Long before I understood entrepreneurship, I was already doing it.
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At 7 years old, I was taking things from around my house and selling them to neighbors and friends. It was simple, but I loved the process. I was always selling something.
By 9, after getting my first iPad, that instinct turned into creation. I taught myself how to build social media pages, experimenting with content and learning how to capture attention. I did not think of it as marketing. I just enjoyed building.
Then, in March 2020, everything changed. I was in sixth grade when I found out we would be home for what was supposed to be five weeks because of COVID. Instead of wasting that time, I decided to use it. I started researching business ideas.
That’s when I created my apparel business. Although it was successful, I realized I still had a lot left to learn when I applied to colleges.
I built a six-figure business as a teen
From my bedroom, I began designing and selling T-shirts, hoodies, and stickers. The designs were beach-inspired, reflecting a lifestyle that felt far from the uncertainty of the world at the time. It became more than a way to make money. It was an outlet. An escape.
At 20, I built my first website and launched what would become Coastal Cool.
With a $500 loan from my parents, which I paid back within my first week of sales, I turned that small idea into something real. I had no team and no investors — just a laptop and a willingness to figure things out.
Over the next six years, that project grew into a six-figure global brand. My products have been featured on national television and shipped worldwide. Every purchase removes one pound of ocean plastic, turning what started as a bedroom project into a mission-driven company.
Through this journey, I have traveled, met incredible people, and inspired others to start building their own ideas.
My childhood was different than most of my peers
While most kids were experiencing middle school and high school in a traditional way, I was growing up in a different environment. At 13, I was sitting in boardrooms with executives four times my age and in industries I had no experience in.
At the same time, I was still a kid, so high school became a balance between two worlds. While others focused on sports and social plans, I was thinking about strategy, growth, and the next move. I was always working, always thinking.
It was never just about the money. It was about the experience, the people, and the process of building something from nothing. No matter how much I accomplished, I always wanted more. To do more. To see more. To learn more.
But those years are also among the last of my childhood. There were moments when it felt like I had the mindset of someone much older. That became clear during the college application process.
I didn’t realize the difference until I applied to college
One question on the Common App asked: “What defines you?”
That question stopped me.
For six years, I had been building a vision into a global brand. But when I stepped back, I realized something deeper: Did my company define me, or was that just something I had built?
I am only 18. I have done a lot, but there is still so much I have not experienced — so much I have not learned, not just in business, but in life.
For the first time, I began to separate what I have created from who I am becoming. I realized I was learning, but only within the world I had built. I want to understand more — more than just business. I want to learn from others, be challenged, and grow in ways I have not yet experienced.
College, to me, is not a requirement. It is a choice. Building a company taught me how to create something from nothing. College will teach me how to think about everything.
At 18, I built something real. But I am still becoming someone, and I am ready to find out who that is.
