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This 9-year-old launched her own line of bath products
Jelani Jones has become a pro at running a business while balancing life as a fourth-grader
While most kids are looking forward to relaxing during summer break, 9-year-old Jelani Jones is contemplating ways to grow her business.
As founder of Lani Boo Bath, a line launched last October that specializes in bath bombs and handcrafted moisturizing soaps, Jelani is learning a thing or two about entrepreneurship. According to Fredericksburg.com, the Spotsylvania County, Virginia, native learned how to make bath bombs — a tightly packed mixture of ingredients that fizzes and expels various scents and oils when wet — in school. Jelani had so much fun with the project that she went home to experiment on her own.
With the help of her parents, Jelani purchased the ingredients needed to create the bath bombs and turned the family kitchen into her personal laboratory. After perfecting the blends to her satisfaction, Jelani started by selling her products to friends, family and church members before establishing Etsy and Facebook pages.
Today, Jelani’s Etsy page features 13 brightly colored bath bombs in different scents, as well as two handcrafted soap options. Her products, which start at $4.50, have received five-star reviews on Facebook.
Balancing school and running a business can be tough, but Jelani has been a rock star while learning to master both. The straight-A student not only makes her own products but has also learned to create a business plan, along with budgeting her time and money. Her parents, Crystal and Marcel Jones, help Jelani with some of the heavy lifting, including taking and filling orders and sending invoices.
According to blackbusiness.org, time management is one of Jelani’s keys to success. “I have a schedule so I can fit everything in,” she said.
Her parents both balance busy lifestyles, but they are there for Jelani as she embarks on her entrepreneurial journey. Her dad is an attorney and her mother is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Fredericksburg.
“Jelani is very confident, smart and insightful,” Crystal Jones said. “We want her to recognize that there are no limits to what she can accomplish with God, determination and a supportive village.”