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News 12 Staff

329spotlightnj2_2025-03-29-09-27-35

We're talking with the founder and CEO of TJA Distributors, that is Tyler Simpson, who was here in studio. Where did that name come from? So the name is actually a very personal name to me. TJA stands for Tyler, Justin, and Alex. So my name is Tyler. My second oldest brother's name is Justin, and my youngest brother's name is Alex, and everything I do is for them. I really want to prepare a good life for them, help them to make a difference in the world as well. So I, when I created TJ Distributors, I said I need to do something that's gonna. Honor my brothers and hence the name TJA. How active are they in the business? So I'm actually teaching them on how to run a business, uh, what our mission is, and how we can interact with different partners. So they are in the learning phase right now and eventually within the next two years or so I hope that they'll be at the point where I can bring them along as well as co-owners. Tell me more about this mission of yours. So our mission is to make sustainability accessible, uh, as I mentioned before. A lot of people believe that sustainable products comes at a higher price tag, and that has been the truth for many years. But if we can make sustainability accessible, help people to save money, that is really our goal. I don't believe that we should have to empty our pockets in order to save this planet that we live on. So our goal is to help people save money while adopting sustainable practices and products as well. What are these products you're talking about? So we specialize in 3 main industries. We specialize in janitorial services, so that's a lot of your paper. Products your paper towels, your toilet paper, garbage, uh, liners, we also do food service supplies so that's a lot of takeout containers, utensils, plates, compostable items and then we also uh provide protective coverings so that's a lot of your gloves and your mask as well. Where do these products come from? So we work with a number of manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers around the country. We like to support a lot of local businesses so our our main suppliers and supporters are from. Local mom and pop shops that are located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well. How do you find these people? It's all networking honestly networking has been such an amazing way for me to get my name out there, meet new people, and I really like to work with people that have the same goals as I do. So I've been on LinkedIn recently actually, and I've joined a number of groups for people that support sustainability and in there I found a lot of um entrepreneurs and people that would love to support me and manufacture these products as well.

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329spotlightnj3_2025-03-29-12-37-04

Tyler Simpson is the founder and CEO of TJA Distributors. Tell us all about your collaborations and projects. So we have a number of projects coming up soon. Um, April 13th is our first upcoming project, and that is gonna be the Tinicum Park Tree planting initiative, and that's in partnership with Bucks County Park and Recreation, Bartlett Tree Planting, Rutgers Nursery, and Buck's Beautiful. And our goal with that initiative is to replant Tinicum Park. Recently, due to recent storms they lost a number of. Trees and that's affected the environment, the habit the habitats and wildlife, so we want to go and plant 20 trees this year. Our first, uh, program will be on April 13th, and I will plant 10 trees and then later on in the fall we'll plant another 10 trees. You say I will plant. Are you gonna have help? Oh yes, so we're gonna have help. So we have a number of volunteers that are signed up to help us and Bucks County and Buck's Beautiful are also, uh, donating a lot of volunteer time and efforts to help. With this project, where do you find the volunteers or they're provided through the various entities you work with? So a lot of the volunteers are friends, partners, uh, we also invite a lot of the partners that we work with schools to come out and support the event and we also have sign ups where anyone can sign up and volunteer to get volunteer hours if they'd like to help, and Bucks County Bucks Beau Beautiful has been very, very helpful in allowing to have their staff help out with the project and also have volunteers sign up through them as well. How do students react to what you're doing? A lot of them don't believe it honestly, um, and even adults as well a lot of people can't believe what I'm doing but I don't want my age to be a reason why someone looks down at me and thinks I'm doing something that's a joke or doesn't take me serious honestly I, I use it to empower people and tell them that you know even though I'm young you can still do it and a lot of the students that ask me how I'm doing what I'm doing, I tell them it's really not that complicated and you can get started. Too and through that I've had a number of friends that have actually started their entrepreneurial journey um and just practicing with new businesses finding different ways to get involved in the community so it's possible to be done, especially at a young age. Amazing. Do you like hold meetings with kids to share this message? What? Do you bring them into the fold? What? So I have a number of ways I interact with students. Um, the biggest way has been through a Bible study I created at my school. Uh a teacher by the name of Cody Pritchettt has helped me grow that and through there we've talked about God, but we've also talked about how God and how you can relate that to business. Uh, big motivation for me is to never put money or success before God. Honestly, if, if me having money means I turn away from God, I don't want that at all, so I. Just find different ways to interact and you know share this message with different students whether it's through text or phone call, FaceTime, and I also post a lot on social media and that's allowed people to be comfortable to message me and ask me questions so my phone is always open. I give my number out to people and you know if they ever need help to contact me I'm here because at the end of the day my goal is to help people and when I die I just wanna know that I left a mark on this world.

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330spotlightnj4_2025-03-30-08-35-40

This young man is on a mission to save the world. Tyler Simpson is the founder and CEO of TJA Distributors. Tell us all about the services you offer. Yes, so we offer a number of services working with TJA distributors. The first is sustainable procurement, so that means getting you sustainable products at a cheaper price. But beyond that, we believe that a part of our mission is to give back to the environment. So that has helped us to create sustain. plans for each of our partners and this comes complimentary of working with TJ distributors. A sustainable plan can be built differently. It depends on the partner. It's all customized to fit their needs specifically. So a lot of what we do includes sustainable initiatives which we recently did a recycling drive with Mill Ballet School, which is one of our partners, and from there we're able to collect 15 pounds of recyclables. We also do tree planting initiatives as well. We are currently. A tree planting initiative with Tinicum Park in Pipersville, Pennsylvania to plant 2 trees this year from recent storms. So a big part of what we do on top of sustainable procurement is giving back to the environment and helping our partners to get involved with the community as well. Uh, we feel that the the biggest way to promote sustain sustainability and create change in this world is to get everyone involved. It can't just be one person. It has to be a community thing. Do you work with? So we currently have 6 partners. We work with a number of businesses including schools. We work with fitness companies. We also work with ballet schools and dance companies as well. Do you work with them? I heard you mention Pennsylvania and here in Jersey, anywhere else in the tri-state area or? So we only operate right now in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but we are open to expanding into other states as well. How big a staff do you have working? At TJA distributors, so currently TJ Distributors has one employee, which is me, but I do have a number of friends and mentors that have helped me grow, have helped me learn and expand and meet new people that have been so supportive and helpful in this process. We really work with a lot of our partners outside from other companies and contractors that have helped us to grow, understand our market more and find the right products for our partners. How do you find time to balance and juggle school and running a business? The number one is prayer. Honestly, I spend a lot of time in prayer. I'm always looking to pray even more. My faith in Christ has been what's got me to where I am today, and I'm just very thankful that he supported me and giving me the strength to be where I am and a lot of it is time management, making sure that I have a schedule put. Together knowing what I'm gonna do for the next day, I currently work with a mentor program by the name of CDCG Center for Development Change and Growth, and they have helped me tremendously get my life in the right place, um, be on track to be a successful entrepreneur and young man in life as well.

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330spotlightnj5_2025-03-30-09-42-25

Tyler Simpson is the CEO and founder of TJA Distributors. He's on a mission to help save this planet while doing all of that. You are also busy with colleges, basketball scholarships as the young man you are. Thank you. Yes, I do a number of things basketball. I've been playing basketball for 6 years now, and I've had the opportunity to be recruited by a few schools, so I'm in the talks with uh different coaches just trying to. out where's best for me and what I'm gonna do in the future. So you're still working on that what you'd like to major in? Definitely still working. I do know I wanna major something in finance or business. I'm not too sure as of what just yet, but I am working with my parents, my mentors to figure out what would be the best path for me. You also volunteer with EMS. Tell me about that. I do, so I've been volunteer for 6 months now and it's been just an amazing opportunity. And I actually wanted to start because of my own experience. So about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with myocarditis, and what that is, it's inflammation of the heart and fluid that's located around your heart. And while I had that, I also had a stomach ulcer and severe dehydration. So I was in the ICU for about a week and then I was in and out of general admissions for a month and seeing all that the first responders did to, you know, save my life, help me make sure I was comfortable making sure that I was. It was just an amazing experience and I wanted to give back. So two years later to fast forward to now, I am a volunteer EMS provider. I work with the Lamberville rescue squad and we respond to 911 calls about 2000 to 2500 calls per year and it's just been amazing to talk to people, connect with people, pray with a lot of our patients, um, and help them through what they're going through. Your faith is huge to you. It's, it's important. Thing for me, I, my family instilled it in me when I was young, but going through the experiences I have, um, growing up, I just, I've seen God work in my life, and there's no way that I will ever deny Him and I've realized what he's done for me so I just want to thank him publicly for what he's done for me privately and of course that's the message you want to share with other young people as well. Yes, definitely, uh, even at school I've started a Bible study and through that I've helped a lot of kids find their faith in God. And you know having faith in God has been just a motivator but it it doesn't mean everything will be OK, but it does mean that you do have the answer to all your uh all your problems and God is a solution and. You know it's gonna be a rocky, rocky path. Life's gonna get hard that's just a part of you know how it goes, but knowing that you have God on your side and you know the greatest warrior to ever fight then you know that you'll win regardless of what you face and physically, how are you doing? physically I'm good. I'm healthy. I'm in shape now. I play basketball. I do racing as well, so I, I'm ready to go. My health is doing really, really well. Thank you for asking.

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330spotlightnj6_2025-03-30-12-28-23

TJA distributors will be celebrating a special anniversary come May, and that same day, the owner and founder Tyler Simpson is celebrating a birthday. Yes, on May 9th will be the 3 year anniversary of TJ Distributors as well as my 19th birthday, so I'm super excited for that. It's gonna be a great month. Oh, and congratulations to both of you. Thank you so much. Tell me about the cost savings that you have to be really proud of. So a big part of what we. Do at TJ Distributors is not just sustainable procurement but it's also helping our partners reduce costs so we take a personalized approach and how that looks is we create pricing that works specifically for our partners. So for instance if you were to buy paper towels for let's say $90 a case, what we would do is we'd find products that are sustainable and also offer you a price that's cheaper and a price that you're willing to pay for these products. What that does is it allows our partners to find certain price points that works with their budget and allows them to. Save on their operational expenses. So for instance with Sobury School in 2024 they saved over $4000 with all of our partners combined, we saved a combined of over $15,000. So we're always looking for ways to find new cost savings that works for our partners. While being a successful entrepreneur, you also have a passion that's your purpose right here, but you have a passion for racing. What kind? So I currently do karting. I compete in the KA 100 series. has been something instilled in me since I was young, uh, when I was 3 is when I first got into racing. My dad's friend's friend raced an IndyCar, so we traveled to a lot of the races and ever since then just something about speed and being in a car is just, it's just motivated me, kept me peaceful. It brought peace to me so due to financial situations I wasn't able to compete in racing for a few years and recently I've been able to gain support from different sponsors and different people that believe in me to achieve this dream. And you know racing is something I do on the weekends and I I just, it's just been an amazing experience for me. Do you have any big races coming up? I do actually. In 2 weeks I have the first round of the Northeast Karting Challenge, so that would be a 2 day event with qualifying in practice on the first day and qualifying in practice on the second day as well. So I'm, I'm really excited for that event. I'll be competing in the KA 100 series with a number of my friends that I haven't seen in a few months due to the season being off, but I'm really excited to get after it, um, get back behind the wheel and see what I can do.

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Founder and CEO Tyler Simpson joined News 12’s Della Crews to talk more about the company’s mission.

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