[Music]
you
I don’t think I ever knew growing up
just how much my childhood would impact
my career I mean when we become adults
most of us don’t pursue a childhood
passion project as a job it just doesn’t
seem like the sensible thing to do but
I’ve never been quite sensible or
practical I’ve always had a dreamers
heart my imagination was always packed
with whimsy and creativity I believe
that whatever I was going to end up
doing it would probably be insanely
imaginative and also probably difficult
as hell to pull off I mean I originally
had ideas of maybe being a filmmaker or
a dancer when I was a little girl but
then later on those dreams turned to
food and family and that was truly
unexpected for me that story began with
my grandmother whom we call Big Momma
right in her kitchen and my Nonna
Mississippi I learned right at her apron
as a young girl about my life’s purpose
as soon as I would walk into her kitchen
whenever we would visit I would stare
and awe at these creations of towering
three layer coconut cakes and bubbling
fresh peach cobblers sky-high lemon
meringue pies and golden pancakes oh my
gosh I’m just getting hungry just
thinking about it sometimes she would
wait until we arrived or you know we
would all get in the kitchen the women
in my family and we’d roll up our
sleeves and we get in there and you’d
start baking and catching up and
sometimes she would just have everything
ready when I got there I would love
these treasured moments of being in the
kitchen with my big momma
my mom and my auntie and they would let
me dabble in the process a little back
then the kitchen was our place of refuge
it was transformed from anything from a
Sunday church service beauty parlor
where we would press my hair
get ready for church or it would be a
family therapy session where you could
talk about whatever was going on in life
these ladies were never ceased by my
ceaseless curiosity they were never
fazed by it and countless questions
about the midst of their magic making in
the kitchen I love to sift the flour and
watch it delicately bollocks no into all
of the balls and I wanted to pretend
like I was their sous-chef in a lot of
ways and it was something that was so
magical for me I never knew that it
would find a place in my life later on
in that kitchen
I learned to bake my first love cakes
and I also learned the ins and outs of
developing my own recipes the kitchen
means so much to my family and I the
lessons I’ve learned about preserving
family memories and the history for
future generations came from that very
space a passed down recipe has so much
more than we think
so let’s fast forward about 15-20 years
later when I was in my early 20s and at
this time I was trying to build a career
that felt valid you know in my mind at
that time I was going after this career
of being a television and a film
producer because it felt respected
enough but also still creative however
year after exhausting year I felt empty
in that pursuit there were definitely
jobs that I enjoyed and some not were
fine but there were some that I just
absolutely hated y’all I couldn’t wait
to get out of there as soon it was as
soon as it was five o’clock at night I
wasn’t quite ready to jump off the ledge
yet though and really see what my true
purpose was I thought I needed to prove
something with my career choice I
thought I needed some outside validation
about what I should be doing in my life
I kept thinking maybe I should have just
gone to law school
that’s pretty respected and as much as I
loved cooking and BAE
King I felt for a while like it was
maybe selling out or going backwards for
me I mean I was this young hip modern
feminist and I didn’t want to do
something a stereotypical as cooking
baked as a job I mean it was something
that I just couldn’t shake though about
it so it continued to leer me in one day
a friend suggested that I start a blog
and at the time I felt like it was an
effortless way to practice my passion as
a hobby I could be creative with recipe
development writing photography
marketing video and so much more it
turned out my hobby ended up being more
of a calling from the very beginning I
injected all I learned from big Mama’s
kitchen 20 years earlier into the
recipes I shared on my website grand
baby cakes
and as my audience grew I realized how
many people were starved literally and
figuratively for that something special
that drew them to my small world on the
world wide web and this passion ignited
something in me too I mean it felt so
natural but I was also challenging my
original ideas of what would make me
happy and as my following grew
opportunities flowed I mean a book deal
presented itself and then I decided I
was like maybe I should take this leap
of faith and see if I could land could I
really just create recipes tell my
stories and be myself and that be a
business model turns out I could this
road hasn’t been easy by any means I
mean in a space of millions I’m talking
about millions of food blogs and even
more food brands I find myself trying to
stay relevant and connected all of the
time
and as even hard and it’s even harder
not to see myself in the spaces I want
to inhabit where was I as an
african-american woman
on the top food blogs list where was I
on the food network I didn’t see myself
and since I began four years ago my
brand has grown way past just being a
food blog television opportunities and
brand ambassador ships have landed in my
lap that helped me and forced me to push
my experiences into the spotlight and
whether I’m attending a bloggers
conference or brand trips or speaking on
panels or even demoing recipes on your
television sets nationally I am more
often than not one of the only or the
only African American woman in that
space however hard it may be it has made
me hustle even more to open that space
up for more experiences just like mine
in the process of preserving my family’s
cultural traditions and sharing my own
history I am creating a community of
followers from all different backgrounds
that want to now preserve their own
traditions by injecting my heritage into
my company I ended up relating to my
tribe in a very unique way they saw
themselves in me and became loyal
supporters the thing is I don’t have
some secret model for success I mean I’m
only following my heart and remaining
truly authentic to my roots and that’s
all I’m pretty much doing and with these
simple steps they’ve totally helped me
in a way of building what I truly
consider an authentic and rare career I
started my brand with truly knowing who
I was and I think that for anyone
starting a business you need to know who
you are like I said I had troubles with
this in my twenties I mean the idea of
who I wanted to be in my head was not
exactly who I truly was I had to learn
that there was more to what I was doing
beyond the stereotypes I built in my
mind
and not building a business on my own
terms was ironically the most feminist
and non stereotypical thing I could have
done
I’m not woohoo I know it’s pretty cliche
to tell you to be yourself but how many
of us are really doing just that I mean
find out who you truly are and
unapologetically embrace that in a way
that feels real for you I started
building grandbaby cakes by establishing
my brand mission my vision and my
purpose the food blogging and culinary
personality industries are still very
very closed off in many ways when I
first entered the food blogging world it
was difficult to find anyone that looked
like me and who shared similar stories
to mine I had to dig to find support
those that were blogging were not
getting as much recognition or
prominence and it was a very lonely
place but it inspired me to navigate it
even more because there weren’t that
many experiences like mine I knew that
it was crucial that I didn’t give up on
pushing through no matter how hard it
got I really tell people they need to be
emotional and most people separate
business and emotion but I’m telling you
don’t do that don’t be afraid to touch
people on a deeper level by making
yourself relatable and real to them
don’t fall into the trap of being a
robot I mean people will never be able
to connect with that and they surely
won’t remember it either tell your story
I heard this thing and it’s always
resonated with me its facts tell but
stories sell don’t just sell what people
need you know sell them the story of
what they want to believe about
themselves let them into your world be
about relationships not just results I
mean as a business owner it can be so
hard to stop myself from just analyze
numbers all the time and while numbers
are very important to a business’s
success they don’t tell the entire story
each follower a fan of my brand is a new
relationship that I’ve received I love
not just sharing my story with them but
hearing about theirs I engage with them
on social media I talk to them I respond
to them whenever they share photos of my
recipes or grandmother’s will share
recipe photos of baking with their
grandkids it’s the cutest thing and I
love to share that and my newsletters
and share it with my subscribers because
I really believe like I’m connecting
with them on a personal level and I
thank them for sticking around to also
that real life inform your business I
try to experience as much as I can
outside of work I think sometimes we get
really caught up in the hustle and the
grind of everything I mean you start to
feel like if you’re not working 24/7
you’re just not grinding enough you’re
not working hard enough to get towards
your goal but you need family you need
friends you need experiences and pauses
to build a richer business exercise some
self-care not only will you feel better
but you will have more energy to devote
to your business and you’ll foster more
creativity in the process don’t do what
everyone else is doing this is my
favorite one so this is crazy because
everyone is always looking to pioneers
to see what to do and I get that you
know you want to learn from them I
understand but don’t take it’s a copycat
status you know if you’re a carbon copy
of whatever brand exists before you why
should anyone follow you what makes you
new what makes you unique figure out
what is what it is that separates you
from other people and use that to your
advantage the funny thing about
following these principles is how
natural it becomes
I’m basically doing me and keeping it
real in the most authentic way and I’m
living in my purpose and it has become
so natural it’s like walking most
importantly I’m affecting lives and
bringing about the most beautiful
memories and traditions that families
truly deserve now and like I said if you
can give back a piece of yourself who
you truly truly are that’s enough thank
you
[Applause]
you
I don’t think I ever knew growing up
just how much my childhood would impact
my career I mean when we become adults
most of us don’t pursue a childhood
passion project as a job it just doesn’t
seem like the sensible thing to do but
I’ve never been quite sensible or
practical I’ve always had a dreamers
heart my imagination was always packed
with whimsy and creativity I believe
that whatever I was going to end up
doing it would probably be insanely
imaginative and also probably difficult
as hell to pull off I mean I originally
had ideas of maybe being a filmmaker or
a dancer when I was a little girl but
then later on those dreams turned to
food and family and that was truly
unexpected for me that story began with
my grandmother whom we call Big Momma
right in her kitchen and my Nonna
Mississippi I learned right at her apron
as a young girl about my life’s purpose
as soon as I would walk into her kitchen
whenever we would visit I would stare
and awe at these creations of towering
three layer coconut cakes and bubbling
fresh peach cobblers sky-high lemon
meringue pies and golden pancakes oh my
gosh I’m just getting hungry just
thinking about it sometimes she would
wait until we arrived or you know we
would all get in the kitchen the women
in my family and we’d roll up our
sleeves and we get in there and you’d
start baking and catching up and
sometimes she would just have everything
ready when I got there I would love
these treasured moments of being in the
kitchen with my big momma
my mom and my auntie and they would let
me dabble in the process a little back
then the kitchen was our place of refuge
it was transformed from anything from a
Sunday church service beauty parlor
where we would press my hair
get ready for church or it would be a
family therapy session where you could
talk about whatever was going on in life
these ladies were never ceased by my
ceaseless curiosity they were never
fazed by it and countless questions
about the midst of their magic making in
the kitchen I love to sift the flour and
watch it delicately bollocks no into all
of the balls and I wanted to pretend
like I was their sous-chef in a lot of
ways and it was something that was so
magical for me I never knew that it
would find a place in my life later on
in that kitchen
I learned to bake my first love cakes
and I also learned the ins and outs of
developing my own recipes the kitchen
means so much to my family and I the
lessons I’ve learned about preserving
family memories and the history for
future generations came from that very
space a passed down recipe has so much
more than we think
so let’s fast forward about 15-20 years
later when I was in my early 20s and at
this time I was trying to build a career
that felt valid you know in my mind at
that time I was going after this career
of being a television and a film
producer because it felt respected
enough but also still creative however
year after exhausting year I felt empty
in that pursuit there were definitely
jobs that I enjoyed and some not were
fine but there were some that I just
absolutely hated y’all I couldn’t wait
to get out of there as soon it was as
soon as it was five o’clock at night I
wasn’t quite ready to jump off the ledge
yet though and really see what my true
purpose was I thought I needed to prove
something with my career choice I
thought I needed some outside validation
about what I should be doing in my life
I kept thinking maybe I should have just
gone to law school
that’s pretty respected and as much as I
loved cooking and BAE
King I felt for a while like it was
maybe selling out or going backwards for
me I mean I was this young hip modern
feminist and I didn’t want to do
something a stereotypical as cooking
baked as a job I mean it was something
that I just couldn’t shake though about
it so it continued to leer me in one day
a friend suggested that I start a blog
and at the time I felt like it was an
effortless way to practice my passion as
a hobby I could be creative with recipe
development writing photography
marketing video and so much more it
turned out my hobby ended up being more
of a calling from the very beginning I
injected all I learned from big Mama’s
kitchen 20 years earlier into the
recipes I shared on my website grand
baby cakes
and as my audience grew I realized how
many people were starved literally and
figuratively for that something special
that drew them to my small world on the
world wide web and this passion ignited
something in me too I mean it felt so
natural but I was also challenging my
original ideas of what would make me
happy and as my following grew
opportunities flowed I mean a book deal
presented itself and then I decided I
was like maybe I should take this leap
of faith and see if I could land could I
really just create recipes tell my
stories and be myself and that be a
business model turns out I could this
road hasn’t been easy by any means I
mean in a space of millions I’m talking
about millions of food blogs and even
more food brands I find myself trying to
stay relevant and connected all of the
time
and as even hard and it’s even harder
not to see myself in the spaces I want
to inhabit where was I as an
african-american woman
on the top food blogs list where was I
on the food network I didn’t see myself
and since I began four years ago my
brand has grown way past just being a
food blog television opportunities and
brand ambassador ships have landed in my
lap that helped me and forced me to push
my experiences into the spotlight and
whether I’m attending a bloggers
conference or brand trips or speaking on
panels or even demoing recipes on your
television sets nationally I am more
often than not one of the only or the
only African American woman in that
space however hard it may be it has made
me hustle even more to open that space
up for more experiences just like mine
in the process of preserving my family’s
cultural traditions and sharing my own
history I am creating a community of
followers from all different backgrounds
that want to now preserve their own
traditions by injecting my heritage into
my company I ended up relating to my
tribe in a very unique way they saw
themselves in me and became loyal
supporters the thing is I don’t have
some secret model for success I mean I’m
only following my heart and remaining
truly authentic to my roots and that’s
all I’m pretty much doing and with these
simple steps they’ve totally helped me
in a way of building what I truly
consider an authentic and rare career I
started my brand with truly knowing who
I was and I think that for anyone
starting a business you need to know who
you are like I said I had troubles with
this in my twenties I mean the idea of
who I wanted to be in my head was not
exactly who I truly was I had to learn
that there was more to what I was doing
beyond the stereotypes I built in my
mind
and not building a business on my own
terms was ironically the most feminist
and non stereotypical thing I could have
done
I’m not woohoo I know it’s pretty cliche
to tell you to be yourself but how many
of us are really doing just that I mean
find out who you truly are and
unapologetically embrace that in a way
that feels real for you I started
building grandbaby cakes by establishing
my brand mission my vision and my
purpose the food blogging and culinary
personality industries are still very
very closed off in many ways when I
first entered the food blogging world it
was difficult to find anyone that looked
like me and who shared similar stories
to mine I had to dig to find support
those that were blogging were not
getting as much recognition or
prominence and it was a very lonely
place but it inspired me to navigate it
even more because there weren’t that
many experiences like mine I knew that
it was crucial that I didn’t give up on
pushing through no matter how hard it
got I really tell people they need to be
emotional and most people separate
business and emotion but I’m telling you
don’t do that don’t be afraid to touch
people on a deeper level by making
yourself relatable and real to them
don’t fall into the trap of being a
robot I mean people will never be able
to connect with that and they surely
won’t remember it either tell your story
I heard this thing and it’s always
resonated with me its facts tell but
stories sell don’t just sell what people
need you know sell them the story of
what they want to believe about
themselves let them into your world be
about relationships not just results I
mean as a business owner it can be so
hard to stop myself from just analyze
numbers all the time and while numbers
are very important to a business’s
success they don’t tell the entire story
each follower a fan of my brand is a new
relationship that I’ve received I love
not just sharing my story with them but
hearing about theirs I engage with them
on social media I talk to them I respond
to them whenever they share photos of my
recipes or grandmother’s will share
recipe photos of baking with their
grandkids it’s the cutest thing and I
love to share that and my newsletters
and share it with my subscribers because
I really believe like I’m connecting
with them on a personal level and I
thank them for sticking around to also
that real life inform your business I
try to experience as much as I can
outside of work I think sometimes we get
really caught up in the hustle and the
grind of everything I mean you start to
feel like if you’re not working 24/7
you’re just not grinding enough you’re
not working hard enough to get towards
your goal but you need family you need
friends you need experiences and pauses
to build a richer business exercise some
self-care not only will you feel better
but you will have more energy to devote
to your business and you’ll foster more
creativity in the process don’t do what
everyone else is doing this is my
favorite one so this is crazy because
everyone is always looking to pioneers
to see what to do and I get that you
know you want to learn from them I
understand but don’t take it’s a copycat
status you know if you’re a carbon copy
of whatever brand exists before you why
should anyone follow you what makes you
new what makes you unique figure out
what is what it is that separates you
from other people and use that to your
advantage the funny thing about
following these principles is how
natural it becomes
I’m basically doing me and keeping it
real in the most authentic way and I’m
living in my purpose and it has become
so natural it’s like walking most
importantly I’m affecting lives and
bringing about the most beautiful
memories and traditions that families
truly deserve now and like I said if you
can give back a piece of yourself who
you truly truly are that’s enough thank
you
[Applause]
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