SPOTLIGHT ON…AVA’S PET PALACE!!!

13-year-old Ava Dorsey is the founder of Ava’s Pet Palace, a pet treat company she founded when she was eight-years-old. She actually had the idea when she was only SIX years old and she even drew up a diagram showing how she envisioned her pet treat business. But you know how parents can be—it took a couple years for her parents to realize she was serious.

There’s a saying in business: It takes money to make money. So for example, if you want to have a lemonade stand, someone has to pay for the sugar and lemons. Like your parents might have helped you with the costs of a lemonade stand, Ava’s parents helped her with the money to get the business started. After she’d been in business for a while, she had a Kickstarter fundraiser and raised over $2,000 for more professional packaging for her treats.

Ava’s Pet Palace makes treats for dogs and cats with organic, natural ingredients for the healthiest, happiest pets. How cool is that?! Ava makes the treats herself, in small batches, using high quality ingredients. Seriously, some of her treats sound delicious enough to eat! But that’s kind of the point—why would you give your dog food that you wouldn’t eat yourself?

When asked how she defines success, Ava says, “When you hit a bump in the road, you don’t give up and you keep trying.” She learned that from her mom, who sounds like a smart lady! Some more things Ava has learned from her years in business: Hard work eventually pays off and there is nothing wrong with asking for help.

Ava says the biggest challenge of being a kid in business is when people don’t take her seriously, but I have NO DOUBT Ava is going to prove her doubters wrong! Ava wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but we’ll see if she has time with her growing pet-treat empire!

She has two little sisters, ages two and four, and she wants them to know they can do whatever they put their minds to. She also likes to spend time swimming and making slime!

Finally Ava describes herself as goofy, so I choose to think she’d also call herself a dork!