PHOTO | ASHLEY MAHONEY

Jayla's Heirlooms founder Nicole Hawthorne earned the $10,000 prize for the 53 Ideas Business Pitch Competition in Concord.

Jayla’s Heirlooms rethinks who can be an entrepreneur.

The heirloom doll business won the 53 Ideas Business Pitch Competition on Aug. 12, which included a $10,000 prize. Jayla’s Heirlooms competed against applicants from a 10-county radius in North Carolina. Over 150 applicants submitted the required 53-second pitch. Fifty-three applicants were selected to present a three-minute pitch virtually. The top 10 gathered in Concord for a three-minute presentation and Q&A on Aug. 12.

For co-founder Nicole Hawthorne, her 4-year-old daughter, Jayla is not just her inspiration, she is a business partner. Jayla is also her quality assurance when it comes to testing dolls, because the goal of Jayla’s Heirlooms is to create a collection of dolls children want to play with. Jayla had a little bit more to say before the 53 Ideas final round.

“Before I went for this final round, I was a little stressed out, because these pitch competitions take a lot out of you, emotionally, to prepare,” Hawthorne said. “I was practicing with my husband, and she said, ‘Mommy, you did a good job, but it could be better.’”

Hawthorne found herself stumbling over her words as she prepared the opening for the final round. She took her daughter’s advice and refined it.

“The more you practice, and you have everything at least down to your best ability, you’re good to go,” Hawthorne said. “When I did tell her we won, she said, ‘you must have done your best,’ and I'm like ‘man, how does she know?’ You have to do your best to win, or to achieve a goal. Every day, I’m just like, ‘wow, this is going to be an interesting kid.’”

Jayla turns 5 on Oct. 2, and her mother quickly points out she is an entrepreneurial advocate.

“I went to pick her up at daycare, and she told the other kids that she won this contest with her mommy, and they said to her, ‘maybe we should start a business,’” Hawthorne said. “They are like 5 years old. I love it. I'm like you should start a business. She's like the little mini entrepreneur spreading seeds of entrepreneurship within her own little demographic. It just blows my mind.”

Hawthorne began curating dolls with designers to assemble a small collection for Jayla while she was pregnant in 2016. She wanted to surround her daughter with high-quality dolls who looked like her. Then people began asking where they could find dolls like the ones she assembled for Jayla. Hawthorne researched women-owned companies that emphasize sustainability, and began co-branding dolls with artisans in Paris, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Belgium and Belarus.

Building blocks
Jayla’s Heirlooms officially launched in November and has since been selected for Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator, which provides access to mentorship, financial assistance, marketing and promotional support. Hawthorne is collaborating with a woman-owned workshop in Peru on the Amazon exclusive, which will launch on Black Friday.

Jayla’s Heirlooms also received a $10,000 grant from Durham-based NC IDEA in May, which will fund increased scale and determine the prototype of a branded doll for the Amazon exclusive. Funding from the 53 Ideas competition will be split between funding marketing and international supply chain logistics.

“That funding is going to be crucial to us and our business model,” Hawthorne said.

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