THIS. GIRL. IS. ON. FIRE.

Meet my 14 year-old daughter, Kaya. She is the most driven and motivated young lady I’ve ever met.

Little story, y’all:

This 9th grade honor student was challenged by a teacher to create and execute a business strategy that would drive profit for a charitable organization of her choice. She chose the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia – a nonprofit organization that places disadvantaged children into loving families by providing foster and adoption services.

The duration of the project was intended to span the entire school year, but in just under one month, my daughter’s project was shut down. The product? Custom slime. This little entrepreneur assigned a bookkeeper, collaborated with one of her peers on branding the product, invested in all the materials and created all the slime herself, set up an official Instagram page for marketing, and distributed slime just one day a week.

After raising over $200 (at $2 a pop), and spending hours on the product after school and on weekends, her teacher and the principal shut down her operation over ‘cash handling’ concerns.

Did that stop her? No.

She’s making phone calls to Costco Wholesale and 沃尔玛 requesting permission to set up storefront booths to continue raising funds (I knew that stint in Girl Scouts of the USA would pay off). The project has been a blessing. This young lady has practiced entrepreneurship, leadership, business strategy, marketing, investment, ROI and most of all – perseverance.

She’s unstoppable. I could not be more proud.

“She got both feet on the ground

And she's burning it down

…

She got her head in the clouds

And she's not backing down

…

Looks like a girl, but she's a flame

So bright, she can burn your eyes

Better look the other way

You can try, but you'll never forget her name

She's on top of the world

…

We got our feet on the ground

And we're burning it down

…

Got our head in the clouds

And we're not coming down”

-???????Alicia Keys, Girl on Fire

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