Teenager Startups - Kayana aka KK Emmay - a kidpreneur from Cambridge Ontario with Pushing Buttons business

Kayana aka KK Emmay, a resident of Cambridge, ON, was born in 2009. As much as she remembers, she has always celebrated her birthday by choosing an act of charity over birthday presents. Kayana, along with her younger sister Kayla would go from one door to another in her neighbourhood to request donations so she could help the ones in need. 

On Kayana's 10th birthday, her parents got her a button machine, looking at her will for charitable acts. However, this present became a puzzle as the machine did not come with a manual. So the first challenge the kid had to face was to figure out how to operate the machine, keeping in mind that she was just 10 She used this business idea as an opportunity to help her raise more money for charity and came up with her business "Pushing Buttons." 

KK quotes, "to make a pin, you have to physically push the manual button machine," hence the name Pushing buttons. Her business deals with making buttons and magnets for all kinds of events and purposes She comes up with new, different and creative ideas and designs to make her buttons more appealing to her customers and reach out to more audience. KK's venture's logo is a rocket that symbolizes that there are no limitations to her and her venture's success. They will go as high as the sky, just like a rocket does.

Kayana being a 10-year-old girl, takes the help of her mother, Shian Mohammed, to run her business. Being an entrepreneur in this fast-growing world KK does not own a cell phone or even have access to her Instagram account, whatever goes to KK goes through her mother first. Her mother believes that today social media or internet could turn out to be a very harmful tool as it comes with all kinds of exposure good and bad. Kayna's mother, who is a filter to her social media, asks every parent to be careful of what their kids are getting access to on social media.

Pushing Buttons has been contracted by many retailers like Amazon, Sunny Boy Farms and Sybils Logistics. The company has a solid partnership with Indigo's Love of Reading Foundation, where the 'I Love To Read' button was sold in-store with proceeds donated to the charitable organization. 

Along with her business, she takes part in a lot of extracurricular activities such as basketball, volleyball, and enhanced mathematics^.[1]She is a correspondent for DCY Opportunities Magazine, a Detroit-based publication where she receives media access to various business conferences. One of them includes the NAACP ACT-SO event (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) where top-performing African-American students were celebrated at a gala event held at the legendary Fox Theatre. She has received Innovator of the year from the Detroit City Youth Opportunities Magazine. 

Teenager Startups asked Kayana about what she would like to do in the future regarding her business as well as her life, and her answers were quite impressive. At this point, she does not have intentions to scale up the company,  she instead wants to continue increasing her community and online presence to keep inspiring other kids to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. In the future, she hopes to open up a shop and become a successful teacher. The young lady has simple yet big goals. 

Running a business is never an easy task, whether you are a child or an adult. A person faces many hurdles while reaching the top. Kayana shares with us how managing time and meeting deadlines was a very difficult task for her. She also had difficulty in believing in herself at the initial stages. However, she has overcome those small hurdles and is running her business smoothly. She uses a visual aid to help her stay on track and to make sure everything gets completed on time. She tells how the support and trust of her family always push her forward. She also takes help from her parents and her sister when the order is a large one. Also, her grandfather, who himself has been running a business, always teaches her the importance of a good work ethic and taking care of herself and others while working. 

Kayana might be a young girl, but her inventiveness is an inspiration to many more on her way. She always keeps one thing in her mind. No idea is too small, map out your plan and reach for beyond the stars!

Source:
[1] https://byblacks.com/profiles/business/item/2428-kk-emmay-this-small-business-owner-pushes-buttons-with-big-ideas 

Additional Information:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/buttonspushing/