COLUMBUS, Ohio — Usually middle schoolers can’t wait to get to high school, but the pandemic put a damper on it. One high school student decided to take action and start a business that would lift the spirits of others.
When Amiah Gillam, 14, isn’t in school or doing school work, she’s putting together gift boxes to lift the spirits of teens just like her and adults, too.
“I wanted to make sure people know that they are loved, so that’s how I decided to make it make the box,” said Gillam.
Often times, things like bracelets, socks, finger nail polish go in the boxes. The teen said she started The Glow Between Us last August after noticing the pandemic changed the whole mood of friends who would normally be excited about going to high school.
“People were sad like they were down. They were disappointed. They weren’t feeling good about the next school year,” Gillam said.
That’s because they knew things wouldn’t be the same. She created a subscription service where people could receive monthly gift boxes or send them to others with items that would remind a person that they are loved and worth something. Box by box, she began to create more after talking it over with her mom.
“I never thought about having a business like I do now because I’m so young. I never thought about like I can actually do something like this,” Gillam said.
While she doesn’t see her friends much these days, the Dublin Scioto High School freshman said, “I like helping people. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing and when people have good reactions it just makes me so happy about it, and I’m happy that they’re having — they’re like feeling better about what’s going on.”
Seeing what her daughter was doing, mom Crystal McBee joined her and decided to send out a few boxes of her own to pregnant women while taking in the web orders. Since she started working with her daughter, she said she’s seeing her in a new way.
“It got me to be able to see Amiah’s — how she thinks and how she’s working as teenagers don’t get that, you know? They’re in high school. They’re like mom forget you I’m off on my own.”
By working together, she said their communication has improved. And by being together so much during the pandemic, the partnership has also given her the chance to see her daughter blossom into a young lady full of ideas who is not afraid to bring them to life an share them with the world.
“It gives her an opportunity to be more confident. We were working together, she had to take a speech class this year and she was so nervous about it, like it’s OK. Are we good? And then we started doing this and so she actually had to use what she learned,” McBee said, and added it’s huge, especially because her daughter is a bit shy.
So far, they’ve made over 50 boxes.
“People have been really happy about it. They’ve been sending us pictures like when we did our Christmas box. People sent in pictures like under the tree and people were really happy to get it,” said Gillam.
Ready to impact the world, Gillam said she’s just glad that she can make a difference.
“I want to keep going with it, and I love doing it. I love giving back to people,” Gillam said.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can send a box to someone or even yourself, you can visit “All About Me with Amiah G” on Instagram or www.theGlowBetweenUs.com.
