Young entrepreneur Charli has just turned 13 but is already contributing to the family business. Charli’s dad Matthew is in the army and mum Andrea runs her own business, bsclothingandgifts.co.uk
“I have one older sister who is nearly 18 and one annoying little sister who is six who has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). I also have a tortoise called Toby and a gerbil called Pippa,” explains Charli.
“I’ve wanted to design autism and anxiety awareness t-shirts for a long time. I get very anxious because of my autism so this first design means a lot. I create the designs and my parents do the printing.”
Charli used to joke about having a t-shirt that told people to ‘read my band’ so that she didn’t have to try to explain how she was feeling, and she used that as her inspiration.
“Each of the t-shirts I’ve designed come with a green/red band, so that people can wear them too – the green side of the band means I’m feeling okay and the red means I’m not,” Charli continues.
“Being an army child is hard for me as it means lots of changes, which I find really difficult, but my teachers are proud of me and what I’ve achieved with my designs.”
She has more designs that are almost ready to be printed. “I’m excited to see them all on the website. In the future I’d love to be able to help my mum have a shop, so that my t-shirts could be sold there too.”
Her message to everyone is: “Be yourself and display your words and thoughts for all to see. You’ve got this!”