Archive of ‘Motivation Monday’ category

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.

(more…)

Motivation Monday: Birmingham artist offers African-American themed Christmas wrapping paper

Curly Contessa wrapping paper was created by Birmingham graphic artist Kristin Farmer. It features watercolor images of five women with natural hair. Farmer created the images. (Photo credit: Special)

Curly Contessa wrapping paper was created by Birmingham graphic artist Kristin Farmer. It features watercolor images of five women with natural hair. Farmer created the images. (Photo credit: Special)

By Chanda Temple

Birmingham graphic designer and watercolor artist Kristin Farmer has launched a holiday wrapping paper line that embraces girls with curls.

Known as Curly Contessa, the wrapping paper features five watercolor images of African-American women with natural hair. Farmer, who’s natural, painted the women. She included herself in one of the images.

Farmer rolled out the wrapping paper this month. And already, consumer interest has been rolling in for her.

(more…)

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  …

(more…)

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.

(more…)

Fear is your biggest enemy

 

If you don't know how, learn. It's that simple.

If you don’t know how, learn. It’s that simple.

By Chanda Temple

Years ago, I had this friend unable to parallel park. She would drive around on downtown streets until she found a place that did not require her to parallel park.

Do you know how time consuming that was? She would pass up good parking space after parking space because those spaces were sandwiched between two cars. Crazy, right? Well, not to her. She figured that eventually her luck would turn and she would find the perfect spot.

But who has time to wait on luck? If you want to make things happen, you have to make things happen.

(more…)

Say, ‘buh-bye’ to negativity in 2017

You have goals. But sometimes, life gets in the way and you take your eyes off your goals. That's OK. You are human. But don't get stayed on stuck too long. Snap out of the distraction and keep striving. You have work to do.

You have goals. But sometimes, life gets in the way and you take your eyes off your goals. That’s OK. You are human. But don’t get stayed on stuck too long. Snap out of the distraction and keep striving. You have work to do.

By Chanda Temple 

Every year, you promise yourself you will do better.

You”ll lose weight. You’ll save money. You’ll improve your career.

While making all those promises, you should add another goal to your list: Avoid negative thoughts.

Whenever you feel yourself wanting to complain or think less of yourself, flip the switch and think better of yourself. Negative thoughts tend to weigh you down. They love to feed off misery. You don’t need that, especially in a new year.

Commit to being a better person and leaving all of the negativity behind you. When you feel yourself wanting to complain, think of something good to say. When you feel down, remember a good quote that inspires you. When someone gets on your last nerve or says something that is bound to send you down Negativity Lane, take a deep breath, go for a walk and escape the bad vibes. Such a move may not remove all of what you are feeling, but it will force you reflect on how things can be better.

 

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.

(more…)

Stop waiting for everything to be so dang perfect

 

Hard word takes dedication.

Hard word takes dedication.

 

 

By Chanda Temple

As women, we feel the need to have everything perfect. And if it’s not perfect, we won’t proceed. That even comes down to our blogs. If our websites are not perfect, if our photos are not perfect, if our products are not perfect, yada, yada, yada, we won’t launch it. We’ll keep it close to the vest and wait until it’s perfect before we share it with others.

Well, stop trying to make everything so dang perfect. “Sometimes, good is good enough,” a woman said on a blogging webinar I tuned in to tonight. ‘’The most important thing is to act.”

(more…)

Motivation Monday: Don’t whine for it. Grind for it.

In life, there will be disappointments, some of which will make you feel like crying. But the best way to bounce back is to dry those tears, pick yourself up and figure out a new way to make your flop fly. Don't whine for it. Grind for it.

In life, there will be disappointments, some of which will make you feel like crying. But the best way to bounce back is to dry those tears, pick yourself up and figure out a new way to get to your happy. It will be hard to start again. But know this: You must. When you feel like stopping, remember why you started. It wasn’t to fall flat and hang low with the pigeons. It was to soar and fly high with the eagles. This, you can do.   (Image by Dustin Iskandar via Flickr)

 

 

 

1 2 3 4