We had the pleasure of meeting Sharanya Shetty, 15, and Atiya Ahmedi, 15, at our spring 2024 market in Cumming, GA!

We had the pleasure of meeting Sharanya Shetty, 15, and Atiya Ahmedi, 15, at our spring 2024 market in Cumming, GA! Their business, Read the Unknown, is SO unique that we just had to know more about what got them started and what their experience has been like running the business!

CEM: Tell us about your business. How did you first get the idea?
We had so many books we had already read that were still in great condition. We didn’t want those books to get thrown away and wanted to find a good use for them. We enjoy reading and wanted to promote it for kids and even adults instead of the screen time that so many of us end up doing throughout the day. We thought this would be a fun way to encourage reading, especially amongst kids.

CEM: What supplies and resources did you need to get going? How did you get ahold of them?
We bought the wrapping paper, the twine, and posterboard to make our sign, but everything else we really already had! We had so many books! We also reached out to friends that were getting rid of old books. The decor for our booth we found around our houses. Our startup cost was actually very minimal!

CEM: What are some challenges you’ve faced in business, and how did you overcome them?
One challenge for us is that we’re both in high school and we have some major testing and end of the year projects to wrap up. We’ve been struggling to find time to get together and sit down to get prepared for our market. We met up together a few times, but realized if we divided the work amongst the two of us we could accomplish more on our own time. I (Atiya) handled a lot of our graphic design for the sign and the booth while Sharanya took on wrapping the books and writing out the reviews and descriptions.

CEM: Do you have any advice for other aspiring kid entrepreneurs?
Initially it’s just fear that holds you back, but if you just START the ideas begin to just flow out. Our best advice would be to just start, even if it’s not perfect!

CEM: How can potential customers get in touch with you?
We are working on creating a website or a way to take orders, but for now we’ll be at the Children’s Entrepreneur Markets in Georgia whenever possible! You can find us there!

Thank you for taking the time to share your journey with us, ladies! We can’t wait to see all you accomplish with Read the Unknown!