Small Biz

Maria Velazquez

BeGreen Accessories

Dallas
Age: 15
Business started: 2007
Initial investment: $50
Education: Currently a sophomore at Skyline High School

Velazquez and her seven siblings were born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. with their parents when she was 6. She took the NFTE course last year while a freshman, as part of the fashion cluster at Skyline High School. "I used to be quiet and shy—I kept to myself," she says. "But the whole NFTE experience made me feel more comfortable."

She decided to create an innovative line of "green" wearable accessories that utilize the concept of reducing, recycling, and reusing, after a friend gave her a key chain made of bottle caps. She had been collecting bottle caps for quite a while and learned how to make belts and bracelets, weaving ribbon through them.

Velazquez says the hardest part of doing her business plan was presenting it in public. "At first, I was really nervous about presenting it in front of people," she says. "But as I presented more often, I got better."