On the Bright Side: Delhi teen receives national award for handmade soap business

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Quinn Kelley, 15, of Delhi, won a $1,000 Entrepreneurial Award from Guardian Life’s Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Program. Photo by: Joe Damone Photography Andes, NY Joe Damone Photography, Andes, NY

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November 22, 2010

By Patricia Breakey Delaware County News Bureau The Daily Star Mon Nov 22, 2010, 12:46 PM EST

DELHI _ Quinn Kelley's plan to pay for her college education has netted her a national award in the Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Program.

Kelley, 15, of Delhi, makes decorative bars of handmade glycerin soap under the name Chicken Hill Farm Homemade Soap.

Her business won her one of 15 awards nationwide.

She was one of 12 finalists and won $1,000 that she said she plans to use to develop her website and purchase additional supplies for her business.

"Being a business owner can be very demanding, but it can open your eyes to new experiences and education opportunities," Kelley said.

In February, she and her mother, Jayne Anne Harris, slogged through thick snow on snowshoes to make the deadline to send an application for the Girls Going Places program.

Kelley said her aunt discovered the program on the Internet.

"The application process was involved," Kelley said. "I had to send in recommendation letters, a mission statement, a statement about myself, samples of the soap and a catalog."

She was inspired to go into business at the age of 11 when she received a book about soap making for her birthday.

She sells her specialty soaps at craft fairs, local stores and in the gift shop of the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Fla.

Kelley and her mother work together on the enterprise. They both work on creating the soap, and Harris drives her daughter to the shows where she sells her wares.

Using two different glycerin bases, color and fragrance, Kelley creates a wide range of designs and color combinations.

Her chicken soap featuring a raised-relief chicken is her signature soap, inspired by the name of her company.

But it's her dolphin soap that has launched her into the national market.

Harris said she ran into an old friend on Facebook who is affiliated with the Dolphin Research Center. The friend placed an order for Kelley's Diving Dolphin soap to sell in the gift shop.

Kelley's newest soap is a red current and thyme tea creation she calls Pressed for Thyme. She said she has also developed a snowflake-shaped soap with glitter that is popular.

Kelley said she wants to raise enough money to pay her way through veterinary school, beginning with a stint at the State University College of Technology at Delhi's veterinary technician program and then on to Cornell University. She said her goal is to practice veterinary medicine for large animals in the Delhi area.

For more information visit http://chickenhillfarmhandmadesoap.blogspot.com/ or call 746-9862.

For information on the awards visit www.girlsgoingplaces.com.

If you have good news you'd like to share, call Associate Managing Editor Emily Popek at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 217; fax her at 432-5707; e-mail her at epopek@thedailystar.com; or write to her at P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820.