Archive of ‘Inspiration’ category

A Recipe for Resilience: The Love Story Behind Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies

By Chanda Temple

In July 2023, Justin Jones received the call no one really wants to get: Your job has ended.

Saddened over losing his good-paying job in the steel industry, Justin nervously broke the news to his wife. But Charity Jones saw the loss as more of a gain.

“I said, ‘Well, congratulations! You always wanted to work for yourself, and this is your opportunity,’ ” Charity recalled.

Stunned by Charity’s response at first, Justin knew she had a point. So, he followed his heart and started making the sweet potato pies that so many of their relatives had already come to love. Meanwhile, Charity started scheduling Justin to sell pies at as many farmers markets and events as possible. By August 2023, Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies was selling out every weekend.

Sweet Daddy's Sweet Potato Pies is offering a holiday bake sale Dec. 19 - 22, 2024. Orders can be picked up on Dec. 23, 2024 at noon at Red Cat Coffee House. See details at the end of this story for ordering. (By Chanda Temple)
Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies is offering a holiday bake sale Dec. 19 – 22, 2024. Orders can be picked up on Dec. 23, 2024 at noon at Red Cat Coffee House. See details at the end of this story for ordering. (By Chanda Temple)

“Immediately, I felt in my soul that that was the best thing for my husband,” Charity said of Justin making pies full time. “I believed in him. I believed in our product.”

The two are co-owners of Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies, which are made in a commissary kitchen in Hoover, AL and sold across metro-Birmingham. Their menu includes sweet potato pie, apple pie, peach cobbler, pecan pie and a gluten-free sweet potato pie.

They also sell mini pies, which is their top seller. They recently delivered 400 mini pies to an organization looking to distribute them for the holidays.

Charity and Justin Jones started Sweet Daddy's Sweet Potato Pies in fall 2023. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
Charity and Justin Jones started Sweet Daddy’s Sweet Potato Pies in fall 2023. They call him, “Sweet Daddy” and call her, “Sweet Mama.” (Photo by Chanda Temple)

“Just to see this grow, it lets me know that my belief in what we are doing is right. I can only imagine next year,” Charity said.

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Meet Aniyah Brown and how she makes every bite bright, bold and balanced

By Chanda Temple

People’s postures shifted and their eyes widened every time a dish by Aniyah Brown hit the table. 

Perhaps it was the plump shrimp bathed in warm tones of coconut curry sauce. Or maybe it was the roasted chickpeas nestled against butternut squash and peppers in a satisfying sauce. Then again, it could have been the twice-fried chicken, accented with chopped mango and green sprigs.

(Photo source: REV Birmingham)

Each entree was bright and bold, making you feel as though you’d found gold at the end of the rainbow.

But in reality, it was Aniyah’s vision of what a supper club dinner should be: a treasure you didn’t know you needed but one you were lucky you found.

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From Pain to Pastry: How Kenya Pickens Baked Her Way to a Better Life

By Chanda Temple

Kenya Pickens graduated from culinary school in 2007 with dreams of dishing out delicious dinners.

But after working at a country club for only a few months, she lost her job. Devastated, she thumbed through the Yellow Pages, calling businesses and asking, “Are you hiring?”

More than a week later, those calls led to two job offers: being a server at a steakhouse and working at a bakery. She took both. Although Kenya had not studied baking, she settled in to learn a new skill.

Eventually, she became so good at baking, that she stepped out on faith and left the bakery in 2008 to sell her own desserts. She made five cakes a week and sold slices at barber shops, beauty shops and a discount meat market. In 2015, she started selling at Birmingham-area farmers markets while she still worked full-time jobs in various industries. Her days were long and her weekends were longer. But she knew that one day, her dedication would pay off.

Kenya Pickens opened Velvet Kake bakery in 2021 in Clay, AL, selling cakes, cookies and more. She’s grown her following to include fans of traditional and vegan desserts. (Photo Source: Kenya Pickens)

On Dec. 1, 2021, she moved into her own storefront, Velvet Kake, in Clay, Ala. and became a full-time baker. (She got the name because she sells so many red velvet cakes. Her mother, Evelyn Sherard, works in the bakery with her.)

Today, Kenya sells about 30 cakes a week.

“I should have given up a long time ago, but I kept going because I had something to prove,” said Kenya, 38.

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Emily Hall: How One Woman Turned a Breakup into a Cookie Sensation

By Chanda Temple

There’s something about biting into a chocolate chip cookie that just soothes the soul.

It’s ooey. It’s gooey. And just oh, so good.

And if you are Emily Hall, a chocolate chip cookie is not only comfort food but also a recipe for new beginnings.

The Breakup Cookie is made with three types of chocolate, which gives it its decadent flavor. (Photo courtesy of The Breakup Cookie company.)

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Made for This: Dre Foster makes good on cooking up Birmingham restaurant for dad

Dre Foster and her father, Andre Craig, had always talked about owning a restaurant. But he died in 2016 before they could make the dream a reality. Today, Dre is pushing to make their dream a reality as she works to open The Preservery Birmingham restaurant in the city's Five Points South area. (Photos: Special)

Dre Foster and her father, Andre Craig, had always talked about owning a restaurant. But he died in 2016 before they could realize their dream. Today, Dre is pushing toward their goal as she works to open The Preservery Birmingham restaurant in the city’s Five Points South area. Pictured is Dre’s sweet potato cheesecake with toffee bits, maple bourbon syrup and maple mascarpone. On the right is her five spice duck with braised baby bok choy, a corn fritter cake and pickled watermelon radish. (Photos: Special)

Starting today, “Made for This” is my new series that highlights people answering the call to do what they were born  to do. To be considered for a profile, please email me at chandatemple@gmail.com with details on why you were “made” for what you are doing today. 

By Chanda Temple

Dre Foster and her dad often talked about running a restaurant. He loved to cook and so did she. So, in Dre’s mind, they’d be perfect partners after she retired one day.

But the dream of father and daughter running a business never happened. In 2015, Dre’s father, Andre Craig, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He passed the day after Thanksgiving 2016. He was 57.

Dre was devastated and left with a new look on life: Life is short and she could no longer ignore what had been eating at her all these years. She was made to run a restaurant.

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Your gifts will make room for you

By Chanda Temple 

Have you ever received news so good that it eft you weak in the knees? That happened to me today after receiving a text from a friend.

Her text: “I just saw this. Very cool to see you guys on this list.” She was referring to Birmingham News photojournalist Tamika Moore and me making the “50 Black Southern Belles in Lifestyle: African American Tastemakers of the South.”  After reading  her message, I was like, “Wait! What! Really?”

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Motivation Monday: Don’t be better. Be the best.

Martell and Melody S. Holt of Holt and Holt Entrepreneurship (Photo by: Chanda Temple)

Martell and Melody S. Holt of Holt and Holt Entrepreneurship in Huntsville, Ala.  (Photo by: Chanda Temple)

 

 

By Chanda Temple 

How good are you at what you do? Are you so good that if a consumer approached one of your competitors, the competition would send them your way because they knew you were the best?

It may seem like a far-fetched concept but there’s nothing wrong in wanting this for your business. It only helps you grow, according to Melody S. Holt of Holt and Holt Entrepreneurship, which she runs with her husband, Martell, in Huntsville, Ala.

Such advice is what she shared this weekend as one of the speakers at the Sixth Annual Hair and Health Expo in Birmingham. She opened up her speech with “Are you hungry for success?” Turns out people were. Here are six nuggets she served piping hot  …

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Motivation Monday: How burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces made my birthday

Burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces are a good combo for a birthday.

Burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces are a good combo for a birthday.

By Chanda Temple

For the last few years, I’ve treated my birthday like any other day.

No fanfare. No cake. No song and dance.

While friends offered to take me out, I dismissed the invites, saying, “Thank you. You are so sweet, but I’m working on my birthday.” It wasn’t that I dreaded getting older, it was just that I looked at my birthday as another day. No biggie.

This year, I took a different approach. I saw my birthday as the big deal it was. I welcomed it with open arms. That move has been the best decision I’ve made so far in 2017.

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Winning is what happens when you have hope and faith

Ramsay High School Coach Reuben Nelson (Photo: Via Facebook)

Ramsay High School Coach Rueben Nelson Jr.  (Photo: Via Facebook)

By Chanda Temple 

After a 36-year absence, varsity football returned to Birmingham’s Ramsay High School in 2012.

But the stats looked bleak. Ramsay won only one game that year. One.

Coach Rueben Nelson Jr. never let the losses discourage him, though. He knew greater things were coming.

“It was rough, but we kept going,” Nelson said. “I would always tell them (the team) to keep working, keep working, keep working.”

And work, they did.

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