Hickory High School teen is CEO of her own beverage company By Pam Parker
Photos courtesy of Niu
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raduating from high school is a big deal this time of year, and Cynthia Torrence, 18, is more than a graduate. She is a teen entrepreneur with quite a resume – one she started building even before she hit double digits. If you Google her or look her up on Linked In, prepare to be amazed. She created a low sugar fruit beverage called Niu, which means coconut in Hawaiian, and her product’s flavors include Tropical Berry, Tropical Flamingo and Tropical Eden. “In 2011, I was 7 at the time, we were having a block party and fundraiser for our church, and we had a lemonade stand, but I used a pina colada recipe that our family liked,” she said. Sales were $46, but that was just the beginning. The church pastor, who had diabetes, couldn’t drink the beverage because it was high in sugar and he wondered if the budding entrepreneur could come up with a lower-sugar version with fewer calories. Torrence and her family crafted several recipes and eventually settled on a stevia and fruit-based version. “You really can’t taste the stevia. The fruit overpowers it, and it has a delicate sweetness,” she said. The business started rolling along in the family kitchen. By 2016, the eCenter@ LindenPointe business incubator in Hermitage encouraged Torrence to take some business classes during her summers Cynthia Torrence was named to the 2022 Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania Class of 18 Under 18. off from school, and she learned to develop networking skills and much more. The 18-year-old has had multiple honors operated by April’s husband, Kelvin, who is including being named to the 2022 Junior a pipe hauler. The center also introduced the Torrence Achievement of Western Pennsylvania family to Metabrand of New Jersey. Cynthia Torrence also has two older Class of 18 Under 18. She has been involved The firm took Niu to another level with siblings Brandyn Blackwell and Temarah in ribbon cuttings when Dean Natural production and national expertise. Harrison. Vending machines started selling Niu and when GetGo started selling the drinks along How does someone so young create a Erie connections with Whole Foods Co-op and Fat Lenny’s brand and keep it going? She comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Niu is just part of Torrence said she’s been to Waldameer “a Ice Cream Shop. the family business called Torrence Avery billion times when I was kid,” and she had What do her friends think? Lemonade Logistics Scholastic (TALLS). some pretty important product launches in It includes Zion Education Center Inc., in Erie in 2019 thanks to Brian Slawin, of Ben Everybody is “pretty chill and the teachers Farrell, which her mother, Dr. April Torrence Franklin Technologies, and Selena King. are impressed,” she said, but she’s now operates, and a steel-hauling company moving into the role of a mentor at age 18.
10 • Lake Erie Lifestyle • June 2022
