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10-year-old Georgia girl has had a passion for cosmetics from an early age

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

OK, Noel, let me ask you, what was your first job ever?

NOEL KING, HOST:

I worked as a babysitter in a hotel near my house. What about you?

MARTÍNEZ: I assembled Whoppers. That's what I did.

KING: (Laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: OK. So neither one of us came close to what 10-year-old Paris Muhammad is up to.

KING: Right. She is a fifth-grader from Georgia, and she owns her own makeup company called Paris Place, LLC.

PARIS MUHAMMAD: So I started my business when I was 7 years old. Me and my nana, we started selling air fresheners and body oils. And a year ago, we added lip gloss to my collection.

KING: Paris made history as the youngest ever member of the Conyers-Rockdale Chamber of Commerce in Georgia.

MARTÍNEZ: Her mom, Tenisha Odom, says she knew early on that her daughter had a passion for cosmetics.

TENISHA ODOM: I would see little patches of makeup on her face, and I'm like, you know, are you in my lipstick or in my makeup? And she would, you know, kind of give me the side eye, so I know she was doing something.

KING: Now her makeup is being sold in beauty supply stores all across the country.

MARTÍNEZ: And Paris is conscientious about making a product that is responsibly sourced.

PARIS: My lip gloss are vegan and gluten free as well.

KING: This year, she's met celebrities, had a ribbon cutting ceremony and her own billboard. Her mom says the sky is the limit for Paris.

ODOM: I knew she was going to be something because she has always said she never wants to work for anyone. And we would talk about entrepreneurship, like, throughout the years. Little did we know, you know, she was really listening.

MARTÍNEZ: Paris says she hopes to have her own shop one day, but for now, she'll continue to grow her business while following her mother's one rule - no CEO work on school nights.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RUN THE WORLD (GIRLS)")

BEYONCE: (Singing) Who run the world? Girls. Who run the world? Girls. Who run the world? Girls. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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