This 18 year old opens skin care, soap and candle business in downtown Macon, Georgia

When MyKayla Whitehead was entering her senior year of high school, her future looked uncertain.

She cared deeply about finding the right skin care products for her unique skin, but she struggled connecting her passion to a viable career.

She, then, learned about the Georgia Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneurship Experience (FLEX) Competition, which helps promote entrepreneurship in high school students through mentorship and funding.

She decided to enter the competition with her new business Brittinique - Be Unique, and after winning the Bibb County competition, she became the runner-up in the state competition.

“I just really appreciate it because I know that I will get somewhere with this,” Whitehead said. “I’m gonna come back down and give everybody that helped me a good gift of love and whatever they want. I just want to give back really.”

At 18 years old, Whitehead hosted the grand opening of Brittinique on Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. at her storefront located in the Bibb County Schools office at 484 Mulberry St. Her store currently sells candles and soap, but she plans to sell other skin care products in the future.

“My whole brand is about self love and just self care period,” she said.

Military or scholarships

When the coronavirus pandemic hit Macon-Bibb County, Whitehead, who has asthma, attended Bibb County Schools VIP Academy, which is an online school.

Whitehead grew up in a low-income family and is the oldest child on her dad’s side. She saw two options for people like her: the military or receiving a lot of scholarships. Her family, specifically her father, encouraged her to join the military.

Although she thought the military was a good option for some, Whitehead wanted the opportunity to find her passion and make a career out of it.

However, she had a difficult senior year and did not receive many scholarships. The military began to look like the only option for Whitehead to eventually reach her goals.

That’s when she learned about the FLEX Competition.

Finding her passion

When she first started to develop an idea for a business, she thought she would design clothes because she knew how to sew.

“It was something I thought was my passion, but it was just something I knew how to do,” she said.

In order to create a business plan to submit to the competition, Whitehead was connected to people of business in the Macon-Bibb County community, and one woman gave her memorable advice.

“She told me to find something that aligns with my passion, something that I won’t get tired of,” Whitehead said.

After listening to the feedback she received from local business owners, she decided to scrap her idea of making clothes and create a self-care brand with candles and skin care products.

She changed her entire business plan three hours before the competition deadline, she said.

“Maybe it was a sign from God,” she said.

When she became the runner up for the state competition, she received $10,000 in seed money to start her business as well as scholarship opportunities, according to a news release from Bibb County Schools.

“I was really excited. I was really surprised because there was like a lot of people, a lot of other contestants,” she said. “It was just a blessing really.”

She is enrolled in Fort Valley State University, but she plans to take a gap year in order to get her business started. She will start her degree program in the fall of 2024 with the goal of becoming an esthetician, a skin care professional.

“I’m really grateful about the competition because if I didn’t do it, I would definitely be in basic training right now,” she said with a laugh.

She appreciates everyone who has supported her, including the school system and the Griffith Foundation.

“They don’t know how much they really helped me and I can say it like a million times, but I don’t think they really understand,” she said.

Overall, Whitehead said her main goal is to build generational wealth.

She worked at Ballard Middle School through Bibb County Schools Youth Apprenticeship Program, and the experience made her want to eventually start a foundation in order to help young people like herself in Macon-Bibb County.

“It was so sad that these kids are going through so much,” she said. “Look at how the future will be. We are the future. All of these kids are the future, and if we don’t have them, it’s going to be pretty messed up.”

‘When you feel good, you look good.’

Whitehead has experienced sensitive skin since she was in middle school. She couldn’t use any name brand soaps without breaking out in a rash, she said.

She did research and tried different products before finding soap that works for her.

When she started making products to sell, she let some of her teachers and friends try them, and they loved them. They told her that her products helped their skin better than any products a dermatologist recommended, she said.

The name for her business comes from her middle name, Brittinique, and the idea that everyone has unique skin. Whitehead has worked all summer perfecting her formulas so that everyone can find a product in her store that works for them, she said.

“That’s all I really want to do, just help people because I know how it feels,” Whitehead said.