Learning to avoid using the 'Bank of Mom and Dad'

Graduating Eastern Washington University business and communications major, Christian Wright, provided an enthusiastic 11-year update to over 200 guests at the 2016 Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. The event took place on May 18 at the Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane. 

A Cheney middle and high school graduate, Wright made national news in 2008 as a high school freshman on the "Today Show" as a featured entrepreneur and national Junior Achievement Hall of Fame member. He also appeared in a 2008 story in the Cheney Free Press.

His home-based business, Art-By-Christian (ABC) involved the production and marketing of jewelry. Today Show host Meredith Vieira bought a pair of earrings from Wright while he was in New York City. 

Speaking to the Junior Achievement crowd last month, Wright, a motivational marketer, told the guests, "I used to make women look better with jewelry. Now I'm making fishermen look better with bait." His new enterprise, Kingfisher Baits, LLC was founded in 2015 has found retail success in area businesses such as The White Elephant and boasts, "... leave the luck to the amateurs and limit out like a professional with Kingfisher Shrimp." 

"Junior Achievement has helped me to own my own finances and future beginning in middle school and the lessons have lasted all through college," Wright said. "I see so many fellow students who rely on the 'Bank of Mom and Dad.'" Mom and Junior Achievement gave me the gift of independence at a young age." 

Jackie Wright, Christian's mother, was a Junior Achievement board member and volunteer who introduced him at an early age to the JA programs with the hopes that he'd get hooked. She shared at the recent Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame, "It's very gratifying to see that Christian has continued his 'why not?' attitude when it comes to his businesses. I'm sure this will continue throughout his life."