CEO Camp grads are still in middle school, but they’re already business-savvy leaders

Victoria Khomenko works tirelessly to help her small business succeed. There's one thing that sets Khomenko apart from other Knoxville entrepreneurs, though. She's 12.

To learn more about strategies for selling her jewelry, Khomenko signed up for CEO Camp for Young Women through Webb School's Camp Webb, she told Knox News.

The story behind the camp involves two other business-savvy young women - sisters, actually - who have made it their mission to mentor and empower enterprising middle school girls like Khomenko.

Ann Baker Tolsma, who graduated from Webb in May, started and led CEO camp last year. For year two, her sister Lee Belle Tolsma, a rising sophomore at Webb, shared the responsibilities.

'Giving girls confidence and leadership skills'

The experiences of the Tolsma sisters' mother and grandmother were foundational to the camp's start. "My mom and my grandma both ventured into some pretty male-dominated fields ... Seeing how they had to be leaders and advocate for themselves was really inspiring to me," Ann Baker Tolsma told Knox News.

Their mother, Lee Ann Furrow Tolsma, is the president of Furrow Automotive Group, and their grandmother, Ann Baker Furrow, was the first woman to play a men’s varsity sport - golf - at the University of Tennessee, and the first woman appointed to the UT Board of Trustees.

Ann Baker Tolsma's entrepreneurship classes at Webb also played a role in preparing her, she said.

Both Tolsma sisters are interested in the possibility of pursuing business themselves, whether that's joining one of the family businesses - their father, John Tolsma, owns Knowledge Launch, a corporate education agency - or starting their own.

"Entrepreneurship has so many definitions, and it can take you a lot of places," Ann Baker Tolsma said. In the fall, she'll be heading to Duke University, where she plans to take classes in the innovation and entrepreneurship program.

For Ann Baker Tolsma, the most important part of CEO camp is giving back to the campers who attend, "The whole sense of giving girls confidence and leadership skills," she said.

"Because for myself, like all throughout high school, I've had people who have empowered me, and wanted to see me in leadership roles, and succeed, so I think being able to give these girls a platform and some skills at a pretty young age is really impactful and hopefully makes a difference in the trajectory of their lives and what they're able to do."

What happens at CEO camp?

Campers learn the ins and outs of starting a business, from ideation to manufacturing to marketing, with a focus on leadership and critical thinking, Ann Baker Tolsma said.

This year's 23 participants came from a variety of backgrounds and schools around Knoxville. To Ann Baker Tolsma, the biggest goal was "giving them the confidence and knowledge that they can do big things and hard things," she said.

"Seeing how leadership and even entrepreneurship can play into their dreams is really cool," she added.

The Tolsma sisters are planning for a third year of CEO camp to take place in summer 2025 under Lee Belle Tolsma's leadership.

Campers learn real-life skills

By the last day of this year's camp, Khomenko had plenty of takeaways she was excited to implement in her own business. She'd bought ring lights and photo boxes before camp started, but after five days with the Tolsmas, she had a better idea of how to use them for her jewelry business.

"Now I know kinda how to market it," Khomenko reflected.

That's not all she's learned. "In business, you really need to make connections with other people," she said. "You can't run a business by yourself."

Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter. Email hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com.

Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.