Nicole T. Carlotti, 19 – Business Plan
The Handy Hamper
Norwalk, Connecticut

"I will donate a percentage of the Handy Hamper’s yearly net profit to a specific test for ovarian cancer, to honor the person who made me as strong as I am—my mother."

Nicole Carlotti graduated from the NFTE program at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk in 2005. Her business plan is to launch an invention, the Handy Hamper, which is a laundry basket with a difference.

“Runners on the bottom of the laundry basket allow it to be pulled up and down stairs easily,” Nicole says. “Wheels on the sides of the basket and a handle allow the basket to be pulled across floors instead of being dragged or carried.” Nicole feels that lifting and carrying full baskets of laundry up and down stairs can injure the carrier’s back over time. Her invention makes it possible to carry laundry without ever lifting a basket.

“Making a new product was challenging and required using my imagination, but it has definitely strengthened my business skills,” Nicole says. If the business is launched, she plans to donate part of the profits in honor of her mother, who died of ovarian cancer in 2004.

Nicole was a senior in high school when this happened, taking AP classes, applying for colleges, studying for admissions tests and involved in a number of extracurricular activities. Despite her grief, she decided to “push on and fight as hard as possible to make my mother proud,” she says.

Nicole now is a student at New York University. “Each day of my life, I know I continue to make her proud, but even more important, I am proud of myself,” she says.