FLINT, Michigan -- Dedicated to acing her elementary school science fair project, Tayler Wright-Williams, a 10-year-old Flint author and entrepreneur, began a project that would ultimately change her life.
Wright-Williams and her grandmother began brainstorming strategies to center in her science project for class when the idea of creating lip balm arose. This new, risky idea would eventually score the highest in her class of all the other science projects. However, this was just the beginning for the young innovator.
“Everyone liked the lip balm! Then a man told me that I could write a book about my lip balm so that's when we wrote the book,” said Wright-Williams.
In July, Williams published I Like My Lip Balm. The book focuses on the journey to creating Tayler’s famous lip balm, why she loves wearing it, and the health benefits behind wearing it. Through the experience of Williams and her grandmother, the book intentionally touches on the power of breaking generation gaps.
“One of the messages in the book is that you can close generational gaps,” said Keywana Wright-Jones, Wright-Williams’ mother. “The book shows that we can bring relationships between younger people and older people, and that they can work together and an older person can learn from a younger person just as a younger person can learn from the older person.”
Since publishing her book, Wright-Williams has used her platform as a young author to give back to the Flint community by reading to younger children at churches, community centers and afterschool programs. She’s also donated copies of her book to public libraries.
When asked how important it is to be a young author from Flint, Williams said it was important to share her experience, culture, and personality, allowing other people to connect with her.
“It’s everything to me. I get to share my stories,” said Williams.
After finishing the book, she then added an entrepreneurial layer to it by producing and distributing the lip balm she created for her science project and centered in her book. She’s sold it at churches, community events and pop-up shops, although that has slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Everytime we go to sell lip balms, we run out because people buy them all so quickly,” Wright-Williams said.
Grateful for all of the community support, Wright-Williams says she is proud to be from Flint. Earlier this year, she was the youngest author featured in an event called, “Teen Talk: Embracing One's Identity in Today's Times.” During her talk, she discussed her experiences with bullying.
Currently, Wright-Williams is planning to write more books and hopes that she can continue to help the community.
Wright-Williams’ books are available on Amazon.
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