00:00Now, for a fun lightning round CEO conversation,
00:04please welcome moderator Mike Federle, CEO Forbes,
00:08and his panelists, Caden Harris, CEO Caden Teaches,
00:12and Zoe Oli, CEO Beautiful Curly Me.
00:16Give it up for these guys.
00:18There you go.
00:19This is great.
00:26I love this session.
00:27Who is the next tycoon?
00:29And in my role as CEO of Forbes,
00:32I get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs over the years
00:35and get to interview them, meet them at different events.
00:39And when I was asked,
00:42would you like to interview two entrepreneurs
00:45when we're at Forbes BLK,
00:47I assumed they were 25, 30, maybe even 40, who knows.
00:53And when I met these two, I was just blown away.
00:58And as a look into the future, I'd say our future is good.
01:03So let me do brief introductions
01:05and then I'm gonna really get to questions for you guys.
01:08Caden Harris here is CEO of Caden Teaches,
01:12started his first company at the age of seven,
01:15wrote a book at the age of eight,
01:17and he graduated high school at?
01:1913.
01:2013, come on.
01:21And Zoe Oli, CEO of Beautiful Curly Me,
01:30founded her company five years ago,
01:32which I think would put you at seven years old as well,
01:35author of several children's books
01:38and the youngest black TEDx speaker.
01:42And both are Atlanta's own too.
01:47So this is really a great tribute to the city here,
01:50I think as well.
01:52So why don't we start with Zoe,
01:54let me ask you the question,
01:56because I get asked all the time from young, under 30s,
02:02about how do I start a company?
02:05How, you know, I wanna be an entrepreneur,
02:07but like, how do you begin?
02:08So tell us your origin story,
02:10your beginning of your company.
02:12So, girls' confidence drops by 30% by age eight.
02:18When I was six years old, I did not like my hair,
02:21and I wished it was straight like my classmates.
02:24And this is not just me,
02:25there's so many other girls
02:26who are not confident in themselves.
02:29My mom got me a black doll that looked like me to help,
02:32and it really did,
02:34but I noticed that the doll did not have hair
02:36that looked like mine,
02:38and I wanted dolls with pink hair,
02:40that looked like mine.
02:41And I wanted dolls with curls and braids.
02:43So when she went back to the stores, couldn't find any,
02:47I decided that I wanted to make my own business
02:50and do something about it.
02:52And that's how I got started.
02:53That's how you got started?
02:54Yes.
02:56And Kayden, your story,
02:58how'd you start at seven years old?
03:00I was barely reading or walking or whatever.
03:05What were you doing at seven that made you start a company?
03:08Well, I would always go to business meetings
03:11with my dad,
03:11and at that point I didn't understand
03:12what financial literacy was,
03:14and I would always hear them talking about it.
03:16So I decided to take it upon myself and learn about it
03:19so that I could teach it to kids
03:21in a way that they could understand.
03:23And I really didn't think that my journey
03:24would lead me to this point,
03:26sitting down on a Forbes stage,
03:28speaking to the CEO.
03:29I mean, life is awesome.
03:31And when I say that,
03:34I really do mean it,
03:36because I actually had a speech impediment
03:38until the age of five,
03:39so I couldn't speak until I was five years old.
03:42So I would leave off the beginning
03:44and end off with words.
03:45And I had to go through years of speech therapy
03:48to eventually prevail and be able to take grand stages,
03:51like being here at Forbes,
03:53the Disney Dreamers Academy,
03:55and I recently even spoke at the White House.
03:57Oh my.
03:58I don't know what you're feeding the kids
04:04down here in Atlanta,
04:05but now you spoke at the White House,
04:09and I believe, Zoe,
04:10you just met Kamala Harris, our vice president.
04:13You guys are way beyond.
04:15This is incredible.
04:17But tell me,
04:18tell us a little bit about financial literacy
04:21is what your mission is around.
04:24So tell us how you're going
04:26about teaching financial literacy
04:28and who you're teaching it to.
04:30Well, I have my financial bus,
04:32which has a mock bank, mock grocery store,
04:34and mock stock exchange.
04:36So it teaches kids how to earn, save,
04:38budget, and invest in a fun and interactive way.
04:42So at the mock bank,
04:43they're able to learn how to deposit
04:45and withdraw their money.
04:46At the mock grocery store,
04:47they're able to learn how to have a family budget
04:50and what their parents go through at the store
04:52so they're not just taking stuff off the shelves
04:54and throwing it in the cart.
04:56The mock stock exchange,
04:57so that they can learn how to invest in stocks
05:00and how great of an investment it really can be.
05:02And my curriculum, which I have,
05:05it teaches kids everything they need to know
05:08before they graduate high school.
05:09It's a middle school curriculum.
05:11So I'm looking to create a K through 12 curriculum
05:14and implement it into schools all around the world
05:16and even translate it so that kids all over the world
05:19can learn about financial literacy.
05:23Very cool.
05:26And I should tell you,
05:27I asked both Zoe and Caden backstage,
05:31you know, these are really nice stories,
05:33but are your companies, do you make money?
05:36They both looked at me disdainfully,
05:38like, of course we make money, this is what it's about.
05:41So Zoe, tell us exactly how you are making money.
05:47What is your business?
05:49So my company, Beautiful Curly Me,
05:51is a brand on a mission to inspire confidence
05:54in young black and brown girls.
05:56And we do this through a line of beautiful black dolls.
06:00I have written books and we also have puzzles.
06:03And for every doll that is bought on my website,
06:05I give one to a young girl in need
06:07because I do not want any other girl
06:09to feel the way I felt.
06:11Seven out of 10 girls do not believe
06:13that they are good enough.
06:14And that to me is unacceptable.
06:17So I am working to change that.
06:20Wow.
06:20Wow.
06:21Wow.
06:22Wow.
06:23Wow.
06:24Wow.
06:25Wow.
06:25Wow.
06:26Wow.
06:27Wow.
06:28Wow.
06:29Wow.
06:30Wow.
06:30Wow.
06:31Wow.
06:32Wow.
06:33Wow.
06:34Wow.
06:35I lose my last life.
06:37And almost a whole life.
06:38But what do you think about in the future?
06:40What are the goals that you set for yourself?
06:43Zoe, why don't you start us out?
06:45And then Kaden, how do you set goals
06:47at such an early age to look five years down the road?
06:51So in the next five years,
06:53I want to positively impact the lives of a million girls.
06:57And I want to do this through expanding my product line
07:01to include more books and dolls,
07:04expanding my social impact to reach more girls globally,
07:08and I am working on speaking as well as launching in retail
07:13and a girls' confidence course
07:15and a girls' empowerment club
07:17that's going to be reaching schools soon.
07:19So yeah.
07:20And my future goal is to teach over 500,000 kids
07:27about financial literacy,
07:29and I'm going to do that with the financial curriculum
07:32because, of course, I can't be everywhere at once,
07:35but the curriculum can.
07:37So just implementing that into more schools,
07:40and that's one of my biggest plans for the future.
07:42And also reaching different corporate partners
07:45because I was able to start this journey
07:47with a $200 investment and turn it into a six-figure,
07:51and turn it into a six-figure business.
07:53So who knows what I'll be able to do
07:54with an investment from a company like Coca-Cola
07:58or Home Depot, all companies here in Atlanta.
08:02All right.
08:02These two are going places, I can tell.
08:05Now, you know, this morning we heard Neal and Youngblood
08:09talk about how he came from a large family.
08:12They didn't have a lot of money,
08:13but his parents taught him the most important lesson,
08:16that they loved him and taught how to love
08:19and also how to believe that you could do anything.
08:24And I was able to meet your parents,
08:27and I was able to meet your parents,
08:30and I was able to meet your parents backstage,
08:33your mother, your dad, and mom.
08:35And what influence or how much was your family involved
08:40in the development, or did you just say at six and a half?
08:45I'm leaving, I'm going to start my own company.
08:49Well, my dad was, my parents overall have been,
08:53all have been helping me along this journey
08:55this entire time.
08:57As I said, I got started with a $200 investment from my dad
09:00and I would go to all these different business meetings
09:03and he would always be the one to push me
09:05to go the extra mile.
09:06And my mom was always one of the creative geniuses
09:09behind it.
09:10She would always come up with these awesome ideas.
09:13And my dad, he's been my business manager,
09:15and we have a running joke that he's the business manager
09:18who can never be fired.
09:19And my sister, she owns her own business,
09:23her own health and wellness company,
09:25where she has her own affirmation cards,
09:28vitamins, and seasonings as well.
09:30So she's also been a help just getting her input as well,
09:34and she helps out where she can.
09:38It sounds like an investment in the whole family
09:41is what we should be making here.
09:42This is great.
09:43Zoe?
09:45My mom has definitely been so instrumental
09:48to the growth of my company.
09:50I mean, from day one, even though it took her a while
09:53to believe I was serious about starting a company at six,
09:57but she really helped me so much.
10:00She pushed me, even when I'm at school
10:02or when I'm doing other things, she's always helping out.
10:06And really, she's just been my rock
10:08and really so amazing during the whole experience.
10:16How do you, we heard in the Barbie panel
10:20about you can't only make a product,
10:22you got to market it and sell it.
10:24How did you guys, how do you market and sell your product?
10:28I mean, that's, a lot of experience
10:32goes into a lot of marketing in a lot of places.
10:34So I'm curious, at such a young age, how you do that.
10:37Well, one of the biggest ways I've been able
10:39to market my business is from media exposure.
10:42I've been featured on every single local news channel
10:45here in Atlanta.
10:46I've been on Good Morning America, The Today Show.
10:50So that's been one of the biggest things,
10:52is just media coverage, because that drives a lot of people
10:55to my website and to book me for speaking,
10:57because a lot of events that I have had recently
11:01have come from Good Morning America.
11:04Media coverage, here we go.
11:09I definitely agree, media coverage
11:11has been great for me as well.
11:14Just word of mouth, email marketing,
11:16social media has been big.
11:18And just whenever I speak,
11:20I think a lot of things come from that.
11:22I gave a TEDx talk when I was 10, and that really helped.
11:26So just media, but also social media and word of mouth, yeah.
11:31And one other thing we're looking
11:32to implement in my company is SEO,
11:34which is search engine optimization,
11:36so that when you type in Kaden Harris,
11:39or Kaden teaches a rich kid, you instantly see me.
11:42That's up.
11:45That's great.
11:47Zoe, when we talk about sales and marketing,
11:51you whispered something backstage.
11:52I don't know if you're willing to share it here,
11:55but when you talk about sales, is that okay?
12:01I'm talking about your retail deal.
12:03Oh, yes.
12:04Oh, yes.
12:05I mean, if you all can keep a secret,
12:09I am actually launching in retail next month in Target.
12:15Yes.
12:21Both these folks are humble
12:24and very wonderful young people.
12:29And, you know, Target's that little small retailer
12:33you guys have heard of, right?
12:34That's such an accomplishment.
12:36That's incredible, I think.
12:38Hey, another thing I'm curious about,
12:41Hey, another thing I'm curious about,
12:44because I manage a lot of people,
12:45and people ask me, oh, as CEO,
12:47what's the hardest thing you do?
12:49And it's always people.
12:50Or the toughest problems you have, it's always people.
12:54When you have hundreds of people,
12:56it gets exponentially complicated and tough.
12:59But you manage older people in this case.
13:04Zoe, I know you're managing a lot of older people.
13:07Older, like even older than 20.
13:11So, how do you do that at such a young age?
13:14Or how do you get the most out of people?
13:18At first, it was definitely intimidating
13:21sitting on a call with all these adults.
13:24But I think just having confidence in myself
13:28and remembering that I am the CEO, I did earn this.
13:31And all of my team,
13:36all of my team have been super supportive
13:39and instrumental during my journey.
13:41And it has been very, very lonely
13:43just being an entrepreneur.
13:44I'm sure there are entrepreneurs in the audience.
13:47That's part of the reason why I started You've Made Business,
13:50which is a growth accelerator for young entrepreneurs
13:53ages 11 to 17.
13:56Caden here was actually part of our first cohort.
13:59So, we are helping kids that already have businesses
14:02to scale them by giving them access
14:05to community content and capital.
14:08Caden, we're out of time, but I'll give you the last word.
14:11How do you work with older people
14:14or motivate older people?
14:15Well, my dad always gave me the confidence to be who I am
14:20and to take grand stages,
14:22even with people that are older than me.
14:25He tells me that I belong in every room I go in,
14:27no matter who's in there, the celebrities,
14:30or the great business people that may be in there,
14:33that I belong there.
14:34So, I've been able to help people
14:36by teaching them about financial literacy,
14:38teaching their kids about financial literacy.
14:40So, I've always been confident in what it is that I do.
14:43With that, I will say, I think our future is in good hands.
14:48So, thank you very much and thanks, guys.
14:51You're really impressive.
14:52And remember, if Caden can, you can too.
14:56If Caden can, you can too.
15:06Thank you.
Comments