For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed being in the kitchen, whether it was alone making a mess in my mom’s kitchen or with my mom or grandma. It wasn’t until after I had my son in 2014 that I really started to take baking a little more seriously. I enjoyed baking but I was so nervous to let strangers taste what I was making, I didn’t feel like I had reached the level of perfection that I has set for myself. So, I only gave them to close friends and family.
It wasn’t until two of my high school classmates that do events tasted my cakes and insisted that I share it with others because it tasted amazing, and they could never find cake that they actually enjoyed. So, I started to branch out a little bit more. As soon as I was getting over my fears and getting comfortable, created a business name and started taking orders on a regular basis, my husband was arrested, his bail was set so high that we couldn’t get him out and to be honest, because of the type of charges he was facing, we didn’t really want him out on bail either. I basically became a single parent of a 4-year-old, with no source of income whatsoever.
I instantly went into survival/mommy mode and started baking and creating all these flavor combinations that were in my head, but I had just never presented them to the public because I didn’t feel like they were perfected yet. I started creating all these crazy flavors and including alcohol although I am not a drinker and can’t even have alcohol. The response was crazy and unexpected but in a good way. I started a job at a restaurant in 2019 working late nights and I ended up making the desserts there too. My coworkers would always rave about the desserts and eat all of them. I would have to remake more for the guests. Unfortunately, I lost that job because I could no longer bring my son to work with me. Again, just when I felt like things were balancing out, loss of income.
From my survival instincts, Humpday care packs, Free Up Fridays, Sweet Slice Saturdays, and many other favorites were born. I became known for alcoholic cake flavors, out of the box flavors and executing themes that others shied away from.
I actually enjoyed it and it helped to take my mind off of what was actually happening in my life because I actually enjoyed baking and seeing people love what I created.
In 2020, in the midst of covid, with my husband still incarcerated and no trial date set, without telling anyone except my really close family, my son and I moved from the United States Virgin Islands to a new state where I have never visited in my life, nor do I have one single family member. I simply researched places that had the things that I was looking for in my life and this state made the cut, I even signed my lease before seeing my apartment (crazy, I know) but it was the best decision because it forced me into a sink or swim position. My only option right now is to succeed because I do not have anyone to fall back on. I simply cannot go over to a cousin’s house and sleep on their couch. I HAVE TO MAKE IT ON MY OWN. Working for myself also gives me a better opportunity to monitor my son and spend time with him to make sure that he is handling all these life changes well.
I registered my business in my new state and the rest is what you see here.
Also, two weeks before I left, I showed my mother one of my recipes once and told her, this is a family business, there is money to be made and we "gon" make it. My mother has been baking on island for the past two years and only a select few of our clients know and they only know because we told them and asked them to do a taste test. The results: no difference detected.
I guess it’s safe to say that my survival mode created a family franchise.
