Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1445713
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 26, 2022 - FEBRUARY 1, 2022 UCW 13 "Cali lives on the edge," Cheyanne Campos, 15, said laughing. Her younger sister and business part- ner, Cali Rai,13, stands at a heavy bath bomb compressor, packing hot pink bath bomb material into the cylindrical mold. Once she is done packing it, she picks up a toy or "treasures," as they call them and pushes it into the middle of the material. Cali Rai is carefree and outspoken. She loves a good laugh. As she stands, quickly pulling the lever to compress another bath bomb, her mother, Andrea Campos, reminds her that she needs to release the compression with two hands, "technically." "at's too much work," Cali Rai laughs. Cali Rai takes another bath bomb out of the cylinder and gently lets it drop into the round molds, where it'll sit for 24 hours while it hardens. On the other side of their mother's dining room table, which is covered in toys and raw materi- als, Cheyanne places the bowl of their KitchenAid mixer back on its stand. Af- ter each use of a bowl or cup, she cleans them. Cheyanne is orderly and precise. She has a place for each thing and steps she follows to the T during the production of their bath products. She keeps them both on task. e girls' workspace is what was once their family dining room. Large bags of baking soda sit among 50 pounds of citric acid and shea butter in the corner. Big cartons with dozens of bath bombs in each container are un- derneath tables and chairs. Surrounding one side of the room are large stands for events. ree baskets on each stand hold hundreds of brightly colored neon bath bombs. "It's taken over my whole house," Andrea said. e sisters both glance up and smile at each other before continuing. ey are sisters who became best friends and eventually became business partners, all to help children. eir business, Fizzy Friendz, started about five months ago. In these last five months, they have sold $26,000 of bath products, and 100% of their proceeds go to their charity — Giving Back Warm Hugs. e girls see no part of the money from all their hard work. And hard work it is. e girls will wake up around 5 a.m. to start making more bath bombs or bath products and con- tinue without many breaks until about 2 p.m. At this time, their mother says she has to pry them away to do homeschool- ing and kick them out of their makeshift studio. At some point in the evening, they'll return to the table. In their minds, every two bath bombs sold represents another pair of shoes for a child. "We are really doing this for the kids. It just shows how much you can do for the community," Cheyanne says. rough Giving Back Warm Hugs, the girls provide school supplies, shoes, socks and even haircuts for kids who may not be able to afford these things. is charity started long before Fizzy Friendz became a business. Cheyanne and Cali Rai earned money from model- ing and acting and often used a portion of that money to be charitable in the community, an act fostered by their parents. ey also provided meals for the homeschool, gave away thanksgiving meals or knit hats for cancer wards after their grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. "Somebody gave my mom the fun- niest pink hat, so they thought why not give that gift to someone else," Andrea said. "… they've just done a lot." But in the future, the girls would like to continue to run Giving Back Warm Hugs. e charity currently benefits chil- dren within Cumberland County, but eventually, they'd love to see it nation- wide. ey say this is what they hope to do when they "grow up," and hopefully, they'll find like-minded people with "the same heart." "We want to work in our own backyard before we go out," Cali Rai said. e plan for this year is to continue to do their events, including weekends at Dirtbag Ales Brewery's Markets, and in November, they want to throw a Christ- mas party for 500 children at Fayetteville Technical Community College. is event will include food, activities, presents and Santa. When the girls talk about this upcoming event, they do so with barely contained excitement. Cali Rai immediately rattles off all the differ- ent ideas they have for the event. "We are going to do so much. We want to give bikes. Every kid should have a bike," Cali Rai said. "We are going to give them toys and have little segments to make it educational as well." e girls want to do more and more events and eventually have a profound impact within the community. is event in November 2022 will be just the start of their plans for other events and a wider spread impact for children living in the area. Fizzy Friendz's Bath Bombs come in 31 different scents with toy surprises in each bomb. ere are also soaps, lo- tions, "dragon snot," "unicorn fluff," and other products for sale. All their prod- ucts are organic or vegan and made for sensitive skin. ey accept local pickup at A Bit of Carolina, as well as online shipping options. All proceeds from sales of their products will go to Giving Back Warm Hugs. "e amazing thing is they haven't lost themselves … to be able to be sisters and do this is incredible… to be able to laugh and joke. At their age, I was out riding bikes or playing with Barbies," Andrea explained. She looks at both her girls and around the room, then continues. "I never saw this coming." e girls looked at one another for a moment and smiled. A non-verbal con- versation had just taken place. Just as quickly as they started making bath bombs in the room just an hour ago, they began again. COVER STORY Bath bombs and charity, a sisterly recipe by KATHLEEN RAMSEY KATHLEEN RAMSEY, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Cheyanne Campos, 15, and her younger sister and business partner, Cali Rai,13, , stand in what was their dining room and is now their studio. Cheyanne places the bowl of their KitchenAid mixer back on its stand to begin creating one of their many bath products. (Photo by Kathleen Ramsey.). Left: Cali Rai,13, , stands at a heavy bath bomb compressor, packing hot pink bath bomb material into the cylindrical mold. (Photo by Katheleen Ramsey.) Right: Cheyanne Campos (left), 15, and her younger sister and business partner, Cali Rai Campos (right),13, pose in front of A Bit of Carolina with their newest invention, a Dragon Claw bath bomb. (Photo Courtesy of Fizzy Friendz Bath Bombs.)