There’s nothing quite like receiving money for something you made. It’s a thrill — and incredibly empowering. You can also learn a lot in the process of making the sale.
To give Vermont young people a taste of this experience, three organizations that support kids, local businesses and entrepreneurship got together to create the area’s first Young Entrepreneurs’ Fair. Organizing partners Generator, Seven Days and Davis Studio met for months to plan this unique event. Burlington’s Generator, home to the JumpStart business boot camp, hosts the fair on Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, though the vendors paid $20 each for their spots.
We invited students in grades 3 through 12 to apply to participate and accepted 20 different vendors from all over the state, from Strafford to South Burlington, Cambridge to Vergennes. We let in one underage sibling and a precocious second grader. We think you’ll agree they deserve to be in the mix!
All of them have participated in a pre-fair session with setup and marketing tips. They’re selling items that appeal to their peers — think role-playing dice and beauty products — but adults, too. Haven’t you always wanted cutlery made from fallen trees?
Some of these young entrepreneurs have participated in craft fairs or farmers markets in the past. Naïma Carvalho Sandoval of Toadstool Cupboard has sold her drawings and crochet art at her parents’ jewelry stand at the Richmond Farmers Market. “I like seeing all the other art that other people make and talking to customers about my art,” she said.
Deborah Beynnon of MochaBeenzArt, age 16, is a market veteran, too. “They’ve definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone and grow confidence as well. I’m way less nervous than I was when I was 13. Every time I learn something new, meet new people, laugh and earn money!” she said.
Many of the vendors told us that they plan to invest their profits in buying more supplies. One is saving for a car; another, for a horse. Others are giving their proceeds to charity. Place Newton, a sixth grader from Shelburne, has been selling scarves, bracelets and bookmarks with her friend Addy Lacasse since 2021. To date, the pair have been sending a portion of profits to local food banks, but “this summer we decided to donate to the Boston Children’s Hospital,” Place said.
Read on for interviews with five of the vendors and a complete list of who’s selling what at the fair. All of them will accept cash, and most will accept Venmo. Come prepared to shop!
Sage Minerd
- Age: 10
- Business: Barnyard Crafts
- Hometown: Strafford
Sage Minerd started making jewelry when she was 8. Every day, she sits down at the desk where she keeps her supplies and makes something new. The name of her shop, Barnyard Crafts, reflects where she lives: on a farm in Strafford. She makes handmade earrings, necklaces, bracelets and bookmarks that she sells at her family’s booth at farmers markets and on her website. She gets a couple of orders a week. She makes jewelry in many different sizes and designs, from more casual to more “dressed-up” styles, she said. She’s used to a little bit of chaos around her crafting desk, having grown up around sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, cats and dogs. Sage is learning to work on the farm, too, and has her own flock of 15 ducks.
What inspires you?
I get ideas from YouTube and my own imagination, too.
What do you like about art?
It’s really fun making things, and I like knowing that people like them enough to want to buy them from me.
What are you going to do with the money?
I ride horses, and I’m planning to get my first horse this summer. I will use the money to help with that and to buy different things for the horse.
Rothko & Aalto Smith
- Ages: 8 and 6
- Business: Dragon Jewels
- Hometown: Burlington
Brothers Rothko and Aalto Smith said they divide up the work evenly at their company, Dragon Jewels. They make necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets with metal that they’ve stamped with various designs. “I really like metal stamping,” Rothko said. “You have a heavy hammer, and you hammer down hard. I like bending the metal. It’s really cool.” At the Young Entrepreneurs’ Fair, they will do custom metal stamping for rings and bracelets. Customers can request a name or word, and the brothers can make the item to order that day.
Have you sold things before?
Rothko: This will be our first time, except for lemonade stands.
What do you like about crafting?
Aalto: It’s really cool that you can just make stuff and not have to buy it in a store. It’s handmade.
Where do you get your ideas?
Aalto: We sit and talk together about different words that people might like on jewelry.
Olyla Quiles
- Age: 14
- Business: Ollie’s Prints
- Hometown: Cambridge
Carving designs into linoleum blocks to make prints is a time-consuming process. Olyla Quiles of Ollie’s Prints said it can take her up to three hours to complete a single design. “You really have to be in it for the long haul,” she said, but “the back pain is worth it.” Olyla began making prints last November after she started a carving project in her art class at Lamoille Union High School. She took to it right away and started carving at home. Olyla’s stamps feature designs of birds, horses and wintry landscapes. She recently purchased a pinmaker, and she’s been putting her designs on pins, too. She also makes bookmarks, framable prints, greeting cards, journals and T-shirts, all of which will be available at the fair.
What got you interested in art?
I am a chronic doodler — you should see my math homework. It’s just so cool to think of stuff and then make it real.
What inspires you?
Anything. Nature, audiobooks, podcasts. For one of my designs, I had to look up pictures of vultures for a slideshow for class, and I thought, That could make a really cool print.
What are you going to do with the money?
Buy more linoleum. It’s so expensive. It’s almost $20 a block. I also want to start saving up for a car in the future.
Natalie Dzessou
- Age: 16
- Business: Lulu Sissy
- Hometown: Winooski
Natalie Dzessou began making beauty products in 2021 after her baby brother was born with eczema. Natalie watched her mom make homemade remedies for her brother and began learning from her, eventually coming up with her own products. Today she makes body butters and body oils. Her body butters, which are thick moisturizers, come in different scents such as mango, cocoa butter and shea butter. The oils she makes hydrate and nourish the skin, with scents that include apricot and pumpkin. When she mixes them in her kitchen, she says she feels like “a scientist in a lab.” In summer 2024, Natalie named her business Lulu Sissy and sold her products at Youth Vendor Day at the Winooski Farmers Market. She was motivated by the experience and the feedback she got from people at the fair, who were able to try the products at her booth. “People said that they smelled good. I was really excited to show them to people,” she said. Natalie’s family is from Togo, and she said the fair was also a chance to share her culture with her customers. She also sold waist beads and African net sponges, which are products that her family orders from Togo. “I’ve had those things since I was a little kid, and it was cool to show them to people who had never seen them before,” she said.
What advice would you give to kids doing a market for the first time?
Prepare for everything because anything can happen. Have backups. Also, be sure that you have Venmo or Cashapp, because lots of people don’t have cash.
What do you like about having a business?
It feels really great to do it all myself and see people are paying for it. I love beauty products, and I have so many lotions. When I was selling for the first time, it was so fun to see people enjoying what I made.
Where does the name Lulu Sissy come from?
I was watching “Gilmore Girls,” and I named it after Kirk’s girlfriend, Lulu. I love that name. And “Sissy” because I am a sister.
Gus Herrera
- Age: 11
- Business: The Crochet Sensei
- Hometown: South Burlington
During recess last year, Gus Herrera could be found sitting under a tree crocheting with his friends. When Gus first learned to crochet, his classmates would approach him and ask how to do it. He taught enough people that he started a crochet club, where kids in his grade could meet up in the middle of the day and work on their projects together. Gus learned the fiber art from his older sister, Bella, who is “really good at crocheting,” he said. A few years ago, Bella gave Gus yarn and a hook for Christmas and spent time teaching him how to use them. Now, Gus makes his own designs, focusing on bags and bracelets and using patterns he finds in Woobles crochet kits. From those kits, Gus has been able to make all types of critters, from a ferocious kraken to an adorable squirrel.
What do you like about crocheting?
It’s fun, and it helps me relieve stress if I’m worried about something for school, like having to do a report. It’s also good for dexterity. When I finish something, I get this feeling of accomplishment.
Besides crochet, what else do you like to do?
I also like cardboard weaving, and I’ve done knitting, though I like to crochet way more. I like to doodle. I also play the piano.
What are you going to do with the money?
I want to buy another crochet set. There is a new one that has patterns for Lord of the Rings characters, and I want to make Frodo and the Balrog.
More exhibitors featured at the Young Entrepreneurs’ Fair
Saturday, March 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Generator Makerspace, Burlington, generatorvt.com/yef
White Breasted Nuthatch
Caden Anderson, grade 7, Charlotte
Greeting cards, photography of birds and animals
Outside The Lines
Alister Griffin, grade 6, Vergennes
Artwork, stickers, T-shirts
website
Kitty Reeper
Kitty Reeper, grade 6, Bolton
Cards, stickers, posters, hand-sculpted clay dragons and other animals; face painting and drawing by request on the spot
Yarn Barf
Felicity Barras, grade 8, South Burlington
Crochet projects, stuffed animals and other items
MochaBeanzArt
Deborah Beynnon, grade 10, Burlington
Stickers, key chains, pins
Tiny Hands Creations
Harper Marshall, grade 4, South Burlington
Mini “button books” with positive messages, bags filled with clay sculptures
Place and Addy’s Gift Shop
Place Newton and Addy Lacasse, grade 6, Shelburne; grade 6, Brentwood, N.H.
Handmade scarves, bookmarks and custom bracelets
Dice Nerd
Samuel Cornelius, grade 8, Charlotte
Sets of seven polyhedral dice for role-playing games
Goblin’s Forge
Jax Washburn, grade 6, Jericho
Beaded crafts including bracelets, earrings and geckos
Jazzy Jewelry
Tessa Mckibben, grade 11, Waterbury Center
Dangle and hoop earrings and rings
What Vermont Means To Me
Jelina Quittner Javier, grade 5, Burlington
T-shirts and pillows
Vermont Kitchen Supplies
Parker Bookwalter, grade 4, Burlington
Handcrafted wooden spoons and knives
Toadstool Cupboard
Carmen Williams Manrique, grade 6, Williston
Naïma Carvalho Sandoval, grade 5, Burlington
Stickers, headbands, scarves, bracelets, key chains, ornaments, candles
Della’s Designs
Della Scheller, grade 2, Colchester
Polymer clay jewelry
Youth Soul Mode
Winner Mampuya, grade 12, Winooski
T-shirts and hats
The original print version of this article was headlined “Money Makers | Vermont students prepare to sell their creations at the first Young Entrepreneurs’ Fair”
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This article appears in Kids VT, Spring 2025.
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