Showcasing the Power of Positivity
Potomac Falls junior Alana Andrews So Positive Initiative is spreading the message of believing in yourself.
Andrews speaking in front of 600 people at the Virginia Women’s Business Conference in 2019.
Being an author, public speaker and founder/CEO of your own company is an extremely time consuming and challenging life for anyone, let alone a high school junior. Potomac Falls junior Alana Andrews does all of that while keeping up with her school work focusing mainly as CEO of So Positive. Taking the business world by storm, Andrews has been breaking norms since she was seven years old.
As a young child, Alana always wanted to make change and help others. After being treated differently than most kids at school for things like hair, Alana wanted to make a song about bullying and being confident. Alana’s mother, LaBrita Andrews, said, “She wanted to help others that may have had similar experiences. [She] wanted to make her song into a CD, so we took her to a studio where she recorded her song ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ which is available on Amazon and iTunes.”
Alana Andrews also created her own talk show on Youtube called The Girls So Positive Show. She would invite her friends to be on the show where they would discuss topics like making good decisions, choosing friends wisely, relationships, and more. “Alana has always had an entrepreneur mindset,” LaBrita Andrews said.
This has all led her to create So Positive, an initiative that promotes self confidence and positivity within the youth after experiencing the transition from elementary school to middle school and realizing there wasn’t a lot of information to help her transition easier.
“[From my experience, I decided] to create the initiative to inspire kids to keep dreaming their biggest dream because it’s possible to achieve anything you desire. I also wanted them to have a can do and a positive mindset towards their academics and the challenges they may face,” Alana Andrews said.
With her initiative, Alana Andrews visits local elementary schools and provides interactive presentations with the kids. “My team and I have set a goal to develop a 12-part book series for elementary students, and so far, we’ve published 5 of those books, and the next one is scheduled to be published this month. Each book is now available on Amazon. It feels great to know that the work I’m doing in SPI has been able to inspire other kids,” Alana said.
Currently, Alana Andrews is developing a new GEN Z sports drink called SWEY. After being diagnosed as a diabetic, Alana became frustrated that she could never find a healthy sports drink. After years of dreams and ideas, Alana finally began the building of SWEY. SWEY will be launching this month.
To anyone who is interested in becoming a young entrepreneur, Alana encourages students to apply to the Loudoun County Young Entrepreneurs Academy. “This is where I got my start. Business leaders and mentors within the community helped me to learn about the basics of business. It was almost like being in a pre-business school,” she said.
“I want people to learn that life is full of adventure, challenges, hard work and rewards. If you have a dream, believe in yourself enough to know that you will achieve your goals. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, you can achieve your biggest dreams as long as you’re willing to put in the work to achieve your goals,” Andrews said.
After high school, Alana plans to apply to Stanford University where she will major in International Business Relations at the business school. To learn more about Alana and her initiative, visit here. To see her YouTube videos, along with her talk show, visit here.
Caelan Jones is Editor-in-Chief for DHS Press, where she has served for 3 years as a part of the program. As a Senior at Dominion, Caelan has been a part...
