Business Beginnings 
Part 2 of 2
I was so awed when I stumbled upon Hayleigh's Cherished Charms, a website that's not even a month old. For starters the affordable jewelry is specifically designed to decorate any hearing aid, the first I know of. What's also remarkable is the age of Hayleigh Scott, the designer, creator and entrepreneur. She is only 10 years old - now the youngest jewelry artisan I have ever come across.

Her personal story is even more inspiring. Hayleigh was born with a life-threatening birth defect. She had congenital diaphragmatic hernia - she had a hole in her diaphragm so her internal organs were in the wrong places. She had major corrective surgery when she was just a day old and miraculously pulled through.


As if that was not enough challenges for this plucky youngster, Hayleigh was later found to be hearing impaired. She started wearing hearing aids at 18 months. Even at a tender young age, she noticed the other children in the special school she attended were self-conscious of their hearing aids and hid them behind their hair. Hayleigh was different. She said, "I wanted to make my hearing aids shine and be fancy and proud of my hearing aids." So at age 5, together with her sisters including her mirror image identical twin, she started drawing designs on how to make the hearing aids "shine".

Her parents helped her learn to make jewelry, launch her own business and set up her own website. Today, Hayleigh and her sisters design and make all jewelry to sell in their own workshop area in their home. What impressed me was Hayleigh's patience. She also holds a provisional US patent on the clasps, hearing aid scrunches and tube twists which took 3 long years - she was granted it only in September. Until then, Hayleigh could not wear her creations or promote them in any way. Now she can!

Hayleigh's Cherished Charms are also a hit in audiologist offices across the country who started to carry her displays. 10% of the profits from Hayleigh's business go to hearing impairment research and the education of those who are hearing impaired. You can contact Hayleigh at cherishedcharms at gmail dot com.


Last Word : By sheer coincidence I am currently reading the intriguing book Outliers: The Story of Success. The author, Malcolm Gladwell tries to answer the question why some people become so successful while others with just as much talent if not more, never reach their potential. His compelling examples of opportunities, support and circumstance provided early coupled with innate talent and drive as the key to success make it a fascinating read.

Hayleigh is indeed charmed many times over and on track for future success according to the book. She is blessed with parents, Rachel and Andrew, who not only chose to give her life (the medical option was to abort the 16 week old fetus in favor of her healthy twin) but have also supported her original idea and are helping her grow as an entrepreneur. Hayleigh's sisters Vienna and Sarah also have their own businesses selling purses and tote bags.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips