We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryson and Peighton Cantrell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryson and Peighton below.
Bryson and Peighton, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
Well, I (Peighton) know I don’t want any part of my life to be boring! Our legacy together, isn’t something we’ve thought about. We do know that when our story is told we want it to emphasize the importance of helping other children achieve their goals and ambitions. Everyone knows all children are not provided with the same opportunities in life, and we’ve always wanted to help fill that void by providing information and experiences for others, in any way we can. We’d like for people to see the positive results that nurturing the ideas and ambitions of children can provide. And realize that they/we need the confidence and support to achieve almost anything!
Bryson and Peighton, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Sure! We are 13-year old twins, Bryson and Peighton Cantrell! We’re 8th grade, honor students, at Arlington Middle School where we are both members of the AMS band, National Junior Honor Society, Builder’s Club, Best Buddies International, and Tiger Ambassadors. Peighton is also a competitive cheerleader with the Memphis Cheer All-Star Teams. We’re avid readers, enjoy traveling, and love spending time with family and friends! But most importantly, we are the founders of BookIt4Life Children’s Book & Social Club and the co-owners of Memphis Children’s Business Fairs.
BookIt4Life was a club we started when we were 8 years old. It was created to spread our love of reading throughout the Memphis Area, as we noticed that children were “judging books by the cover” and not the story that was inside. We quickly advanced into a social club for children to share their experiences with peers and make new friends for life!
The club has also led community service projects for the members and friends to participate in. Those projects have included: collecting and donating books to local schools, churches, and community organizations; adopting an angel from the Salvation Army Angel Tree and partnering with a local kidpreneur (Just Plain Fabulous) to run a successful No Shave November Campaign for the American Cancer Society! As we became more involved in the community, we decided to become a non-profit organization. This allowed us to become sponsors and co-owners of The Memphis Children’s Business Fair!
The fair has been held twice a year since October 2019. These fairs help children foster their entrepreneurial spirit and learn life lessons along the way. Our fairs have had over 250 participants in the last three years! The next Memphis Children’s Business Fair will be in Spring 2023.
At the height of the pandemic, we had the opportunity to work with Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South, as they launched a virtual program for students nationwide. It is our goal to share reading and knowledge of ALL kinds with children to help them achieve their full potential!
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
We’re 13, so yes, this is the only job we have! It started off as a summer book club in 2017, with six friends that we thought would enjoy reading as much as we did.
We were eight years old and argued about the name (BookIt4Life) for the club in the back seat of our Mom’s car. Starting the club was important to us because we knew children were missing out on good books, and at that age, were only choosing books with pictures in them. Our Mom agreed and thought it would only last while we were out of school that summer.
She created a social media page for us, to post our YouTube book reviews for others to see. Over time, people found out about our book club and eventually we grew to twelve members! Our Mom would help us find local activities to do after our meetings that matched the book we discussed. The first major milestone was a WREG TV “Bright Spot” segment. We thought it would be fun to do the interview but had no idea what was to come from there. Our next meeting was packed with kids and messages were coming in from children that wanted to join our club, but had no way to get to them or parents that weren’t willing to bring them. Again, our Mom stepped in to help us find a solution because we wanted everyone to be able to participate.
Shortly after the interview we spoke at a local Rotary Club and became community partners with them. This allowed us to represent them in their Dictionary Project and bring it to our elementary school at that time. The principal, teachers, and students were SO excited to be thought of and given new dictionaries for use in the classrooms. We were helping others and encouraging literacy. This made us feel great! We were introduced to the Memphis Public Libraries, Friends of the Library President who helped us bring our book club into several libraries, prior to the pandemic. As we met children in different parts of the city, listened to their stories and dreams we wanted to do more. So, we turned our book club into a social club and applied to be a non-profit organization. At the age of 10, our mission was clear: provide educational activities for children through book related and child focused events. And that’s what we do!
In April 2020 we began hosting the Memphis Children’s Business Fairs, after participating in a similar, private event. We wanted more children to have the opportunity to participate in an event like this, as well as have the opportunity to launch their own startup business for one day! You learn a lot about yourself and others when you’re running a business. It’s challenging!
And although BookIt4Life no longer meets in person, we continue to list book recommendations, local literacy programs, child focused opportunities, and group community service projects to our social media page. It is our hope to partner with other organizations as we continue to find creative ways to inspire children in the Mid-South
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
For me (Peighton) “Room One” by Andrew Clements. I read this book when I was 8 years old and it is my favorite book of all time. It was a book about a little boy who took the initiative to help a girl that was living in an abandoned house with her family. This book taught me that I can’t just sit back and watch, I have to take action to help people around me. The books also shares how he organized the community to help the little girl and this inspired me to use my leadership skills.
As a matter of fact, my third-grade year changed my whole perspective on life! It taught me that the only way I was going to succeed was if I took charge of my learning and my capabilities. My biggest hurdle that year was the school spelling bee. Believe it or not, my confidence was low because I had lost the spelling bee that previous year. My teacher told me I could do anything and helped me by giving me the right resources and encouragement to succeed. Big thanks to Barbara Gibson at Macon Hall Elementary! I won!
For me (Bryson) “Wonder” by. R.J. Palacio was the book that influenced me the most. This book confirmed my desire to help others that may be struggling in different areas, whether academically or socially. Ensuring that everyone feels included when they want to be. It resonated with me because, if you know me, you know I’m not the best at initiating social interactions. This has helped me with BookIt4Life and the Memphis Children’s Business Fair because I see others that may be nervous and need that extra encouragement. And truthfully, the fairs help me to keep interacting with new people every year.
Contact Info:
- Website: cbfmemphis.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MemphisCBF
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/Bookit4life