Lani Lazzari is only 13 years old, but she exudes a confidence usually reserved for entrepreneurs 10 years her senior as she talks about the genesis of her business, Simple Sugars.

She works out of a small room in a back corner of her basement in Fox Chapel. The sign on the door warns her family in handwritten pink letters that something important is going on in there. "Lani says, keep out, work in progress," it reads. And that work has led to her creating a line of all-natural body, face and foot scrubs that are for sale locally and on the Internet.

In December 2005 when she was 11, Lani's mother wanted the family to make homemade Christmas presents. So, Lani created a face scrub from simple ingredients in the kitchen, including sugar, vanilla and almond. Since Lani has sensitive skin, she wanted her scrub to be safe for everyone and vowed to always use natural ingredients.

"Anything that you wouldn't eat, you shouldn't put it on your skin because it gets absorbed into your bloodstream," she said.

Family and friends raved about the scrub, and the word was out. Lani's aunt, Beth Nigro, of Aspinwall, switched to Lani's brand quickly.

"She was buying $75 sugar scrubs and said she actually liked mine better," Lani said with a smile.

The eighth-grader at The Ellis School began to research aromatherapy and discovered what oils were good for the skin. She then experimented with other natural ingredients.

Her customer base grew through word of mouth, and Lani started working with UPMC, which eventually ordered 2,400 peppermint foot scrubs to include in gift bags for the Walk for the Whisper to raise awareness for ovarian cancer.

"At first, I was a little stressed out about it. How I was I going to get it done?" she said.

Lani created a production schedule, ordered ingredients and figured out that she would have to make about 200 jars a day over the summer. It was a great lesson on what could be produced out of her basement workroom with the help of her mother, grandmother and aunt.

"Now we know how many we can do without hiring people or getting automated," she said.

Labeled jars are everywhere downstairs waiting to be filled, the house contains large sealed buckets of essential oils, and bags of sugar line the shelves of Lani's work area.

That's where she has the most fun creating new products, she said. She formulated 14 more scents to complement her first two.

One that didn't work out so well was a blueberry scrub, which never made it past the testing stage. She couldn't get the berries to the right texture, and the product had one other small drawback: "It turned your skin blue," Lani said, laughing.

Balancing school and her business can be difficult, but her mother makes sure the priorities are straight.

"School is first," Gina Lazzari said. "She's 13, and she's got to have a life, but ... if [the business] folds up tomorrow, it's been an incredible, invaluable learning experience that I wouldn't trade for anything."

Lani agrees. Her mom isn't pushing her; she appears to be driven to succeed on her own, even at her young age.

"It's really hard," she said. "I end up staying up very late a lot of nights, but I manage to balance it."

She usually spends about an hour a day on the business on school days and more on weekends and in the summer. Sometimes her friends will ask her to come over after school.

"A lot of times I can't because I've got Simple Sugars work to do," she said.

Her mother quickly chimed in with a laugh: "You've got a pretty active social life, though. You don't miss many parties."

Mrs. Lazarri treasures the fact that this experience has taught her daughter what a dollar is worth.

"She has a very well-developed sense of economics that will serve her well regardless of what she does," Mrs. Lazzari said.

The business also gives mother and daughter time together that's different than the normal confrontations teenagers inevitably have with their parents. Dinner conversations often revolve around the business and the two like to continue the discussion after Lani's brothers Alex, 10, and Rocco, 5, leave the table.

"It give us neutral ground, a chance to relate to each other at a time in her life when a lot of relating doesn't go on," Mrs. Lazarri said.

Because Lani is not 18, Mrs. Lazarri takes care of the business end of things. Eventually, Lani hopes the profits from Simple Sugars will help pay for her schooling.

"I want it to pay for some of my college tuition," she said.

The product line has been expanded to offer four face scrubs and 16 body scrubs along plus the peppermint foot scrub. The company also offers a variety of gift packages that include various accessories with the scrubs.

Mrs. Lazzari is also pleased that Lani wants to spread the word for other young girls, letting them know that they have infinite possibilities in society.

"I think it's very important for girls to see that they can make their own way even if you're not rich, even if you don't come from a family that has a business to pass down for generations," she said. "I'm very proud that she wants to be a steward for other girls. I think it should be an option just like it's an option to get married and have kids."

Lani hopes Simple Sugars will be a company where women will want to work.

"You can be flexible and trust people at your company," she said. "I want them to have fun working for me."

For more information about Simple Sugars, go to www.simplesugarsscrub.com or call 412-576-3091.