As a little girl, Gabrielle (Gabby) Goodwin had a difficult time keeping barrettes in her hair.
“My mom would spend 15-20 minutes doing my hair in the morning,” Goodwin recalled. “She would drop me off at school looking nice and then pick me up to find that half of my bows were gone and that my hair was a complete mess. She was wasting a lot of time in the morning but also wasting a lot of money constantly replacing those barrettes.”
At 5 years old, Goodwin realized something needed to change. It would take a few more years of discussions with her mom, Rozalynn, before they created the solution: GaBBY Bows, the first patented double-face double-snap barrette.
And at 7 years old, Goodwin became a CEO.
“I basically nagged my mom into creating a barrette, not necessarily a company, because I didn’t know what entrepreneurship was,” Goodwin said. “But I did know that I wanted to inspire people, and especially girls who looked like me. I saw this product as a way to do so—to be able to help people, help myself, and stop getting in trouble for losing my barrettes. That really pushed us into a venture of entrepreneurship, and so we started the company in February of 2014 and have been in business for 12 years.”
GaBBY Bows is now housed under the global brand Confidence by GaBBY Goodwin, which offers the first-of-its-kind barrettes along with other hair care accessories, business mentorship programs, and a retail store and salon space. Goodwin also wrote her first children’s book, Naturally Me at the Confidence Salon, which was published in May 2025 by HarperCollins.
“I don’t think I ever really saw myself being a children’s book author,” Goodwin said. “But I knew when I wrote my first book I wanted it to be about confidence and authenticity and just being yourself naturally, because that’s what I’ve been able to learn through entrepreneurship, which has fared me well I think.”
Along with her numerous business ventures, Goodwin said she has always prioritized her family, academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. When it came time to choose a university, she was offered a spot in the Ingram Scholars Program at Vanderbilt, and it felt like a perfect fit.
“I think having a smaller community within this larger Vanderbilt pool was something that was really attractive to me,” she said. “Even before I got here, I was able to have friends and people that I knew from this program. Community service is also prevalent in Ingram, we have to do four hours a week, and that really intrigued me, because I love serving my community. I also always wanted to challenge myself academically, so I felt like this was a great opportunity to do so at a really esteemed university with numerous resources and opportunities. I’m also from South Carolina and grew up in the SEC and love sports. I knew I wanted to be in the SEC.”
Looking to hone and sharpen her entrepreneurial skills, Goodwin chose to double major in economics and math, as well as to double minor in business and data science. Through her coursework, she hopes to gain the necessary experience to pursue a career in business data analytics.
“I’ve always loved math my entire life. I love to problem solve,” Goodwin said. “One of my close friends mentioned something about business analytics to me my sophomore or junior year of high school, and that really intrigued me. Not a lot of colleges have a business analytics program, especially for undergraduates, so I kind of made my own.”
Goodwin said that she plans to continue growing Confidence by GaBBY Goodwin, as well as to utilize her future data analytics skills to move into service-based entrepreneurship by creating apps for businesses and e-commerce platforms to view and understand their data.
“The goal is continuing to stay in entrepreneurship, as well as continuing to share my story and grow a personal brand,” she said. “People watched me grow up literally on social media, so to continue to just have that trajectory go on I think is also another big goal for me. I didn’t start a business to make money or to get fame. I wanted to help other girls. I wanted to inspire other girls, because I was inspired by so many other people. Whether it be Misty Copeland or Zendaya, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re so cool. I want to be like them.’ For people to say that about me is really sweet, and it’s something that I’ve worked towards really this entire time.”
For those looking to start their own business, or just pursue their passion, Goodwin’s advice is to have an unwavering belief in yourself, don’t be afraid of “no,” and to remain authentically you.
“Don’t be afraid of rejection,” Goodwin said. “I think that’s one of the main things that a lot of people are scared of. You hear a lot of no’s in entrepreneurship and business in general, it’s inevitable. There’s a quote that I actually came up with, which is, ‘No is just an abbreviation for next opportunity™.’ Use the rejections as fuel. Believe in yourself and try your best. Everything won’ t be perfect, and everything does not need to be perfect. There will be mistakes. As long as you put your best foot forward and the most effort you have into it, then everything will turn out the way it should.”