Meet the teenager who launched a jewelry company at age 14, now set to rake in $250 million

Entrepreneur: Bella Weems, 17, was just 14 when
she launched custom jewelry company Origami
Owl, which is set to earn $250million this year
It’s not every day a new start-up company rakes
in $250million in a year; it’s even rarer when
that company was launched by a 14-year-old.
Bella Weems, from Chandler, Arizona, is now 17,
but she was only 14 when she thought up the
idea for Origami Owl - a direct sales jewelry
company that connects independent associates,
referred to as ‘designers’, with buyers.
After launching in 2010, Origami Owl has grown
rapidly into a multi-million dollar enterprise,
taking on thousands of different designers
nationwide, and is expected to rake in a
whopping $250million this year.
Bella says she came up with the idea for Origami
Owl at age 14, after she asked her parents for a
car for her 16th birthday.
They told her that she should earn the car
herself, perhaps by starting a business, so she
started brainstorming ways to earn money and
decided to make and sell jewelry.
She started brainstorming ways to earn money,
and decided to make and sell jewelry.
Her parents matched the $350 she had earned
for babysitting, and she enlisted her friends as
buyers.
Then she began selling her signature jewelry
items – which she now calls Living Lockets – at
every opportunity, including house parties,
boutiques and local jewelry shows.
‘I have always believed that you can do anything
you set your mind to,’ Bella writes on her
website.
‘With a focus in sight, I spent hours hosting
jewelry parties instead of hanging out with
friends,’ and ultimately, ‘the product started
selling itself,’ Bella told Forbes .
In 2011, the company adopted a direct sales
platform, raking in about $280,000. The
following year, sales multiplied by a whopping
86 times.
Now, Origami Owl has over 25,000 independent
designers selling pieces at Jewelry Bars –
private parties at their homes or other venues
around the country.
Those who sign up as designers get to choose
from several different starter kits with various
lockets, chains and supplies for launching their
small businesses.
Multi-million dollar enterprise: Now, Origami Owl
has over 25,000 independent designers selling
pieces at Jewelry Bars – private parties at their
homes or other venues around the country
Ambition: ‘I have always believed that you can
do anything you set your mind to,’ Bella writes
on her website
It may have been Bella who founded the
company in the first place, but today she relies
on members of her family to help run it while she
goes to high school.
Her mother Chrissy is co-founder and helped
establish Origami Owl’s design team, and her
two uncles and an aunt help with IT and
marketing.
Robin Crossman, the company’s chief executive
officer, said of the young entrepreneur: ’She’s
definitely hands-on, but we want her to have as
normal a life as she can and to have the
opportunity of college.’
Not only has Bella’s ambition paid off, but it
also helped her achieve her original goal: in
2012, she acquired a white Jeep, which she
affectionately named Alice.