When Dedra Phillips went about planning her daughter Nia’s Sweet 16 party, she decided to give her something that would take her further than just from one point to another.
For a fairly long time, a ‘traditional’ sweet sixteen gift would be a spunky car for the newly-minted almost adult. But when Dedra Phillips went about planning her daughter Nia’s Sweet 16 party, she decided to give her something that would take her further than just from one point to another. This savvy mommy bestowed the responsibility of a business to her daughter.
Speaking to Black Enterprise, Dedra said: “I thought to myself, I can always buy her a car. A business, however, could teach her many valuable lessons such as; how to lead, build a vision, time-management, team building, marketing, budgeting, investing, managing finances, customer service, and so much more. To be 16-years-old and learn these types of lessons is invaluable. It will serve her for the rest of her life. That is why I chose business.”
While it’s a pretty novel idea, the spark didn’t come from Dedra. It actually came from a text conversation she had with Nia, who told her mother that she wanted to sell lip gloss after watching a YouTube video that taught her how to make it.
Instead of just capping it at the lipgloss idea, Dedra pushed young Nia to explore other ideas to build a brand. The mother-daughter duo put their heads together and came up with a range of products as well as a brand name. But the topic fizzled out and the pair didn’t talk about it much after that.
But a few months down the line when Nia’s Sweet 16 rolled in, she wasn’t surprised with a cool car with a huge red bow on it. The teen was instead surprised with a table bearing her image, the brand name that she and her mother came up with, along with multiple bottles of lip gloss and a complete website that was prepped and ready to go.
The ‘teenpreneur’ described her own reaction to her surprise gift to Black Enterprise. She said: “My initial reaction when mom presented me with the business at my party was ‘Whaaat?!’ I really thought I was going to get a car for my birthday. But, a business is so much better. It gives me something greater for my future than just a car. A business is something that will be with me forever that I get to build from the ground up. I can use my business to buy myself a car!”
Dedra’s decision to gift her daughter a business came from the idea of supporting her daughter’s dreams. The business-savvy mother also wanted to show Nia that there was more than just one way to achieve success.
Dedra explained to Black Enterprise that she wanted to show her daughter that she was her number one supporter by gifting her the business. “We don’t see this enough in the Black community. Many of us are taught to go to college and get a good job. That’s not a bad thing. Even if you have a job, multiple streams of income are necessary for today’s economy,” she added.
So if you want some bespoke lip glosses or some stunning 3D lashes, head over to niabribeauty.com to support this technopreneur’s dreams!
