“Learning business skills is important to me because I feel like everyone should be able to survive on their own. Say you can’t find a regular 9-5 job, you should have the skills to create something you love to support you.”  -anajja Stevenson

Teenagers are some of the most entrepreneurial people I know. They have creativity, energy, and often want to do something meaningful in the world, (not to mention, trying to figure out how to make some money in the process). Today’s guests are no exception. Giselle Cando and Anajje Stevenson are two of the high school students in the Growing Entrepreneurs program of the New Haven Land Trust and New Haven Farms - two organizations based in the city of New haven Connecticut. 

Through the entrepreneurship program Giselle and her partner Devonte started Natural Body Treatments, a business where they make glycerine based soaps using herbs and flowers from the community gardens. Their first product is a chamomile soap meant to calm the senses. It has a beautiful yellow shimmery top, and the flowers on the base of the soap make a great exfoliator. They have been selling their soaps at the farmers market in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, and they will be available to order through the New Haven Land Trust in the winter months. Each bar is $3.00.

“Organic things are expensive. I think it’s good that we try and sell things at a reasonable price for everyone, and not just for people who are rich.” - Giselle

Anajja started Anajja's Candles made with dried herbs and flowers such as chamomile and blue corn flower also from the community gardens. Anajja has been experimenting with different ingredients, containers, and trying to source local bees wax. He also sold his candles at the CitySeed farmers’ market in Fair Haven, and for a time at Fair Haven Furniture. Anajja has been learning the complications of calculating prices for products, and is excited to be learning business skills like communication, sales, and marketing, as he aspires to own a business as an adult. He also shared that spending time in the garden made him realize how important it was to learn how to grow food, a good life skill to have.

So often teens, especially Black and Brown teens are underestimated and not supported in ways that they need to thrive. Giselle and Anajja both shared so many ways that the skills they are learning in the Growing Entrepreneurs program are helping them in their lives, and that the connections with the other students in the program feels supportive like a family.

The program first started to give teenagers jobs, get them out into community gardens, and help them learn practical professional and life skills such as carpentry, growing food, and understanding environmental issues. It later evolved into a program to teach business skills that could help them in the long term such as how to turn their ideas into action, communication skills, business planning, and managing money. The high school students in the program apply to join, and then become employees of the New Haven Land Trust. Part of the program is based in community gardens in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, where the teens learn how to grow food and flowers, carpentry skills for building raised garden beds and shade structures, as well as important information about the natural environment and climate change. They then start to develop ideas for businesses connected to the gardens and practice some of the skills to launch and run those businesses. The partnerships with New Haven Farms and CitySeed which runs the farmers’ markets where teens sell their products, help make this all happen.

Take a listen to the interview, where Giselle also talks about her recent trip to Ecuador where her family is from, and the ways that she struggles to deal with the racism and negative stereotypes of Latinx people in the United States.

Many thanks to Anajja and Giselle for their bravery to record this interview with me and to Esther Rose-Wilen, at the New Haven Land Trust for the work she does to support all the teen entrepreneurs, and in helping to set up this interview. You can check out the video below which shows a little more about this cool program.

Ep. 62 — The Table Underground — Oct 18, 2019