HOUSTON – The pandemic has had a big impact on small businesses, but that didn’t stop one local 12-year-old CEO from achieving her goals. In fact, Jordyn Wright, owner of J. Brielle Handmade Goods, saw a big boom in sales last year, partly due to her amazing bath products, but mostly because of her drive to be successful.
“What inspired me to start is I had eczema when I was little, so I couldn’t get all the fun, cool-looking and good-smelling soaps that I wanted,” said Wright.
Being the excellent problem-solver and go-getter that she is, Wright started making soaps for herself. Soon, she started giving them out to people in her church and received such positive feedback that she decided to turn it into a business.
“I just started making it in my kitchen. I was really just going back and forth with certain ingredients, just increasing certain ones and decreasing certain ones, really using math there. I have to get the ratios right. It’s a lot of ratios,” said Wright.
Wright later expanded her business to include other bath products, including whipped soaps, lotions, bath bombs, body balms and perfumes.
“This business was made for me to create and to sell. I’m very creative, and so that’s really my favorite part about this business,” said Wright.
During the pandemic, Wright was happily surprised to see a boom in sales due to a high demand for specialty soaps.
“I actually doubled my sales, and I almost sold out the Christmas, which was amazing,” said Wright. “I expected my sales to go down, but then, them going up was just really surprising. So, I’m just thankful to everyone, all my loyal customers for that.”
Wright has also used her success to give back to the community. In 2020, she hosted a Joy Drive, which benefited both small businesses and families that were impacted by the pandemic. The entrepreneur is also taking time to speak with other young aspiring business owners through Junior Achievement to motivate them to pursue fulfilling careers and pastimes.
“Make sure that what you’re doing is something that you love,” said Wright. “If you’re doing something that you enjoy it’s going to be really easy for you because you have a drive and you have passion for it.”
For this 12-year-old CEO, doing what she loves will include running her soap business for the foreseeable future.
“I really do enjoy seeing joy on other people’s faces because it brings a smile to my face,” said Wright. “The whole point of this business is just to make people happy and make them feel good about themselves. So, that’s the best part for me.”
To connect with Jordyn Wright, visit the J. Brielle Handmade Goods website.