Most high school students struggle to find a career for the future that addresses their passion. Yet, sophomore Michelle Fundora has already pursued this by running an entrepreneurial business.

For over a year, Michelle Fundora has been running her own business selling bath products alongside her mom.

“[The business] started around November of last year,” Michelle Fundora explained. “I noticed my mom having really dry hands all the time, so I figured it’d be nice to make her a sugar scrub. She liked it so much, that I started looking to other bath products, and it just developed from there to what it is now.”

Michelle Fundora has drastically expanded her business with an array of new products. Originally, she began with simple sugar scrubs and bath bombs. However, after several experiments with various ingredients, Michelle Fundora perfected the recipes, so that the products are one of a kind.

“At first, I went on a couple of sites and watched some videos to give me a good base on how to make them,” Michelle Fundora said. “[For the bath bombs] we started with a fairly simple recipe, but now we’ve developed it, and made it our own.”

A lot of effort, time and knowledge goes into the process of designing and creating these products. Michelle Fundora is knowledgeable about every single ingredient that goes into each product in order to clarify that they’ll be beneficial to the skin.

“For the bath bombs, you really have to make sure that you have the right consistency. It takes about 20 minutes to make a good batch of bath bombs, and up to half an hour for a solid bubble bar,” Michelle Fundora said.

Along with new products, Michelle Fundora has also broadened her venues since first starting.

“I sell my products mainly at craft fairs and farmers markets, and I recently opened up an Etsy site, but we still have to ramp that up a bit more,” Michelle Fundora explained. “When we’re at craft fairs, people will come up to us, and invite us to other places to sell our products… We mostly expand our customer base by word of mouth, and by frequently attending craft fairs and farmers markets about two times a month.”

To assist with contacting markets and fairs, managing the books and even creating the products. Michelle Fundora’s mom, Elizabeth Fundora, takes great pride in the business and her daughter.

“I love being able to share a hobby with my daughter, it has brought us closer together,” Elizabeth Fundora said. “My role in the business is to expose Michelle to different parts of running a business including product design, product development, sales presentation, and product cost calculation. Michelle provides many product ideas and I try to help her make those ideas become actual products. My main role is to find appropriate venues for her products.”

Out of everything this business offers, both the mother and daughter duo believe the best reward is brightening up a customer’s day and having the ability to interact with them.

“[The business is] a fun way to think of how to make people happy. It’s really nice seeing how people’s faces light up when we tell them about the products. Many other bath bomb companies have rustic themes, but ours has the presentation of a bakery theme. We like to use a variety of colors to create an eye-catching display.” Elizabeth Fundora said.

Michelle Fundora plans to pursue a career in business and will be taking that into account when the time for college comes near. The profit from her business goes directly towards future college funds and is split evenly between both mother and daughter.

“[This business] has been a really good stepping stone for me to really get a taste of small business… I definitely want to expand this business as much as I can, but with college coming up, I definitely have to consider the interfering factors that come along with it. If I do go to college near home, I’ll try my best to maintain and expand it, and see where it goes into the future,” Michelle Fundora said.

Michelle Fundora plans to possibly join the Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) an international organization where students compete in finance, business, hospitality and marketing events. She believes it will allow her to demonstrate and practice her business techniques, and provide many opportunities for her skills to flourish.