moguls are dreaming big and not letting anything get in their way.
"If I have been working a lot all day, sometimes I will just make jewelry," Jordan said.
Her passion for jewels started at age 7 and inspired by the jewelry her mother and grandmother wore.
"I'd go onto YouTube and I'd look at magazines and I'd just teach myself how to make jewelry," she said.
After honing her skill, at age 9, Gabrielle launched her business -- Jewelz of Jordan. She sells necklaces and earrings made with natural high-quality stones.
Soon, she was invited to jewelry shows and gained notoriety for her sophisticated creations.
"People would just come to me because I was so young and I was doing this," said Gabrielle.
But her ideas didn't end with jewelry. Gabrielle had bigger plans.
"I wrote my first book because of a competition at school," she said.
The title of the book? The Making of a Young Entrepreneur .
"I can talk about how I didn't win the competition, but I still had that mindset that I was going to win in some way, I was going to get this book out there," she told us. "And that is what it takes to be an entrepreneur, knowing you are going to do this even if it seems like you're not."
Gabrielle added, "Teachers would always just say, ‘You got to grow up, get into college and get a good job.' [It's] never entrepreneurship. That was never really something that anybody talked about."
So Gabrielle is talking. She is now a public speaker working to inspire young people. She is also writing her second book.
It is a full calendar for this home-schooled eighth grader. But she says she loves it.
"I like to say that determination is really fueled by passion," said Gabrielle. "It's a lot easier when you love it."
When she was younger, she would spend hours experimenting with different concoctions. Messy mixes in mom's kitchen she named "icky and gooey." But mom didn't mind.
"As long as I cleaned up afterwards, she was fine with it," said Amelia. "And as long as she got to taste it too."
Fast forward to high school and Amelia learned about NFTE -- the network for teaching entrepreneurship. It is a school-based program inspiring young people to find their path to success.
Amelia joined on, set out to create a business and followed her passion for baking.
She went back in the kitchen experimenting. It had to be different, had to have chocolate, had to be portable. Then she came up with Millie Pops.
In her YouTube video, she describes it as "two cookies sandwiched with either frosting or caramel and covered in a wide variety of chocolate or coconut."
That was her so-called "elevator pitch" for the NFTE competition.
"I guess this was another one of my icky and gooey creations, but less icky,' she said.
The Millie Pops won a regional competition and she went on to compete nationally.
"NFTE has taught me to never give up when I fall or I get frustrated," said Amelia. "I've gotten a lot of opportunities I would have never dreamed of."
"When they are taking pictures of me, the flashes are all up in my eyes," he said. "It makes me feel proud of myself."
It all started with a growing ? collection of Brett's art and an upcoming family reunion. Brett and his mother, Melody, wanted to make t-shirts for the reunion.
"That's when he was like, ‘We can do something cool with my art,'" said Melody. "I was like, ‘Great idea! Let's do it.' He set up his store online and it got a little action."
They put his art onto clothing, accessories and gifts. It was the ties that got the most attention.
"It got more attention than we expected," Melody told us. "That's what makes this so much fun."
Brett came up with the name "Brett's Trove" and got to work sketching and producing more ties.
He is saving money for college. Harvard University is the goal.
Since launching his business three years ago at the ripe old age of 7, Brett has been invited to participate in several local fashion shows.
But it's not all smooth sailing.
"One fashion show, the tie was the completely wrong size for that," Brett said. "It was too small."
Don't let his age fool you. This mini CEO knows what he wants and he knows who is driving the biz.
"This guy," Brett said as he pointed to himself. "My mom? No."
"That's Brett," said his mother. "CEO of Brett's Trove. My baby."
Each one of the young people profiled has chosen to give a portion of their profits to charities that are meaningful to them.