At just 17 years old, Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2024 Kaylee Stavlas from Raleigh, North Carolina, has spent the past four years teaching students about business education, financial literacy, servant leadership, and community service through her non-profit, NEX GEN CEO: Empowering the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs to do good through business. A rising senior who is homeschooled, Kaylee is also dually enrolled at Liberty University Online Academy, where she is earning her associate degree in business. Her entrepreneurial spirit shines through NEX GEN CEO, with plans to expand into all 100 counties of North Carolina by establishing student entrepreneurship clubs and organizing student business fairs.

Kaylee’s work as a social impact entrepreneur began when she was eight years old helping fund an orphanage in Haiti and digging in the Amazon rainforest through her business ventures. Kaylee is also an accomplished author; her children’s book, “You Can Change the World,” has inspired students across the state to start a student business and is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major retailers.

Her dedication to empowering young minds was recognized when she received the Dynamic Entrepreneur Award by Johnston Now Honors. In 2023, she launched a citywide mayor-sanctioned “Next Generation Entrepreneurship Day” for the city of Smithfield during her reign as Miss Smithield’s Teen 2023 and launched a student business fair that had 17 students from 15 different schools across the state representing their businesses. During her reign as Miss North Carolina Teen USA, Kaylee aspires to launch a “Next Generation Entrepreneurship Day” across the state of North Carolina, highlighting and inspiring student entrepreneurship and innovation to create businesses with social impact and servant leadership.

Additionally, Kaylee serves as a teen attorney in Durham Teen Court and aspires to become a corporate lawyer. She models for numerous brands, including Jovani, and was a Jovani It Girl semifinalist. A talented opera singer, Kaylee’s artistic talents add another layer to her multifaceted personality.

Kaylee comes from a “Big Fat Greek Family” and enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and her beloved dog, Tito. Through all her work, Kaylee hopes to inspire young entrepreneurs and students to believe that, regardless of their age or background, they can change the world and do good through business.