Spotlight on Jasmine Lawrence
Taking the business world by storm as a tween CEO.

by Jasmine Lawrence

I was 11 years old when I first had thoughts of creating my own natural hair-care company. I had used a relaxer on my hair, and the chemicals caused 90 percent of my hair to fall out. It was devastating to face adolescence with barely any hair.

Like many young women, if my hair isn’t right, I just can’t go about my day. I vowed never to use chemical products again.

I researched natural hair-care products on the Internet, but realized that these products were not “natural” at all. I decided to develop my own line of products. I wanted to do this for a living and share my creations with the world. With the help of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), I started my own business: EDEN Body Works.

NFTE provides more than 600 schools around the country with training seminars and school-accredited startup packages to teach young people basic business principles. With the organization’s support, I created an all-natural line of hair-care products that included shampoo, conditioner, hair oil, temple balm, hair milk and hair wipes.

Today, my products bring in over $100,000 per year. Since I became affiliated with NFTE, life has become much busier. I attended a NFTE Summer BizCamp, where I learned important skills to enhance my business idea. BizCamp also introduced me to great people.

Now, a typical day for me begins at 5am and does not end until 11pm. There were times when I was sick of staying up all night for work and being unable to see my friends. But, the hardest part of getting my business off the ground was enduring rough sales periods. As business slowed down, I couldn’t decipher whether I had accomplished anything. However, I started gaining more faith in my business and myself when I noticed people were interested in buying my products.

This year, I was honored at a gala dinner attended by major Fortune 500 entrepreneurs as well as Nobel Prize Winner, Muhammad Yunus. I was one of 30 students from around the country, as well as from Africa, Belgium, China, El Salvador, England, Germany and Ireland, who were chosen to participate in a business expo and awards program as part of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s 14th Annual Salute to the Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards Dinner in New York City. Each one of the 30 students, who range in age from 13-25, have a particular business, ranging from retail, fashion and computer manufacturing, to Web design and community philanthropy. And all 30 students invited to the expo received a cash prize between $750-$1,000 to go toward their particular startup business or college education.

Before NFTE, creating a business was difficult for teens and tweens like me. In addition, because my parents were both in the army, I had an erratic lifestyle. I traveled from army base to army base, always meeting new people and unwillingly forfeiting old friends. I traveled to different states, such as Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii and New York. I never resided in one place long enough to consider anyone a good inspirational role model. That changed when I met Dell Daniels, my NFTE mentor. He was such a motivational teacher and made learning about business magical.

After my parents left the army and divorced, I moved to Williamstown, New Jersey, in 2003. Another source of inspiration in my life is my mother. If I can accomplish half of the things that she’s done, it would be great. As for now, at 15 years old, I’m beginning to live life in a more settled environment.

I also spend a lot of free time with my five siblings. Using my NFTE skills, I once hired my younger sister to help fill bottles with my product. Not wanting to renegotiate her salary, my sister soon quit and started her own candle-making business. The next day, I rehired her. I couldn’t afford to lose her.

As NFTE founder Steve Mariotti often says, “Many neighborhoods are filled with talented children who just need help finding their talents.” I encourage kids everywhere to find their entrepreneurial passion. After they discover it, kids should look up their local NFTE chapter at www.nfte.com to make great strides with their newfound business spirit.

Jasmine Lawrence is the founder and CEO of Eden Body Works. Learn more by logging onto www.edenbodyworks.com.