August 21, 2024 • 22 mins
Fremont has amazing children. Already on this podcast we have heard from Fremont kids who are doing amazing things. This bonus episode highlights the dream and hard work of a few kids to bring many together help celebrate the innovation and creativity of the next generation.
Check out this conversation with Dr. Najwa Javed Mohammad as we discuss the story behind the new Fremont Children's Business Fair coming to the Fremont Hub on August 24, from 11:00am-2:00pm.
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Haller's Pharmacy is here to help. They have been in our community for decades.
Founder: Ricky B.
Intro and outro voice-overs made by Gary Williams.
Editor: Andrew Cavette.
Scheduling and pre-interviews by the amazing virtual assistant that you ought to hire, seriously, she's great: your.virtual.ace
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ricky B. (00:00):
Well, Najwa, I'm glad that you're here for the podcast
and this was very last minute,but I am really happy that we
were able to make this work.
So you reached out to methrough Instagram, which people
can get a hold of me onInstagram easily that way.
But you are kind ofspearheading.
(00:22):
You and your kids arespearheading the very first
Fremont Children's Business Fair, Is that right?
Najwa (00:29):
Yes, that is absolutely correct.
Ricky B. (00:32):
All right.
Najwa (00:33):
Thank you so much for having us and doing this on such
short notice.
Ricky B. (00:36):
Absolutely, absolutely .
So tell me a little bit aboutyourself first, and then I want
to hear about where this ideafor the Children's Fair came
from.
Najwa (00:43):
Sure Happy to.
So I'm a local physician.
I've been in Fremont for thelast 16 years but I work down in
San Jose, so that's where myoffice is, but I've been local
here.
I'm a physician, I work forGood Samaritan Hospital.
My children both are smallbusiness owners, and so this is
(01:07):
actually it's their doing thatstarted all of it.
Ricky B. (01:11):
How old are your children?
Najwa (01:12):
So my son is 14 and my daughter is 12.
Ricky B. (01:15):
Okay, wow, small business owners.
Wow, that's great.
Najwa (01:20):
I know 2020 for a lot of people was pretty difficult, but
in our house it was a spark ofinnovation and my son was 10 at
that time and he started towrite some books and then he,
you know, continued to pursuethat passion, which we thought
was transient but it wasn't.
And he's made obviously likehe's made a business out of it.
(01:41):
He's made obviously like he'smade a business out of it.
He actually attended a smallbusiness fair in one of the
local Bay Area towns and was soinspired with all the children
that were there and theinnovations that they had come
up with their business ideasthat he was like Mom, we've
never had one in Fremont and Iwant to do one in Fremont.
(02:02):
Wow, so that's how this allstarted.
Ricky B. (02:05):
So when was that?
When did that conversationhappen?
Najwa (02:12):
So he approached me in December of this year and then
by March he had basicallyhounded me like we have to do
this.
And he wanted to actually dothis for his 15th birthday,
that's cool, I know crazy, sohis birthday is.
August 26.
And he was like mom for my 15thbirthday.
So that's cool, I know Crazy.
So his birthday is August 26thand he was like mom for my 15th
birthday.
I want this.
It's like for his birthday lastyear, when he was turning 14,
(02:33):
he wanted to do a book signingat Barnes and Nobles, because
that's where he published hisfirst book, yeah.
So he actually did a booksigning at Barnes and Nobles in
Walnut Creek.
Ricky B. (02:41):
Oh, my word, that is cool.
So I'm just gonna have to sayAiden, um, he's reached out to
me a number of times and, uh, he, um, I think he's going to do
some amazing things in thefuture.
I think he's already done someamazing things, but he's reached
out to me a number of times andwe, uh, my team and I have had
him on a list to contact him andyou know, things get busy
(03:02):
sometimes, but, um, he, he'simpressive.
Like from, at least from adistance at this point that I've
seen, he's impressive, and thefact that he's, uh, only 14
years old and he's he's doingwhat he's doing, as well as
being able to make the contactswith different people the way he
has, is pretty awesome, youknow he, he's a very special
child.
Najwa (03:22):
I mean, I'm not going to lie that.
His tenacity and his like sheerambition really inspire me and
I'm not joking, not because I'mhis mom, but you know he, he
wanted to know how to become abestselling author and he was
gung ho about getting anbestseller to be his mentor.
(03:44):
And he reached out and he gotMr Stuart Gibbs from the spy
school kids to be his mentor.
That is awesome, I know I knowhe wanted to share his books
with Christopher Polini um andthe bestselling author of Aragon
, and he did and he went and methim.
He has a letter like multiplelike it's just, he's very, he
(04:07):
really is dedicated and hereally loves to inspire kids so
he does a lot of um tours aroundthe Fremont school districts to
bring the joy of reading a bookback to kids because he feels
like that's a lost art and hefeels like everybody's on their
phone and on the computer whichhe thinks is great too but like
he loves books and he readsabout 50 books a year, so that's
(04:30):
great so, yeah, it's fun withhim and so it's him.
Ricky B. (04:33):
I think aiden will need to be my mentor at some
point in time, because I thinkhe's uh, I think he's, he's
doing things that I that I haveyet to even begin to do.
So that's, that's really cool.
Najwa (04:43):
I think it's because when you get older, we're no longer
naive to the world, and he's sonaive Like he's just like.
Well, they said no, it's noproblem, let's move on, let's
just bother them again.
Ricky B. (04:52):
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So tell me about your 12 yearold.
I don't want to.
I don't want to.
I don't want to overshadow,shadow them in any way yeah, no,
no, I'm, yeah.
Najwa (05:03):
So my 12 year old obviously was like how come I'm
not getting any of the spotlightand she's the actress in our
house and so, um, you know,she's a fan, a fan of the
stardust theater, that.
So that's another local uhfremont area amazing um yeah
business.
Uh.
So she was like mom, I havethis amazing idea to, um, make
customizable perfume oils.
And I was like Mom, I have thisamazing idea to make
(05:24):
customizable perfume oils.
And I was like what?
What is that, you know?
And we had gone to a trip tothe south of France and we went
to this perfumery that's ownedby nuns and it's actually that's
.
The only way you can buy thisperfume is if you go there.
Ricky B. (05:42):
Oh, my word.
Najwa (05:42):
It's called Fogonard and she saw their process of making
perfumes and she was just likereally inspired by it, and so
when we got back home, she waslike, I want to make one too,
and so her company.
Basically, you can pick youroils that you um have like an.
You know, if you whateversmells that you like like I like
rose and lavender, and she willmix that with the dried flowers
(06:06):
and make a perfume oil that'sroll on a bowl.
Ricky B. (06:10):
So it's cool, it's really cool.
Najwa (06:12):
And people love it, like people get Jasmine on Jasmine
and for men.
So she first realized that, oh,like this is great for girls
and women, but like, what aboutmen?
And then so she was like oh,mom, you know like we can make
essential oils that are likesoothing and relaxing for men.
So she has like peppermint andeucalyptus and, you know,
tobacco oils.
And like they, they just smellreally nice and that's great.
(06:38):
So that's her company.
Ricky B. (06:39):
Wow, that's cool.
So.
So Aiden really wanted to havethis children's fair and really
encouraged you to help out withit, and they've kind of taken it
and run with it, right, yes,okay, yeah.
Najwa (06:55):
So let me.
So these kids.
They were just like, okay, wewant to have as many kids come
and apply and they want them tobe vendors at this event.
And so I was like, okay, soinitially, like we opened, we,
the Acton School of Business, isa great, great partner.
Ricky B. (07:12):
Okay.
Najwa (07:13):
They're the ones who actually gave us the footprint
on how to make this fairpossible.
Ricky B. (07:18):
Okay.
Najwa (07:19):
Because the Acton School of Business actually does fairs
throughout the world.
Actually, and just somestatistics on them they have
about 3,000 fairs a year, 71,000entrepreneur children
entrepreneurs they're in 27countries and in 623 cities.
(07:40):
So we've never had one inFremont.
So Aiden was like let's bringit to Fremont.
And so we opened up theapplications, where first he had
to apply with them.
We got the okay from them andthen here the way that the
process works is that you haveto apply on the central portal
and then, once you get theapplications of the vendors come
in, you have to approve themand then you actually have to
(08:02):
then set up the fair.
So he didn't think that we weregoing to get that many
applications and we not onlysold out of our applications,
but then we have a huge waitlist.
Ricky B. (08:13):
Wow.
Najwa (08:14):
And he was like mom, I don't, I don't feel bad to say
no to all these other kids and Isaid well, we can't accommodate
we have a, you know like we canonly have so many, but then we
can do it again later, like at alater time.
So they, um, they had to findsponsors, they had to find
judges, they had to find alocation.
Um, they had to find judges,they had to find a location and
(08:35):
they had to do press.
So you know, aiden reached outto press teams and everybody to,
like you know, help him.
So you know, writing all thoseletters, those query letters
like both of the kids, like theywere really working hard.
They've been working on it forsix months.
Ricky B. (08:50):
Wow, Wow, how many, how many.
So how many?
And there's a waiting list, buthow many vendors are actually
accepted?
34.
34 vendors.
Najwa (08:56):
We had 30 that were that we had, but then there were four
others that like literally justbegged to be on it.
And so we added four more, sowe are at 34 right now.
Ricky B. (09:07):
Wow, and so these are all children, uh?
Business owners.
Najwa (09:15):
All children business owners.
All children business ownersage six through 16.
And majority of our bulk iswithin the age group of six to
12.
Ricky B. (09:20):
Yes, yes yes, so what kind of businesses are we
talking about?
Like you talked to, you told meabout your kids, but like, what
are kind of like, what are thewhat's the scope of businesses
that these kids have?
Najwa (09:30):
It's incredible.
You would not believe it.
So we have kids who are doingamazing things in STEM, like
robotics.
They're building out productsthat are STEM based.
We have other kids who aredoing really creative things,
like one of them makesskateboards that you can use,
(09:51):
that you can be, that arecustomizable and paintable and
all of that.
So we have kids who are makingjewelry, we have kids who are
making candles and slime and barsoaps.
We have actually at our eventwe're actually going to have a
(10:11):
vendor who is also abrother-sister duo that won the
national kids bakingchampionship wow, wow, that's
really cool on the food networkon the food network.
Ricky B. (10:24):
Yes, so they are going to be there.
Najwa (10:27):
They're called Lajabab um , okay we also have other kids
who are making, like these,organic lemonades and organic
honey and, like the parents, thewhole thing is is that the kids
have to be in charge of theirbusiness Sure.
And it's incredible becausehalf of the time the parents
like they don't, they don't knowhow they're like, they're like
(10:47):
I don't know.
I have to ask my kid, like how,how do they harvest this honey?
But it's really, really it'sreally incredible.
That's inspiring, so inspiringlike you feel, like as an adult,
like man, like I miss thatthat's right.
Ricky B. (11:00):
That's right.
So how?
How many of the kids areactually from fremont?
Are the?
Are these from outside the area?
Are they all?
Najwa (11:06):
90 of the kids are all within fremont and neighboring
cities oh, that's great so wedon't have anybody from coming,
like to afar, like everybody'swithin, like a 15 to 18 mile
radius at the most you know.
So 90% are all Fremont kids.
Ricky B. (11:20):
That's amazing yeah.
Najwa (11:21):
Our local kids.
Ricky B. (11:22):
Wow, so you're I mean your kids are inspiring.
Obviously, they had to beinspired by somebody, so I'm
assuming that you, you inspiredthem in some ways.
What do you do, and what has itbeen for you to be able to be
involved in this as well?
Najwa (11:36):
so that's such a great question, like I wish I could
take so much of the credit ofwhat these kids do, to be honest
.
But I've learned that youcannot make your kids do
anything.
They really have to want to doit themselves yeah but I will
tell you this that as a parent,I've always any idea that
they've had.
I've really have wanted tofoster their love for that idea
(11:59):
and just innovate in any sense.
Right, as people ask me, likehow did Aiden become an author?
Like what did you do?
And when he was like seven yearsold, he just made like a comic
book that we self-published forhim, and we share, shared it
with our neighbors and, um, whenone of our uh friends who's a
teacher, she took it to herkindergarten class, they loved
it so much that they wrote thankyou cards and I think that that
(12:22):
positive you know affirmationthat you know you can do
something at seven years oldlike that really plays into it.
I myself have a startup company,and so I think that that also
shows the kids like you could bea business owner, you can take
risks and you know you can dohard things, and so I think that
those types of things, thosenarratives, just kind of play
(12:43):
out in our house and they helpto foster how my kids approach
things that they think are hardto do, but everything's hard
right, yeah, yeah, your startupcompany.
Ricky B. (12:54):
I'm just curious is that something that I mean, I
can imagine like?
I mean, I have the Fremontpodcast.
It's not I mean, it's not likea major business, it's really
just been a hobby and a gift.
But I know that it's inspiredmy son, like my son has talked
about wanting to do the KidsFremont podcast or wanting to go
(13:15):
interview his friends and stufflike that.
So it's something that I'veenjoyed sharing with my family
and sharing with my son.
But there's also parts of thattoo, where I know I'm off
interviewing people and he hasno clue where I'm at or what I'm
doing or what the interview waslike or anything like that.
(13:37):
I'm just wondering you know,I'm curious with your business
and your startup how much ofthat is like normal?
Is that stuff that you sharewith your family, or how much?
I guess what I'm saying isthere's the inspiration behind
something, but then there's likethe logistics of like how
(13:58):
something has to you.
You know all the things thathave to happen in order for it
to actually develop intosomething real.
So how?
Najwa (14:01):
much of that do you share within your own household.
So you know that's a greatquestion.
So my, so I'm a, I'm a foot andankle surgeon, I'm a podiatrist
.
Um, I do you know, I've I'vebeen in the medical field for so
long, but, but, doctors arereally risk averse.
Sure, you know they, they, theyreally are there.
They like to have their verystable thing.
That's very mathematical.
(14:21):
And the startup world, orstarting a hobby or starting a
side hustle, anything there's alot of volatility and variances
in it and not it's not for thefaint of heart, cause you have
to logistically right, likeforget the inspiration.
Logistically, like, you have tofigure out, like, how to work
that part of your life into avery stable environment of your
(14:42):
family your kids, your, you knowyour work and um for me, when I
started my, I have a luxuryfootwear company.
It's, uh, built on medicaltechnology.
Medical technology, you know.
It's manufactured in Italy,it's at Nordstrom's.
And that whole journey foreight years that I went through
was so difficult, worse thanresidency.
(15:05):
Because you know residency,you're trained to become a
physician.
But when you're not from abusiness background or a
footwear designer and you'retrying to bring medical
technology to it, it's just sodifferent and I had such
hardships.
And in our house we are veryopen.
We always have an open circle.
We talk to our kids, we shareall ideas with them, the good
(15:29):
and the bad.
Ricky B. (15:30):
That's cool.
Najwa (15:31):
And I think that that trickled down into their brain
about you know like mom is doingsomething so hard and some days
she's so exhausted because sheworks all like 13 hours in the
hospital and then comes home andshe has to do like customer
service emails because you knowwhen you're.
Ricky B. (15:46):
You have a startup, you're everybody right, like you
are doing everything qualitycontrol.
Najwa (15:51):
You're the ceo, you're the janitor.
You're you know orderingsupplies, you're taping your
boxes, like everything, and Ithink that just having them
watch that you know taught themthat you have to be logistically
inclined, you need to know howto make this business run, and I
think that that's where ithelped, because these kids now
they have to figure out, liketheir Excel sheets, like sheets
(16:13):
Like how much product are yougoing to sell, what are you
going to do, and I thought itwould make them bored, but you
would be surprised.
Kids, they really want to beadults.
Yeah, I think so, and they wantyou to give them something, and
yeah.
So I think that in our house wejust have a lot of discussions,
(16:33):
not realizing those arelife-changing discussions.
Ricky B. (16:36):
Right, right, well, I think I think something you said
earlier too.
I love it, um, and I know thatthere's been books written on
this about, or at least you knowportions of books that have
been written on the children'simagination.
You know, they, they, they, thesky's the limit.
They legitimately think, youknow, if it's, if I can imagine
it or if I can dream it, it'spossible, and I don't think
that's a bad thing to to forpeople for, for kids to to, to
(16:59):
believe in, because I do thinkit opens up a whole world that I
think that as adults, we'vekind of grown out of and we've
we've basically convincedourselves that, you know, dreams
are just dreams and there'snothing else.
We can't do anything else aboutit, you know.
And so I do think that, likewhat your son and your daughter
(17:20):
have uh pursued in the way thatthey've, uh, you know, turn
their dreams into a reality, Ithink is just fantastic.
I think that's, I think that'swonderful.
So, uh, you know, tell me alittle bit about more, about the
fair here.
I'm just curious.
I know that you mentioned that,um, you, you reached out to me
or you, you know, found outabout me through Banter Books
which they have been a fantasticsponsor for our podcast.
(17:42):
Amy has supported us and hasencouraged us, encouraged me in
many ways.
What are the otherrelationships you've had?
Do you have sponsors that arehelping support this fair, or
what does that look like?
Najwa (17:55):
So I wholeheartedly agree with you Banter Books is a
bookshop.
Banter Bookshop is just such anamazing local community
business.
I think we should all supportthem.
They're fantastic.
Amy.
She introduced me to you, butthey are one of our first
sponsors.
Aiden had a book signing there.
(18:15):
They've always been so generouswith their time and I'm an avid
book reader, so all my bookscome from there, that's great.
Aiden had also done a.
He was a vendor at the OhloneCollege.
Ricky B. (18:31):
The flea market, and they've been a sponsor of the
podcast for a while too.
Najwa (18:34):
They're fantastic, I think that they're just really
great.
I think that their whole ideaof trying to bring the community
out on a Saturday and just kindof enjoy the day is really
great and just walk around.
We also have Bounty AI which isa tech company that they've
(19:02):
sponsored us as well.
Their CEO, usher Risky, was justreally inspired by these kids.
You know, he's a very youngentrepreneur this is the second
company and he just really wantsto inspire kids to take that
leap in STEM to, you know, goout and make something.
And so, since we do have a lotof kids at the fair who are
doing things in STEM androbotics, it was we were really
happy to have him there.
Kimco Realty from Fremont Hubthey were so generous in
(19:27):
allowing the fair to take placeon their property.
Fremont Hub is like verycentrally located it's a great
place for us to be able to hostthis, so we're very thankful to
them.
And then Bass Medical Group,which is the medical group that
I work for.
They were also very excited tosupport this Children's Business
(19:50):
Fair, and so, yeah, we havesome amazing sponsors.
We're so excited.
Ricky B. (19:55):
I love it.
I love it.
So give me some of the details,the date, location, and then
what can we expect when?
We show up for the fair.
Najwa (20:06):
So we're so excited.
Oh my gosh, I can't even tellyou the date is August 24th,
it's a Saturday.
The timing is between 11 am to2 pm.
It's going to be at the FremontHub Courtyard, which is
basically right next to the fivebelow and where Old Navy is.
(20:26):
That whole courtyard has beenrented out to us.
Ricky B. (20:29):
That's great.
Najwa (20:30):
We have the most amazing talented kids.
I mean, I'm blown away by them.
I think it's so wonderful tosee all of their different wares
that they're going to bring out.
I think that it's so importantfor us, as adults, to come out
and support these kids, showthem that it really matters to
us that they've put so much timeand effort into building their
(20:52):
businesses and, um, just comingout and tell them hey, good job.
You know, I think that thataffirmation, it goes so many
folds over, yeah, more than wecan't even imagine.
You know what I?
Mean Like we probably don'teven know what type of footprint
this is going to give them intheir life.
Ricky B. (21:08):
That's great.
Najwa (21:09):
And so we, yeah.
So please come out, come andsay there's 34 kids, there's
going to be some food vendors,some drink vendors, there's
going to be lots of arts andcrafts, lots of school supply,
stuff that you can stock up on,books that you can stock up on.
So, yeah, perfumes.
Ricky B. (21:25):
That's great, that's great.
Well, it's history in themaking too the very first
Fremont Children's Business Fair, and hopefully it's not the
last.
Hopefully it'll be somethingthat will become a legacy item,
uh, within our Fremont community, which I think it's.
Najwa (21:39):
I think it's well worth it, and so I hope we have so
much talent here I would love,love to have kids show their
where is it every year?
Ricky B. (21:51):
Yeah, that's great.
Well, thank you for um meetingup with me.
Thanks for joining me on thepodcast.
I'm going to have to get youback on here with your son and,
and we'll have to talk a littlebit more about his journey with
uh, book writing and all thatstuff too, to give him love too.
Najwa (22:02):
We'd be honored to.
Thank you so much, ricky forhaving us.
Ricky B. (22:05):
I really appreciate it Absolutely.
Well, Najwa, I'm glad that you're here for the podcast
and this was very last minute,but I am really happy that we
were able to make this work.
So you reached out to methrough Instagram, which people
can get a hold of me onInstagram easily that way.
But you are kind ofspearheading.
(00:22):
You and your kids arespearheading the very first
Fremont Children's Business Fair, Is that right?
Najwa (00:29):
Yes, that is absolutely correct.
Ricky B. (00:32):
All right.
Najwa (00:33):
Thank you so much for having us and doing this on such
short notice.
Ricky B. (00:36):
Absolutely, absolutely .
So tell me a little bit aboutyourself first, and then I want
to hear about where this ideafor the Children's Fair came
from.
Najwa (00:43):
Sure Happy to.
So I'm a local physician.
I've been in Fremont for thelast 16 years but I work down in
San Jose, so that's where myoffice is, but I've been local
here.
I'm a physician, I work forGood Samaritan Hospital.
My children both are smallbusiness owners, and so this is
(01:07):
actually it's their doing thatstarted all of it.
Ricky B. (01:11):
How old are your children?
Najwa (01:12):
So my son is 14 and my daughter is 12.
Ricky B. (01:15):
Okay, wow, small business owners.
Wow, that's great.
Najwa (01:20):
I know 2020 for a lot of people was pretty difficult, but
in our house it was a spark ofinnovation and my son was 10 at
that time and he started towrite some books and then he,
you know, continued to pursuethat passion, which we thought
was transient but it wasn't.
And he's made obviously likehe's made a business out of it.
(01:41):
He's made obviously like he'smade a business out of it.
He actually attended a smallbusiness fair in one of the
local Bay Area towns and was soinspired with all the children
that were there and theinnovations that they had come
up with their business ideasthat he was like Mom, we've
never had one in Fremont and Iwant to do one in Fremont.
(02:02):
Wow, so that's how this allstarted.
Ricky B. (02:05):
So when was that?
When did that conversationhappen?
Najwa (02:12):
So he approached me in December of this year and then
by March he had basicallyhounded me like we have to do
this.
And he wanted to actually dothis for his 15th birthday,
that's cool, I know crazy, sohis birthday is.
August 26.
And he was like mom for my 15thbirthday.
So that's cool, I know Crazy.
So his birthday is August 26thand he was like mom for my 15th
birthday.
I want this.
It's like for his birthday lastyear, when he was turning 14,
(02:33):
he wanted to do a book signingat Barnes and Nobles, because
that's where he published hisfirst book, yeah.
So he actually did a booksigning at Barnes and Nobles in
Walnut Creek.
Ricky B. (02:41):
Oh, my word, that is cool.
So I'm just gonna have to sayAiden, um, he's reached out to
me a number of times and, uh, he, um, I think he's going to do
some amazing things in thefuture.
I think he's already done someamazing things, but he's reached
out to me a number of times andwe, uh, my team and I have had
him on a list to contact him andyou know, things get busy
(03:02):
sometimes, but, um, he, he'simpressive.
Like from, at least from adistance at this point that I've
seen, he's impressive, and thefact that he's, uh, only 14
years old and he's he's doingwhat he's doing, as well as
being able to make the contactswith different people the way he
has, is pretty awesome, youknow he, he's a very special
child.
Najwa (03:22):
I mean, I'm not going to lie that.
His tenacity and his like sheerambition really inspire me and
I'm not joking, not because I'mhis mom, but you know he, he
wanted to know how to become abestselling author and he was
gung ho about getting anbestseller to be his mentor.
(03:44):
And he reached out and he gotMr Stuart Gibbs from the spy
school kids to be his mentor.
That is awesome, I know I knowhe wanted to share his books
with Christopher Polini um andthe bestselling author of Aragon
, and he did and he went and methim.
He has a letter like multiplelike it's just, he's very, he
(04:07):
really is dedicated and hereally loves to inspire kids so
he does a lot of um tours aroundthe Fremont school districts to
bring the joy of reading a bookback to kids because he feels
like that's a lost art and hefeels like everybody's on their
phone and on the computer whichhe thinks is great too but like
he loves books and he readsabout 50 books a year, so that's
(04:30):
great so, yeah, it's fun withhim and so it's him.
Ricky B. (04:33):
I think aiden will need to be my mentor at some
point in time, because I thinkhe's uh, I think he's, he's
doing things that I that I haveyet to even begin to do.
So that's, that's really cool.
Najwa (04:43):
I think it's because when you get older, we're no longer
naive to the world, and he's sonaive Like he's just like.
Well, they said no, it's noproblem, let's move on, let's
just bother them again.
Ricky B. (04:52):
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So tell me about your 12 yearold.
I don't want to.
I don't want to.
I don't want to overshadow,shadow them in any way yeah, no,
no, I'm, yeah.
Najwa (05:03):
So my 12 year old obviously was like how come I'm
not getting any of the spotlightand she's the actress in our
house and so, um, you know,she's a fan, a fan of the
stardust theater, that.
So that's another local uhfremont area amazing um yeah
business.
Uh.
So she was like mom, I havethis amazing idea to, um, make
customizable perfume oils.
And I was like Mom, I have thisamazing idea to make
(05:24):
customizable perfume oils.
And I was like what?
What is that, you know?
And we had gone to a trip tothe south of France and we went
to this perfumery that's ownedby nuns and it's actually that's
.
The only way you can buy thisperfume is if you go there.
Ricky B. (05:42):
Oh, my word.
Najwa (05:42):
It's called Fogonard and she saw their process of making
perfumes and she was just likereally inspired by it, and so
when we got back home, she waslike, I want to make one too,
and so her company.
Basically, you can pick youroils that you um have like an.
You know, if you whateversmells that you like like I like
rose and lavender, and she willmix that with the dried flowers
(06:06):
and make a perfume oil that'sroll on a bowl.
Ricky B. (06:10):
So it's cool, it's really cool.
Najwa (06:12):
And people love it, like people get Jasmine on Jasmine
and for men.
So she first realized that, oh,like this is great for girls
and women, but like, what aboutmen?
And then so she was like oh,mom, you know like we can make
essential oils that are likesoothing and relaxing for men.
So she has like peppermint andeucalyptus and, you know,
tobacco oils.
And like they, they just smellreally nice and that's great.
(06:38):
So that's her company.
Ricky B. (06:39):
Wow, that's cool.
So.
So Aiden really wanted to havethis children's fair and really
encouraged you to help out withit, and they've kind of taken it
and run with it, right, yes,okay, yeah.
Najwa (06:55):
So let me.
So these kids.
They were just like, okay, wewant to have as many kids come
and apply and they want them tobe vendors at this event.
And so I was like, okay, soinitially, like we opened, we,
the Acton School of Business, isa great, great partner.
Ricky B. (07:12):
Okay.
Najwa (07:13):
They're the ones who actually gave us the footprint
on how to make this fairpossible.
Ricky B. (07:18):
Okay.
Najwa (07:19):
Because the Acton School of Business actually does fairs
throughout the world.
Actually, and just somestatistics on them they have
about 3,000 fairs a year, 71,000entrepreneur children
entrepreneurs they're in 27countries and in 623 cities.
(07:40):
So we've never had one inFremont.
So Aiden was like let's bringit to Fremont.
And so we opened up theapplications, where first he had
to apply with them.
We got the okay from them andthen here the way that the
process works is that you haveto apply on the central portal
and then, once you get theapplications of the vendors come
in, you have to approve themand then you actually have to
(08:02):
then set up the fair.
So he didn't think that we weregoing to get that many
applications and we not onlysold out of our applications,
but then we have a huge waitlist.
Ricky B. (08:13):
Wow.
Najwa (08:14):
And he was like mom, I don't, I don't feel bad to say
no to all these other kids and Isaid well, we can't accommodate
we have a, you know like we canonly have so many, but then we
can do it again later, like at alater time.
So they, um, they had to findsponsors, they had to find
judges, they had to find alocation.
Um, they had to find judges,they had to find a location and
(08:35):
they had to do press.
So you know, aiden reached outto press teams and everybody to,
like you know, help him.
So you know, writing all thoseletters, those query letters
like both of the kids, like theywere really working hard.
They've been working on it forsix months.
Ricky B. (08:50):
Wow, Wow, how many, how many.
So how many?
And there's a waiting list, buthow many vendors are actually
accepted?
34.
34 vendors.
Najwa (08:56):
We had 30 that were that we had, but then there were four
others that like literally justbegged to be on it.
And so we added four more, sowe are at 34 right now.
Ricky B. (09:07):
Wow, and so these are all children, uh?
Business owners.
Najwa (09:15):
All children business owners.
All children business ownersage six through 16.
And majority of our bulk iswithin the age group of six to
12.
Ricky B. (09:20):
Yes, yes yes, so what kind of businesses are we
talking about?
Like you talked to, you told meabout your kids, but like, what
are kind of like, what are thewhat's the scope of businesses
that these kids have?
Najwa (09:30):
It's incredible.
You would not believe it.
So we have kids who are doingamazing things in STEM, like
robotics.
They're building out productsthat are STEM based.
We have other kids who aredoing really creative things,
like one of them makesskateboards that you can use,
(09:51):
that you can be, that arecustomizable and paintable and
all of that.
So we have kids who are makingjewelry, we have kids who are
making candles and slime and barsoaps.
We have actually at our eventwe're actually going to have a
(10:11):
vendor who is also abrother-sister duo that won the
national kids bakingchampionship wow, wow, that's
really cool on the food networkon the food network.
Ricky B. (10:24):
Yes, so they are going to be there.
Najwa (10:27):
They're called Lajabab um , okay we also have other kids
who are making, like these,organic lemonades and organic
honey and, like the parents, thewhole thing is is that the kids
have to be in charge of theirbusiness Sure.
And it's incredible becausehalf of the time the parents
like they don't, they don't knowhow they're like, they're like
(10:47):
I don't know.
I have to ask my kid, like how,how do they harvest this honey?
But it's really, really it'sreally incredible.
That's inspiring, so inspiringlike you feel, like as an adult,
like man, like I miss thatthat's right.
Ricky B. (11:00):
That's right.
So how?
How many of the kids areactually from fremont?
Are the?
Are these from outside the area?
Are they all?
Najwa (11:06):
90 of the kids are all within fremont and neighboring
cities oh, that's great so wedon't have anybody from coming,
like to afar, like everybody'swithin, like a 15 to 18 mile
radius at the most you know.
So 90% are all Fremont kids.
Ricky B. (11:20):
That's amazing yeah.
Najwa (11:21):
Our local kids.
Ricky B. (11:22):
Wow, so you're I mean your kids are inspiring.
Obviously, they had to beinspired by somebody, so I'm
assuming that you, you inspiredthem in some ways.
What do you do, and what has itbeen for you to be able to be
involved in this as well?
Najwa (11:36):
so that's such a great question, like I wish I could
take so much of the credit ofwhat these kids do, to be honest
.
But I've learned that youcannot make your kids do
anything.
They really have to want to doit themselves yeah but I will
tell you this that as a parent,I've always any idea that
they've had.
I've really have wanted tofoster their love for that idea
(11:59):
and just innovate in any sense.
Right, as people ask me, likehow did Aiden become an author?
Like what did you do?
And when he was like seven yearsold, he just made like a comic
book that we self-published forhim, and we share, shared it
with our neighbors and, um, whenone of our uh friends who's a
teacher, she took it to herkindergarten class, they loved
it so much that they wrote thankyou cards and I think that that
(12:22):
positive you know affirmationthat you know you can do
something at seven years oldlike that really plays into it.
I myself have a startup company,and so I think that that also
shows the kids like you could bea business owner, you can take
risks and you know you can dohard things, and so I think that
those types of things, thosenarratives, just kind of play
(12:43):
out in our house and they helpto foster how my kids approach
things that they think are hardto do, but everything's hard
right, yeah, yeah, your startupcompany.
Ricky B. (12:54):
I'm just curious is that something that I mean, I
can imagine like?
I mean, I have the Fremontpodcast.
It's not I mean, it's not likea major business, it's really
just been a hobby and a gift.
But I know that it's inspiredmy son, like my son has talked
about wanting to do the KidsFremont podcast or wanting to go
(13:15):
interview his friends and stufflike that.
So it's something that I'veenjoyed sharing with my family
and sharing with my son.
But there's also parts of thattoo, where I know I'm off
interviewing people and he hasno clue where I'm at or what I'm
doing or what the interview waslike or anything like that.
(13:37):
I'm just wondering you know,I'm curious with your business
and your startup how much ofthat is like normal?
Is that stuff that you sharewith your family, or how much?
I guess what I'm saying isthere's the inspiration behind
something, but then there's likethe logistics of like how
(13:58):
something has to you.
You know all the things thathave to happen in order for it
to actually develop intosomething real.
So how?
Najwa (14:01):
much of that do you share within your own household.
So you know that's a greatquestion.
So my, so I'm a, I'm a foot andankle surgeon, I'm a podiatrist
.
Um, I do you know, I've I'vebeen in the medical field for so
long, but, but, doctors arereally risk averse.
Sure, you know they, they, theyreally are there.
They like to have their verystable thing.
That's very mathematical.
(14:21):
And the startup world, orstarting a hobby or starting a
side hustle, anything there's alot of volatility and variances
in it and not it's not for thefaint of heart, cause you have
to logistically right, likeforget the inspiration.
Logistically, like, you have tofigure out, like, how to work
that part of your life into avery stable environment of your
(14:42):
family your kids, your, you knowyour work and um for me, when I
started my, I have a luxuryfootwear company.
It's, uh, built on medicaltechnology.
Medical technology, you know.
It's manufactured in Italy,it's at Nordstrom's.
And that whole journey foreight years that I went through
was so difficult, worse thanresidency.
(15:05):
Because you know residency,you're trained to become a
physician.
But when you're not from abusiness background or a
footwear designer and you'retrying to bring medical
technology to it, it's just sodifferent and I had such
hardships.
And in our house we are veryopen.
We always have an open circle.
We talk to our kids, we shareall ideas with them, the good
(15:29):
and the bad.
Ricky B. (15:30):
That's cool.
Najwa (15:31):
And I think that that trickled down into their brain
about you know like mom is doingsomething so hard and some days
she's so exhausted because sheworks all like 13 hours in the
hospital and then comes home andshe has to do like customer
service emails because you knowwhen you're.
Ricky B. (15:46):
You have a startup, you're everybody right, like you
are doing everything qualitycontrol.
Najwa (15:51):
You're the ceo, you're the janitor.
You're you know orderingsupplies, you're taping your
boxes, like everything, and Ithink that just having them
watch that you know taught themthat you have to be logistically
inclined, you need to know howto make this business run, and I
think that that's where ithelped, because these kids now
they have to figure out, liketheir Excel sheets, like sheets
(16:13):
Like how much product are yougoing to sell, what are you
going to do, and I thought itwould make them bored, but you
would be surprised.
Kids, they really want to beadults.
Yeah, I think so, and they wantyou to give them something, and
yeah.
So I think that in our house wejust have a lot of discussions,
(16:33):
not realizing those arelife-changing discussions.
Ricky B. (16:36):
Right, right, well, I think I think something you said
earlier too.
I love it, um, and I know thatthere's been books written on
this about, or at least you knowportions of books that have
been written on the children'simagination.
You know, they, they, they, thesky's the limit.
They legitimately think, youknow, if it's, if I can imagine
it or if I can dream it, it'spossible, and I don't think
that's a bad thing to to forpeople for, for kids to to, to
(16:59):
believe in, because I do thinkit opens up a whole world that I
think that as adults, we'vekind of grown out of and we've
we've basically convincedourselves that, you know, dreams
are just dreams and there'snothing else.
We can't do anything else aboutit, you know.
And so I do think that, likewhat your son and your daughter
(17:20):
have uh pursued in the way thatthey've, uh, you know, turn
their dreams into a reality, Ithink is just fantastic.
I think that's, I think that'swonderful.
So, uh, you know, tell me alittle bit about more, about the
fair here.
I'm just curious.
I know that you mentioned that,um, you, you reached out to me
or you, you know, found outabout me through Banter Books
which they have been a fantasticsponsor for our podcast.
(17:42):
Amy has supported us and hasencouraged us, encouraged me in
many ways.
What are the otherrelationships you've had?
Do you have sponsors that arehelping support this fair, or
what does that look like?
Najwa (17:55):
So I wholeheartedly agree with you Banter Books is a
bookshop.
Banter Bookshop is just such anamazing local community
business.
I think we should all supportthem.
They're fantastic.
Amy.
She introduced me to you, butthey are one of our first
sponsors.
Aiden had a book signing there.
(18:15):
They've always been so generouswith their time and I'm an avid
book reader, so all my bookscome from there, that's great.
Aiden had also done a.
He was a vendor at the OhloneCollege.
Ricky B. (18:31):
The flea market, and they've been a sponsor of the
podcast for a while too.
Najwa (18:34):
They're fantastic, I think that they're just really
great.
I think that their whole ideaof trying to bring the community
out on a Saturday and just kindof enjoy the day is really
great and just walk around.
We also have Bounty AI which isa tech company that they've
(19:02):
sponsored us as well.
Their CEO, usher Risky, was justreally inspired by these kids.
You know, he's a very youngentrepreneur this is the second
company and he just really wantsto inspire kids to take that
leap in STEM to, you know, goout and make something.
And so, since we do have a lotof kids at the fair who are
doing things in STEM androbotics, it was we were really
happy to have him there.
Kimco Realty from Fremont Hubthey were so generous in
(19:27):
allowing the fair to take placeon their property.
Fremont Hub is like verycentrally located it's a great
place for us to be able to hostthis, so we're very thankful to
them.
And then Bass Medical Group,which is the medical group that
I work for.
They were also very excited tosupport this Children's Business
(19:50):
Fair, and so, yeah, we havesome amazing sponsors.
We're so excited.
Ricky B. (19:55):
I love it.
I love it.
So give me some of the details,the date, location, and then
what can we expect when?
We show up for the fair.
Najwa (20:06):
So we're so excited.
Oh my gosh, I can't even tellyou the date is August 24th,
it's a Saturday.
The timing is between 11 am to2 pm.
It's going to be at the FremontHub Courtyard, which is
basically right next to the fivebelow and where Old Navy is.
(20:26):
That whole courtyard has beenrented out to us.
Ricky B. (20:29):
That's great.
Najwa (20:30):
We have the most amazing talented kids.
I mean, I'm blown away by them.
I think it's so wonderful tosee all of their different wares
that they're going to bring out.
I think that it's so importantfor us, as adults, to come out
and support these kids, showthem that it really matters to
us that they've put so much timeand effort into building their
(20:52):
businesses and, um, just comingout and tell them hey, good job.
You know, I think that thataffirmation, it goes so many
folds over, yeah, more than wecan't even imagine.
You know what I?
Mean Like we probably don'teven know what type of footprint
this is going to give them intheir life.
Ricky B. (21:08):
That's great.
Najwa (21:09):
And so we, yeah.
So please come out, come andsay there's 34 kids, there's
going to be some food vendors,some drink vendors, there's
going to be lots of arts andcrafts, lots of school supply,
stuff that you can stock up on,books that you can stock up on.
So, yeah, perfumes.
Ricky B. (21:25):
That's great, that's great.
Well, it's history in themaking too the very first
Fremont Children's Business Fair, and hopefully it's not the
last.
Hopefully it'll be somethingthat will become a legacy item,
uh, within our Fremont community, which I think it's.
Najwa (21:39):
I think it's well worth it, and so I hope we have so
much talent here I would love,love to have kids show their
where is it every year?
Ricky B. (21:51):
Yeah, that's great.
Well, thank you for um meetingup with me.
Thanks for joining me on thepodcast.
I'm going to have to get youback on here with your son and,
and we'll have to talk a littlebit more about his journey with
uh, book writing and all thatstuff too, to give him love too.
Najwa (22:02):
We'd be honored to.
Thank you so much, ricky forhaving us.
Ricky B. (22:05):
I really appreciate it Absolutely.
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