The affair on the 12th floor of Studio 450 in New York City had all the makings of a swank Manhattan launch party. Fashionable partygoers dressed to the nines. Bright lights and fancy hors d'oeuvres. Huge windows on three sides of the room overlooking a skyline backlit by a departing sun.

On a table directly across from the purple "red carpet," items were on sale to benefit charity. The hostess, Phoebe Steinfeld, worked the room in her off-white sleeveless dress and chunky heels, mingling and schmoozing with the guests, all there to honor her work. But something seemed slightly odd each time she greeted someone new; a rainbow of colors flashed as she moved her hands, showcasing a different hue on each fingernail.

Once you get to know Phoebe better, it all makes sense. She isn't your typical entrepreneur, and her work isn't just focused on selling a new line of this or that. She's a 16-year-old soon-to-be junior in high school, and her product is non-toxic nail polish, all the proceeds from which go to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The Franklin Lakes native launched her business, Color Me Cured, to honor the go-getter spirit of her father, Ned, who passed away from an aggressive form of prostate cancer just two years ago. To date, she has created seven of the eco-friendly polishes with names like Glimmer of Hope and Orange You Glad. And there doesn't seem to be any stopping her; Color Me Cured's fall polishes come out this month.

"I really wanted to find a way to help others and pay tribute to his legacy," Phoebe says of her father. "I came up with the idea to start up a business. Instead of making a $50 donation, people could buy a few bottles of polish and get something out of it. I wanted to have a bright and cheery organization."

Phoebe plays the bright-and-cheery part well. She has been through much in her short life but she wears a smile on her face like it's her favorite accessory. She also takes quite seriously the job she's doing, working hard to ensure that her nail polishes don't put back into the environment the cancer-causing agents against which she's fighting – those like toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl, phthalate and camphor, for example. "Those obviously we don't want in our products," she says. "We're trying to get the world free of them."

Her mother, Nancy Steinfeld, gushes at her daughter's accomplishment. "It is a huge thing for a 16-year-old," she says. "She has shown just a remarkable sense of maturity and drive to do it."

Nancy provided the necessary funding to get the project off the ground; in just a short time, Color Me Cured has already covered its full costs. For the Steinfeld family, the business is part of a larger effort to honor Ned. Nancy, along with Phoebe's 20-year-old sister, Hallie, is working to start a support group for families of people with cancer, and the family has already formed the Ned J. Steinfeld Foundation. "The individual doesn't have cancer," Nancy says. "The whole family has cancer. It affects everybody."

What got to Phoebe more than the fact that her dad had cancer was that he never lost hope during his battle with the illness. "It was about three and a half years from the time he was diagnosed until he passed away," Nancy says. "In that three and a half years, there was no room in his mind or the minds of anybody around him that there wasn't hope. Phoebe wants to provide that to other people."

"Inspiration, hope & support, one bottle at a time" is Color Me Cured's motto. "One of our main goals is just to promote hope with all of our sales," Phoebe says. "I wanted it to be aninspirational thing for people with cancer, to brighten up their time."

Back at the May 2011 launch party, that message permeated the room, hitting home for those like 16-year-old Sydney Tobfer, who came to support Phoebe. The girls have been friends and neighbors since they were 2 years old. "I never thought it would be this incredible," Sydney says, flashing the Banish the Blues polish on her fingernails. "I feel like  could really make a difference."

If all moves forward according to the Color Me Cured vision – more polishes, expanded product lines, T-shirts, hats – Phoebe will continue to make a difference, meaning loads of cash for cancer research. "Nail polish," she says. "I use it. A million other girls wear it. This is a great way to help. Any  discovery is going to help millions of people. I feel like I'm doing my part." For more information, visit colormecured.org.