Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Jackson.
Candace, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am 29 years old. I am a full-time student at Texas Southern University, studying Business Management and Administration. I will be graduating in December of 2019 with my Bachelor’s degree. I am a very outgoing young lady that has a gift for cooking and serving people. I have always wanted to own my own business but I didn’t know what I really wanted to do.
I obtained my associate’s degree in 2014 in arts and science and I also received my cosmetology license seeing that I was into the hair doing hair but my heart and desire wasn’t into the business which let me know that it really wasn’t something that I wanted to do. I wanted a business that allowed me to serve people with love and excellence and although I did that when I did hair, it wasn’t something that was designed for me to make a business out of. With much prayer and direction, God placed PescaCiao on my heart and right into my path.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The only struggles that I have dealt with is the fact that I am a full-time student, and I work a full-time job at Chick Fila and sometimes I would get tired, and not want to serve my customers, but that hasn’t stopped me at all. My business has been extremely therapeutic for me, honestly. With the help of God, my resources from school, my customers, and my mentors, I have been able to overcome my obstacles and run my business.
PescaCiao – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I love to cook. I have always had a passion for cooking since I was a young girl. Being able to watch my grandmother and aunts in the kitchen was always an inspirational moment for me. Cooking also became quite therapeutic for me. When I originally started to pursue cooking, I started out by doing minor meal preps in 2015. I had a few clients that were interested but it was never to the point that I thought to make a business out of it. I took a break for a little bit and focused on how I could make something that was a true passion for me into a business. In the Summer of 2017, I became a Pescatarian (only eating seafood when I would eat meat) and I found it quite difficult to find good dishes that catered to Pescatarians. I didn’t want any strict Vegan dishes and I didn’t want anything with meat so I began to have the idea to cook and serve my own Pescatarian dishes.
My family has a Cajun background so I decided to implement some type of Cajun twist to my dishes. In January of 2018, I decided to branch out and serve lunch and dinner to customers just to put my business to a test to see how things would go even though I was scared to branch out. My first day of serving was January 10, 2018, was a true success, it’s a day that I will never forget and the rest has been history ever since. PesaCiao now caters lunch and dinner to customers that can’t really get out for lunch or they don’t have time to or don’t feel like cooking in the evening, I provide a menu and create dishes to my customer’s satisfaction. Yes, there are plenty of people who cook and cater like I do, but there aren’t many out there that cater specifically to those of us that don’t indulge in meat eating.
You may be wondering how the name PescaCiao came about. I get a lot of questions on how you pronounce the name of my business. The name PescaCiao is pronounced (Peska-Chow) and it came about from the words “Pesca”tarian and Ciao was more of a fancy way of saying “let’s eat.”
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment of my career so far has been overcoming my fear to own my own business. When I first had the idea to start PescaCiao, I was extremely scared because I know a lot of people that cook, and cater food on a regular basis, and I feared that people would think that I was trying to take their idea, and run with it. I also had thoughts of what if they don’t like my food, what if people think that I am trying to be like them with cooking and catering, what if my clientele doesn’t increase and nobody buys my food? All of that ran through my head when starting my business. I saw a quote that said, “When you feel discouraged about your business idea because there are so many people around you doing the same thing, go to the grocery store and look down the bread aisle. Same idea 15+ different companies selling the same thing, we can all eat, don’t doubt your ability. It was at that moment that I decided to overcome my fear and start my business. I thank God that I did because it showed me that I am an overcomer and that I can do anything that I put my mind to.
Contact Info:
- Website: pescaciao.com
- Phone: 832-626-4722
- Email: pescaciao@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/pescaciao
- Facebook: facebook.com/pescaciao
- Yelp: yelp.com/pescaciao
Image Credit:
hereyesthroughherlens, Farrari Guillory
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