Last winter the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce had an inspiration: to launch a Junior Chamber. The idea was to partner with Bayonne High School’s business majors to help them gain business skills and get involved in the community.
That’s how Bayonne Junior Chamber of Commerce President Britcely Brito, 18, tells it, and the plan seems to be working. “When my home-room advisor said they were starting a new business club, I was down for it. I told other senior friends, and they were all down for it.”
The students who jumped at the chance? “Business kids,” Brito says. “Kids who take all the business classes, kids who want to be entrepreneurs.” Currently, there are about 10 members—seven seniors, the rest juniors, ages 16 and 17.
Brito is probably typical of Bayonne’s budding business geeks. Her family moved to Bayonne when she was five. Both parents owned their own businesses, her father a car dealership and her mother a clothes boutique.
“I was always interested in owning my own business,” she says. Her mother is a model of resourcefulness: “She started the boutique when she was pregnant and couldn’t stay at her job.”
But it was something that happened to her aunt that was a defining moment for Brito.
“I was about 10,” she relates, “and my aunt got laid off from her job. She was struggling to pay rent and pay her bills. I didn’t like that. In order to support my family, I didn’t want to rely on someone else to pay me. I wanted to be able to be my own boss. My aunt was not fired for bad performance; she was laid off.”
Help Starts at Home
“The trigger for starting the Junior Chamber was when I attended a conference at the Board of Ed about the new business academy,” said Bayonne Chamber of Commerce President Matt Dorans. “I always wanted outreach from the chamber to the student level because I believe grassroots starts at the student level to understand how business operates.”
The senior chamber invites the students to events. “We went to a business event at the cruise port,” Brito says, “and a business gala at the golf course. We were introduced to mentors, who gave us a big project as a way of helping Bayonne to become better.”
That project? “To reboot Broadway,” Brito says. “In general to make it much prettier.”
Her group came up with ideas for a sporting goods store, art gallery, and “therapy spot.”
On June 13 they presented their ideas at an event at the Chandelier. “There was a big PowerPoint presentation about how much money we’re going to make. The chamber is helping us with the project. They answered questions, and there was a guest judge. Whoever wins will get a monetary reward.” (At press time, a winner had not been chosen.)
Meeting of the Minds
When the Junior Chamber meets, “we talk about what we want to do in the future,” Brito says. “We’re all interested in business and business classes.” Brito started her freshman year at New Jersey City University this fall. “NJCU is a really good school for business,” she says. She’s majoring in marketing and minoring in entrepreneurship. “My goal is to be founder and CEO of my own company,” she says. She has an idea for a software company promoting her own makeup and clothing line.
Though all the seniors will be going on to college. “I want to talk to new kids about how great and beneficial the chamber is,” Brito says. “It teaches you a lot about business. Everyone on the chamber owns a business and has gone through struggles.”
A sentiment echoed by Dorans. “Next year we want to reach out to the eighth-grade,” he says. “Parents of eighth graders should be on the lookout for a letter from us. We want to expand on the bunch of really bright, active students. You never know, they may give back and contribute to our local economy.”
Meanwhile, Brito has her own projects to work on. She’s doing a business plan for an Etsy shop app with another Junior Chamber member. “We can sell the accessories that we make,” she says. “I like to makes things. I’m pretty creative.”
Marketing, she says, taps into this creative instinct. When she sees jewelry or clothing, she’s always thinking, “This would be handier if it had this instead of that cloth, or this would be a better shirt, or watching TV, this would be a better plot. I should write a movie of my own!”
She’s also going to help her mom with a clothing boutique, specializing in top-notch bridesmaids and prom dresses. “You wear them once and never wear them again,” she says. “We’ll buy them and sell them to girls who need dresses.”
The bottom line? Says Brito: We all want to be our own bosses but change the world in different ways.”—Kate Rounds