- All right, y'all this hour, we are all about
the mini moguls holding it down in the business world.
My next guest is only 17 years old,
but for the past two years,
she's been teaching underserved kids how to start
their own businesses.
From Young Entrepreneur Scholars,
let's welcome, Kaylee, everybody.
(applause)
All right, so Kaylee, first of all, you are cute as hell.
And secondly, where did this idea come from?
- Yeah, so when I was younger, I did a lot of volunteer work
with a nonprofit that focuses on the needs of young children
and low income families.
And I threw parties for them, carnivals,
but I realized that they're not getting
an education from that.
And I'm very fortunate to have a wonderful education.
So I decided one day, two years ago,
while baking that I was going to put together this nonprofit
and teach these kids how to become entrepreneurs,
give them business skills while also having fun and baking
and decorating cookies.
- So you're, you're accomplishing this all via baking.
It's such a cool idea.
So how does Young Entrepreneur Scholars work?
- So we go to non-profits and different organizations
and we teach any kids anywhere from nine
to we've taught kids who are 21.
Obviously they're not kids,
but we teach all these different types of kids,
how to do business, what the behind the scenes
of the business is, how to start your own business.
We base it off of a bake shop business,
but a lot of these kids actually decided to turn it into
clothing shops, other things like that,
like nail Polish shops, stuff like that.
So it's been super fun.
- Yeah, it's stuff that they're into.
It's so funny, my kids love playing like chef
or owning their own restaurant.
Like I can't tell you how many times I've ordered food
that isn't real at my house.
And it's amazing, like to see them get so into it.
So how do the kids usually respond?
Are they, do they like, is it like they're playing a role
or is it like they're dreaming big while doing that?
- A lot of the times they're dreaming big.
And also a lot of the times these kids don't have the
opportunity to bake or learn these business skills.
And they're all very supportive of each other.
They know that there's no such thing as a mistake and they
all support each other, they support me, I support them.
We've gotten wonderful feedback.
We actually had a parent email us telling us that
her daughter came to our program and this was just the push
that she needed to start her own business,
which made me super happy, and yeah.
- Oh, that's so cool.
Like, cause that's your dream and it's happening.
That's super cool.
So what's it like, is it easier or harder you think
being a kid teaching kids?
- It definitely, there's a lot of challenges
with people taking me seriously,
with people wanting to use our program,
but I can also connect with the kids on a deeper level
because I am very close to their age,
but it's also hard for them to put trust into me
since I am so close to their age.
They're probably like, who is this person teaching me?
She's a few years older than me, what does she know?
But a lot of these kids give me their trust and a lot of
these places also give me their trust and it's been great.
But yeah, and I also don't take no as an answer.
- Oh well, you're going to make a lovely mom.
You're going to nail it.
You got to keep that up.
So here's the thing, do I ask too, is my,
I can ask my daughter to do something and she'll be like,
like looking at me like she's 16 and she's six.
But if my niece Izzy who's 13,
like asks her or like if I get her to do it,
she'll totally listen.
So I thought it might be a little easier cause they might
want to hear it from you rather than an adult.
So it's really cool how you're connecting with these kids
and inspiring them because they all get very excited because
they think you're like a superhero to them, I don't know.
My daughter loves your age of, of person.
Wish she loved mine.
How many, how many kids do you think you've taught so far?
- To date we have taught a little over 300 kids
and we're hoping by the end of the year,
we will hit the 500 kid mark.
But one of our biggest things that we want to go to
in the future is actually giving teachers
across the country our program so that they can teach
this in school curriculums, after-school programs.
And they can use my program to give these kids this
opportunity that they might otherwise not have.
- Yeah, start implementing what you're doing.
That's amazing.
Well, Kaylee, we love what you're doing and we want to help
you keep inspiring other kids.
So we're giving Young Entrepreneur Scholars $2,500
just to help out, does that sound all right?
(applause)
- Are you serious, that's amazing.
- Yes, we love you, we love what you're doing.
It's super important what you're doing, all right?
- Thank you so so so much, that's so exciting.
- All right, well, nice to see you.
We'll have you back and you let us know
if you've made that 500 mark, all right?
- All right, thank you, it was great meeting you,
I'm a huge fan.
- Oh, nice to meet you too, Kaylee, thank you so much.