Retailers from around the world are at Dallas Market Center picking out products to sell in their stores.
One of the vendors is a girl from Grapevine doing something good with her jewelry line.
"I like donating to charities. I like saving for college. I like putting the rest of the money to taxes," giggled Liana Chan as she worked her booth at Dallas Market Hall.
Liana was seven when her mom taught her how to fold lucky stars.
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COVID hit the next year. And in her boredom, Liana got creative and turned the paper stars into earrings.
"I would go door to door to houses. I saw my friends wearing them because I gave them to them. And, I started a whole business afterward," she said. "My dad taught me all kinds of things. He had me read books on being an entrepreneur and I also met other people that were entrepreneurs like me and I finally started my business."
Now at 11, she is an entrepreneur with a business called Love Your Delivery by Liana. (She wants her customers to love their delivery of earrings.) She sells online and was invited to sell her jewelry at one of the biggest wholesale shows in the country.
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The sixth grader makes every pair of earrings by hand.
"I first have strips and I fold them into origami. I puff them up and they turn into little stars. There's a little bit of air inside and sometimes there's paper surrounding the air so that it stays puffed afterward," she explained. "I figure out my beads and I figure out what I want to do and it's exactly like this and it takes a little while for the process. But once I get the hang of it, it's really easy and fun to do."
Liana's goal was to sell $1,200 worth of earrings. She reached it, and now has enough money to buy a new computer and give back to GRACE, a nonprofit in Grapevine that helps those struggling with a limited income or recent emergency.
She will sell her lucky stars earrings next month at an entrepreneur's summit in Southlake.
The Youth Entrepreneurs Summit hosted by the city and the Chamber of Commerce is on Saturday, July 29 from 1pm to 4pm. The event's website describes it as a place for students to to launch a new businesses or expand clientele for their existing business. This annual fair is being hosted to inspire and support youth entrepreneurs in the Southlake community."
