There’s no such thing as starting a business too young. Lambert is considered the breeding place for young minds to thrive. In the past years, countless students have taken the initiative to use their own time to gain experience that will assist them in years to come. Here are some noteworthy students!

Shaomin Kee, a sophomore, started up her business to endorse and advocate for endangered animal species. Her main focus is through promoting these endangered species through adorable graphics, all hand-drawn herself.

“This pandemic, I wanted to make a difference,” Kee said. “So I chose a topic that I am passionate about – endangered animals. The reason for this is because…it’s terrible to see all these animals being hurt for no reason.”

Through social media, Kee uses adorable art to reach a broad and young audience, mostly consisting of students. The media consists of posts, little information slides for the animals and snip-bits of her behind the scenes.  

As her business grew, she started shifting her focus towards creating merchandise that displayed her adorable drawn animals. One product that she has already started selling is her tote bags. 

“I just like the idea of having that hustle,” Shaomin remarked. “The feeling that I accomplished something. And that I’m making a difference in the world!” 

Another notable business at Lambert is Steven Hao’s Red Cat Shop! 

His business can be most notably known from the signature Red Cat that can be seen embedded in his clothing. Not just that, they have also developed 4 software applications, two of which have been used by FBLA. These applications consist of a voting app and event signups. 

Steven says that his logo actually originated from a quick doodle he would make back when he was only 5 years old. He signed off the greeting cards he sold with the doodle of what would become his now established logo. 

“It represents a young entrepreneur’s curiosity to the world,” Steven said. 

The path to success isn’t overnight, however. Starting from a young age, he would use his own savings to start up monthly donations to all sorts of organizations and raise fundraisers on his birthday parties with his hockey team. He resold his own HYPE sneakers to fund his own machinery to make his products!

His clothing has gained popularity with the Lambert students as his business has progressed. Our longhorns seem to enjoy his products to the point where the company has sold their clothing at the Lambert School Store for a limited time!

Steven’s Red Cats Shop isn’t a one-man-built business. It’s also supported by a number of other students and staff to help the business grow. 

“It’s awesome,” Gene Kang, fellow staff member said. “Definitely one of my favorite parts [of the business process] is when I got invited to work with Steven on Red Cats shops. It was probably one of the most exciting times of my life because he’s been my friend for a really long time, and getting to work with him, and getting involved in these sort of communal processes, and then also being able to throw my thoughts and benefit others with it was something I loved doing. I want to keep doing it.” 

Steven’s goal is to fund students in Kenya and give them the financial aid they need to move on to secondary education. He has made the incredible achievement of sponsoring 50 children onto pursuing secondary education, and he has no intention of stopping there.  

Not only that, but once he’s out of high school, he plans to keep a business model in Lambert, to help educate and give experience to future aspiring students who want to pursue business.

These students are only a few of many who have put themselves out there, and promoted their own products! These small businesses will become a gateway for the young minds of our futures. Checking them out, and supporting them could make all the difference!