Today we’d like to introduce you to Rashika Craft.
Rashika, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a 27-year-old Cake Artist, born & raised in the beautiful city of Houston, TX. Baking began for me as a little girl, I would bake & decorate cookies & then host family baking competitions to see who was the best baker. Eventually, my cookies turned into cakes.
Then I began selling cakes in college, but it wasn’t until after receiving my Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology from Grambling State University that I began to flourish with my business; Sweetie Sweets. Although my business is thriving, it was not always smooth sailing. After college, I was eager to jump into my field of work, but I needed more experience or perhaps another degree even.
So I worked a few jobs while selling my cakes on the side. I was very unhappy with life at this point, it seemed as if all of my friends were excelling in their career & furthering their education and I felt like I was unsuccessful. I’ve always known that God didn’t create me to sit behind a desk or work a 9-5. So, After some serious soul searching, I decided I wanted to start my cake business.
I created my own website, obtained a DBA and opened a business account, I was ready to take over the world, or so I thought. I began working for Uber full time to take Of life’s necessities, and when I wasn’t ubering, I would bake cakes. In the midst of all of this, I got engaged, & decided to move in with my parents to save money to buy a house and pay for our wedding.
While staying there, I wasn’t allowed to bake because my dad felt I was making too much of a mess. I was faced with the option of do I close up shop temporarily or do I find another way. I had cousins who lived about 33mins away from my parents who stayed in the north shore. So I would drive to Crosby every couple of days just so I could bake my cakes.
It would take me at least an hour to buy all the ingredients and load my mixer and everything I needed to bake in my car. I feel like this was the roughest part of my business journey. I wanted to quit every day, but I refused to give up on my dreams. My parents and I would get into it often about me not working a real job and using my degree. They felt I wasn’t successful because I went to college for a Bachelors in biology and all I was doing was playing with cakes every day. It was extremely hard living in such a negative environment.
One day my dad told me either I go or the baking goes & my now-husband bought me a house with an amazing kitchen so I could focus on my business. I did not get to completely focus on Sweetie Sweets right away due to our wedding that was coming up, but I did flourish tremendously with my business thanks to him. This year I was able to increase my revenue by five times the amount of last years revenue. And in August I made a conscious decision to be a full-time entrepreneur and focus solely on Sweetie Sweets.
Since then I’ve leveled up tremendously, and I’ve even had the opportunity to create cakes for local celebrities such as Stayve Thomas also known as Slim Thug and The Carolina Panthers WR DeAndrew White. I have worked so hard for Sweetie Sweets, I started this business with one cake pan, a spatula and huge dreams and I will continue to work hard until I turn those dream into reality!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, it has not been a smooth road at all. A lot of my struggles have come from not having the right tools. Cake tools can cost you tons of money, and of course, as an entrepreneur with no one to invest in your business, you may not have the funds to get everything you may need right away. So I was limited on what cakes I was capable of creating. Another struggle of mines was time management. When I didn’t know any better I would try to bake and decorate cakes all in one day & a lot of the times it would be a huge disaster or my cakes would look rushed because I was not managing my time properly.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Sweetie Sweets is a Cake Boutique that specializes in custom cakes using the finest ingredients. Sinfully delicious and delectably stunning, Sweetie Sweets pairs unlikely ingredients, crafting cakes that are anything but remarkable. Sweetie Sweets is well known for its famous Hennessy Cupcakes cakes baked with real Hennessy inside every cupcake & topped with our delicious buttercream icing, drizzled in chocolate & Carmel and topped with nuts and a shot of Hennessy on top. As a company, I am most proud of our customers. They have been so supportive & loyal, and there’s no way we could do this without them. What sets us apart from others is our creative recipes, creative designs & the unforgettable experience we give when you shop with Sweetie Sweets.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was very creative. I loved to make things. Every holiday or birthday I would always want to make someone something, not because I was cheap but because I felt it only meant something if I made it from my heart. Growing up I was also a hustler. I started selling candy and keychains in the 5th grade. By the time I got to high school, I would come to school with three duffle bags filled with sodas, candy, chips honey buns, you name it. Little did I know I would be using those same skills to thrive in my business today.
Contact Info:
- Website: SweetieSweets.net
- Phone: 8326232236
- Email: sweetiesweetspastries@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sweetiesweets_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetieSweetsCakeBoutique/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shikasweetie
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/sweetie-sweets-houston
Image Credit:
Rasco Green
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