At just 12 years old, Lylah Janvier is living her dream.
About a year and half ago, the Edmonton pre-teen started asking her parents if she could open an online candy store and post videos on social media of her creating candy bags.
“I saw a lot of people on TikTok have candy businesses and it really inspired me, so I asked my parents to do it,” Lylah said.
“I really wanted to do this candy business for a long time.”
Mom and dad weren’t convinced and, at first, said no.
“I was like why? said Lylah’s dad Lorenzo Janvier. “No one is going to buy candy off you.
“You’re crazy.”
Lylah did what most kids are pretty good at: kept asking, over and over… and over again. Finally, her parents gave in.
Early on in 2025, Lylah made a website called Candy Craze, along with Facebook and TikTok accounts to go with it.
She uploaded her first video and it didn’t get too many views. She told her dad she wanted to make something better and different, so they tweaked their style.
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Soon, thousands of people saw her videos and clicked through to the Candy Craze site.
“She said, ‘I think there are orders coming in on the website…’ And sure enough there was. By, I think a week-and-a-half (later) we had 400 orders,” Lorenzo said.
“I love it so much,” Lylah said.
“I am really happy I started this candy business.”
After a year, Candy Craze has more than 20,000 followers on TikTok and 4,000 in Facebook, dozens of daily orders and more than 100 flavours of candy from around the world to choose from.
Lylah encouraged her dad to join her in the videos and now the pair are the face of the company.
Still, it’s a whole family affair.
In summer they all packed up and followed the powwow trail circuit of indigenous events all across North America, selling candy and networking.
A goal Lylah and Lorenzo have is to uplift other Indigenous kids and teens.
“She wants to show other youth that if she can — why can’t they?” Lorenzo said.
Father and daughter will soon be traveling to Saskatchewan to share their story at a youth conference.
“I want to tell them to always believe in yourself,” Lylah said.
Her “sweet” dreams aren’t stopping here. The hope is to have her candy packages on store shelves and one day open a brick-and-mortar candy store.
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