My Lemonade Day Experience – In Their Own Words

BY DEBBIE NAZARIAN, LEMONADE DAY NATIONAL DIRECTOR

 

Brothers Lemonade

 

This week I want to introduce you to Ja’Qub and Jaden Anthony of Brother’s Lemonade. They first participated in Lemonade Day in Washtenaw County, Michigan in 2019. The last year has been a whirlwind for the 12- and 9-year old boys. With the help of their parents, they formed and LLC and created a web site to sell their lemonade and other products and wrote and published a book. They participated in Lemonade Day My Way 2020 – both the in-person way and the virtual way. They were asked by Black Men Read, a community reading series focused on sharing the stories of black and brown people with local youth, to read a portion of their book on its Facebook page back in July – the first authors who were asked to read their own excerpt. Recently, they were nominated for YpsiWrites’ 2020 Writers of Ypsilanti, Michigan.  And on October 1, 2020, they were named the 2020 Youth Entrepreneurs of the Year for Lemonade Day Washtenaw County, Michigan.

I’m so proud of these two amazing young boys! They inspire me through their admirable work ethic, dedication to navigating all the challenges that COVID-19 presented them as small business owners, and their creativity in developing such a brilliant marketing plan. I’m excited to see what they do next! Godfrey Aguwa, City Director for Washtenaw County Lemonade Day, sums it up perfectly – “Lemonade Day Ambassadors Jaden and Ja'Qub exhibit a passion that should not be ignored.”  I agree!

Inspiring stories like Ja’Qub and Jaden are testimonies to the incredible impact Lemonade Day continues to have on children and youth throughout the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda.  The knowledge of learning how to start and own a business and the experience of running that real-life business can be transformational. We want to spark that entrepreneurial spirit in children and youth and provide them with the knowledge, confidence and ability to envision not only a world of possibilities and potential for their future, but also the possibility to own their own businesses now like Ja’Qub and Jaden.

I would love for you to hear from these amazing ambassadors in their own words about what they’ve learned from participating in Lemonade Day – like the power of math! – and what they’ve been doing the past year. 

You can find out more about Brother’s Lemonade at https://brothers-lemonade.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JaqubJaden. I love their mantra – “Follow your dreams and never give up.”

Lemonade Day provides a truly positive experience for children and youth through experiential learning. They develop life skills that they will use for a lifetime. We introduce them to financial literacy and give them the opportunity to learn how to manage money. We also introduce them to philanthropy at a young age and provide them with the satisfaction of doing good for others. We hope to inspire every child and youth to realize their dreams for the present and the future!

Please share this blog with others - parents, teachers, youth organization leaders, and businesses. We are always looking for mentors and sponsors who want to help the next budding entrepreneurs! All of us at Lemonade Day appreciate your support!

I welcome your comments and suggestions at any time. Please email me at debbie@lemonadeday.org. 

For more information about Lemonade Day, please visit lemonadeday.org.

 

FB   twitter   instagram

back to blog
@LemonadeDayNational