9-Year-Old Resident Plans on Starting a Business

When 9-year-old Legacy Clemmons couldn’t find soul food-flavored ices in NYC, she met with inspiration rather than frustration. 

“I always wanted to start a business,” Legacy said. “I thought, ‘Ok, my name is Legacy, maybe I should start one.’ Then I started thinking about putting things that I like into a business – for example, ice cream and food flavors.”

Legacy has always been ahead of her years. At 9, she is already in fifth grade. And she participates in NYCHA’s Resident Business Development Orientation workshop to develop her business idea – the only child in the program. 

“We discussed my icy cart idea during the workshop,” Legacy explained. “You can be a dreamer, and dream of having a booming business. I’m still a dreamer, and I drew my ice cream truck, how I imagined it will be.” 

The young entrepreneur from Stapleton Houses named her future ice cart business “Legacy’s Flavors of the Soul.”

She wants to revolutionize the icy and ice cream industry with new soul food flavors: “I like making different flavors that don’t really exist. I like food flavors such as sweet potato pie, apple pie – soul foods. There are many icy carts in the city, but they all have the same flavors: coconut, cherry, mango, lemon. That’s why I want to spice things up and make unusual flavors.” 

Legacy’s business partner and consultant is her mom, Loria Clemmons. Together they come up with the flavors, discuss the logistics, and make long-term plans for Legacy’s business. 

“With her African-American roots, she came up with the idea of having soul food icy and ice cream flavors,” Ms. Clemmons said. “I told her that not all people are into sweets, and we decided to create ice cream with avocado flavor, chia seed flavor, sweet potato, banana pudding, and other tastes that do not exist in icy flavors. I told her by the time she is 16, she can get an ice cream truck and drive around the city with her own permit.”

Legacy has already gathered a team that will support her throughout her ice cart business endeavor. NYCHA’s Office of Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES) helped with business idea implementation, and her mom will consult and help with the organization come summertime. 

“Our Resident Business Development (RBD) Orientations are offered to provide information for residents who want to start or grow a business in any industry,” said Audrey Washington, Assistant Director of Financial Capability and Business Development at REES. “We were so impressed when Legacy attended our RBD orientation in December 2021. She was on camera by herself, taking notes and asking detailed questions. For a 9-year-old to be so confident, articulate, and already have a business idea and a plan was very impressive.”

Legacy started a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to collect the money for the permits, licensing, equipment, and supplies needed for her icy cart.

“I’ll have my icy cart for the summer in front of my school,” she said. “Mom will set it up before I finish school, then I’ll join and help her. When kids finish their afterschool, they’ll come to my cart and buy ices. With that money, I will raise the funds for my truck. I want to do an icy cart for starters and then over time turn it into an icy truck and later into an ice cream truck.”

As much as she is excited about the business idea, Legacy doesn’t overlook her academic studies. History is her favorite subject in school, and she plans on becoming a lawyer. Until then, she will bring an icy cart with soul food flavors to the residents of Staten Island. 

Visit this Facebook story to see more of Legacy in action.