My name is Jasmine Ford & I’m the owner of Jazzy Sweeties. I want to tell you a little about myself, I’m the only girl of three children. I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio by a single parent who struggle just to make sure me and my brothers have everything we need. We lived downtown (OTR), most of my childhood. I can say I had a wonderful childhood I always wanted to go to Over The Rhine Rec center and hang out with my brothers. My mother was a strong women, we went through many things in our lifetime but with the grace of God we made it. My mother use to work at this Ice cream place, I use to love going to work with her. It was there where I fell in love with cookies and cream. I always told her that one day I would own my own business. It was my mother’s courage and strength that forced me to want to open my own business. As a child I always had this urge to bake. My first encounter with a oven was when I was ten years old. I loved it so much you could always catch me cooking and baking cakes. Even then as a child I thought I knew what I wanted, but as I got older and things got a little harder, my life change. After putting myself through college, I work a few jobs landing at a job with Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. I worked there for four years and I didn’t like it. I wan’t to do something that would have a positive impact on someone’s day. It wasn’t until one day when I picked up a cake pan again and I felt that passion for baking that I had felt years ago. I knew then that this would be the way that I could bring love to people and create the positive impact and set out to create a business to do just that. Now today at the age of twenty-three, I have a business (Jazzy Sweeties) that I love and others love. I’ve worked very hard over the past two years and now I have a storefront. I will greatly appreciate if you would become a lender for Jazzy Sweeties to help purchase equipment and supplies for the store. It would mean so much to me if I could raise all the money on my own without using a traditional financial Institution. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for contributing to the continued success of my business.
Jazzy Sweeties, my licensed home based bakery has been in business for two years. I currently make a selection of delicious parfaits desserts, several flavors of cakes with cheesecake being one of the most popular, chocolate covered Oreos and my latest addition chocolate chips cookies. I also make special occasion cakes to order. I to started my business because I love sweets, and I don’t like the store bought items because they are not made with love. My goal was to bring my quality desserts and cakes baked with care to people in my neighborhood as well as my friends and family. With this goal in mind I have been able to establish a diverse group of customers in and around my neighborhood causing me to outgrow my kitchen. I now have a store front ready for me to move into and make Jazzy Sweeties, the go to bakery in the neighborhood of Walnut Hills, for people to trust with all of their dessert and specialty cake needs. My biggest challenges that I have face is fear. I was very nervous when I came to my family about what I wanted to do. The fear of how I’m I going to get the money and will I have the support. So many questions ran through my head. My family and friends were very supportive. I gained confidence and the business skills through the Entrepreneurship Course at MORTAR a local business incubator program. I graduated the program in October of 2015 and am poised to use this momentum to continue on my path of success. I am all about giving back so I also plan to start a scholarship for young bakers that are having a hard time paying for college. I had a hard time paying for the things I needed while I was in college. So I will do my best to help others out. I’m most proud that I never gave up when things got harder. I receive messages all the time from customers that they love my work and I inspire them to start something of their own. That is the best feeling in the world to know that I made someone feel special. My loan will go toward paying for a commercial oven, refrigerator, refrigerated display case and commercial prep countertop and sinks. This will allow me to grow my production amount and provide the funds to hire my first part-time employee within the first year in my new place.
This loan will help me grow my business and raise the capital I need to purchase a commercial oven, refrigerated display case, commercial mixer, storage, retail supplies, fire equipment, three compartment sink, hand sink, utility sink. All of the supplies will help me increase my output of products. This loan will change my life it will help me receive all the supplies I need and show my family and friends that anything is possible.