ACTORS HOPE ‘MIZ MARTHA’ BRINGS ABOUT CHANGE

Cast member Celeste M. Cooper in rehearsal for Steppenwolf Theatre’s Chicago premiere of ‘The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington’ by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames’, directed by Whitney White. PHOTO BY MICHAEL BROSILOW.
Cast member Celeste M. Cooper in rehearsal for Steppenwolf Theatre’s Chicago premiere of ‘The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington’ by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames’, directed by Whitney White. PHOTO BY MICHAEL BROSILOW.

Young entrepreneur gets boost to start business

By Tia Carol Jones
Melan Thomas participated in the Polished Pebbles’ Mommy & Me Entrepreneurship Program in 2020. She came up with the idea for her business Beauty Glam Nails, a service that would provide nail services to children in hospitals. Thomas presented her idea during Polished Pebbles’ and won capital to start her business.

Because of the pandemic, with hospitals not allowing visitors, Thomas had to pivot. She and her mother, Jaye Jones, came up with the idea to sell accessories and novelty items and call it Glam Shop. Thomas also authored a coloring book, “Beautiful, Confident, Glam: A coloring book for girls.”

Polished Pebbles, is a mentoring program for girls ages 7-17. It was founded by Kelly Fair in 2009 as a way to close the hope gap and increase the visibility of role models and opportunities young girls see in their community.

Now, Thomas is 12-years-old and her Glam Shop has been a vendor at events in the city, which include The Black Women’s Expo and the DuSable Museum’s Juneteenth Celebration. She has been selling her goods and doing nails, something she wanted to do as a career. Jones believes a program like this is great for the confidence of the young girls who participate in it.

“To go from being a student and a daughter and a sister, on a regular basis, to being able to do things like represent herself at the Black Women’s Expo or sit at a roundtable of CEO’s and represent herself there, she’s very confident and proud. She can now call herself an author,” Jones said.

Being part of the program and creating her own business has enabled Thomas to expand her creativity. Thomas even came up with the tagline for her business, “Where even a kid can be cute,” by herself, as well as the brand colors.

Bank of America helped fund Polished Pebbles’ Mommy & Me Program, which enabled girls and their mothers to bond while learning entrepreneur and career skills. The young girls and their mothers attend career panels, mentoring sessions and masterclasses, taught by industry leaders.

“Through support from businesses like Bank of America, we’ve been able to continue to expand our programming and year-after-year, increase the number of girls in Chicagoland we’re able to reach. We thrive on being able to connect young girls like Melan with the resources and mentors she needs to eliminate the ‘hope gap’ experienced by many girls of color in Chicago who are navigating structural barriers and violence in their communities,” Kelly Fair, Founder and Executive Director of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program, said in a release.

The skills Thomas has learned through her participation in the program will be with her for the rest of her life.

For more information about Beauty Glam Nails, visit www.beautyglamnails.com. For more information about Polished Pebbles, visit www.polishedpebbles.com.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Laticia Holbert of ComEd