The 7-year-old fashionista is the youngest entrepreneur currently featured at Salem’s Reach For The Stars and can be found selling her hair, face and body glitter gels on weekends at area vending shows or via Facebook.

Mom Renee and dad Duane Kaley chauffeur Ellie around at least one Saturday a month to events, such as a recent makers mart at the Youngstown Flea.

Founded by Ellie with the support of her staff (aka her family), the gels mirror her sense of style, which includes bold and vibrant colors with glitter and shapes scattered within a gel that can applied to add shimmer.

Ellie produces her glitter gel in small batches, assuring customers each receive a little container of a quality product like no other.

Ellie Kaley, 7, poses in front of her Ellie’s Glitter Lab display Saturday at Reach For The Stars in downtown Salem. A West Branch elementary student, she owns and operates Ellie’s Glitter Lab, which primarily sells its products either at this location or through her Facebook page to area cheerleaders, majorettes and athletes. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

Mom admits that the majority of color schemes work, but there are some that are quickly abandoned for quality control when they appear too muddled.

This is one reason why Ellie prefers to use the larger pieces of glitter in her gels, as the texture is better for application and stayability. In the cases when some colors like black oversaturate the gel, rendering it color and sparkleless, it is back to the lab.

Wanting to start a business, her parents settled on the hair gel for the aspiring makeup artist who is all about everything sparkly and feminine.

Ellie’s Glitter Gel has a series of available color combinations, including school colors, as well as can make up custom varieties.

Since creating her entrepreneurship in July, Ellie has landed some highly public clients via word of mouth. Renee explained, “Most of our customers have been through friends talking to friends.”

Using herself as a walking display model, Ellie Kaley, 7, shows off some custom glitter gel applied to her face Saturday morning. Ellie, a West Branch elementary student who has owned and operated Ellie’s Glitter Lab since July, makes custom glitter face and hair gels, which are a favorite among local cheerleaders, majorettes and athletes. She has a variety of premixed offerings plus she can customize a gel in  a client’s school colors. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

Cheerleading, majorette and flagline squads are her most frequent customers as are some school athletes who just want to add a little sparkle to their game.

Unsure if this was just a phase, her parents wanted to give Ellie a fighting chance to blossom but weren’t sure if it wasn’t wanting to overinvest. However, she seems more driven and committed than ever.

Past customers have included majorettes from the University of Mount Union, West Branch, Niles and Canfield; cheerleaders from United Local and Springfield Local as well as the Marlington volleyball and Lordstown cross country teams.

No rest for the weary, Ellie’s Glitter Lab will be set up from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 during the first day at a two-day Back to School style event at VICI Beauty and Spa., 7392 California Ave. in Boardman.

Ellie explained that going to meet people is one of her favorite parts of the Glitter Lab gig, and apparently she is quite the little salesperson.

Ellie Kaley opens a container of the Witch’s Brew variety of hair, body and face glitter recently introduced in her 2025 holiday product line. Other varieties introduced in this holiday line include Fall Is In The Air, Ice Palace and Pumpkin Party. Ellie, 7, owns and operates Ellie’s Glitter Lab. Based out of Salem, the gels area a favorite among local cheerleaders, majorettes and athletes. In addition to the core color offerings in her product line, she also can customize a gel in a client’s school colors. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

When Mom asks her to share what is important about effective sales technology, the 7-year-old shared, “be kind and look at (the potential customer to assure he/she) can hear you.”

The not-so-fun part of the entrepreneurship is the cleanup after mixing and packaging all the glitter gel, she added.

Imagine that — a 7-year-old who doesn’t like to clean up.

Although rare, sometimes typical family drama can arise.

There is no messing with this girl boss, who has threatened to fire her family if she believes they are shirking their duties. Then she changes her mind after learning that means doing all the work yourself or actually hiring paid employees to do it for you, which cuts in your profits.

In addition to being Ellie’s business consultants, Ellie’s parents do have very demanding day jobs. Dad Duane is a major case investigator for an area law enforcement agency, while mom Renee is a Stark County school system curriculum director.

Trying to teach Ellie the correct way to operate a business still is front and center of their daily lives, explained Renee.

For example, recently they took her to check out potential storage containers at Hobby Lobby, and she learned that not only they superior to her Dollar Tree ones but they actually were more affordable. (The new Hobby Lobby containers have screwtops, which reduces accidental spillage.)

Ellie learned that all goes into determining pricing on the items.

As Ellie continues to refine her business operations with the assistance of family, Renee said the next step is acquisition of a domain, printing of business cards and creation of a website.

The Kaleys also are allowing Ellie to decide how to spend her money.

Six months after saving it, which would put it around January, she can choose from reinvesting it into the business, continue to save it or spend it on something she wants.

Like a typical kid, Ellie admitted that she does see ultimately a lot of things she wants to spend it on. Most of it probably not real practical, as her mother said that she is a Dollar Tree junkie

For information on Ellie’s Glitter Lab, call 330-550-4741.

Her Facebook page profile can by found by typing Ellie’s Glitter Lab into the search bar at the top of Facebook.com.