When you find what you LOVE....
Love is happiness! Love is Slow jams or Jesus Music (as per my children) on repeat when you walk into 163 Ralph Ave. Love is cracking eggs, measuring butter, flour, baking soda, salt, vanilla beans and chocolate. Love is Sofia and Grace Cookie Company! My love was Early Childhood Administration for most of my life. Then Sofia and Grace came into the world, and I wanted something for them. I credit most of this love journey of Sofia and Grace cookie company to my mother, Shileen Jefferson.
Entrepreneurship hasn’t been easy at all; it’s actually one of the hardest things I’ve done. It’s like a relationship up’s, down’s and why the hell am I still here!!
Sometimes you will miss important events that you will never forgive yourself for not being in attendance. There were 3 events that I’ve missed and still feel bad to this day. I had fallen in love with Sofia and Grace Cookie Co. and that’s what mattered. Love is also balance, understanding and taking it easy on yourself when things don’t go as planned. I had to find myself cause you fall deep into business and sometimes lose sight of what and who really matters. Everyone isn't going to knock on your door and you have to be okay. However, when the knocking comes you also have to be prepared! I am so excited that the doors have been knocked on and we are opening the doors!
I, now see Love differently! I love that I am an entrepreneur, I love that I have made a brand, and I love that I am finding balance. Sofia and Grace Cookie Company has made it past the 5 year mark. I will never forget when we first opened a woman said that no business last in that space. For some reason, I knew it would be different for our business. So much love has walked in, passed through, and walked out of Sofia and Grace Cookie Company. The love that I enjoy is dancing when someone tastes a banana cookie bowl or a gasp after a bite of sweet potato snickerdoodle.
When you find something that you love, work hard on it but never forget what’s happening around you. That was my mistake! I am excited for what’s coming for Sofia and Grace Cookie Company and for the love poured into these past years.
Mostly, I love Sofia and Grace for coming on this journey with mommy and their understanding. Also, for telling me to chill and that they needed mom and not the baker. It's real now that they are seven. I am happy I’ve found what makes me happy and it’s named after my favorite girls.
Lots of Love,
Shalonda
P.S. Thanks to everyone who believed, put me in my place, supported and encouraged us....The Best is Yet to Come! Thanks to my sisterfriends that encouraged this blog...It goes down in the dm! (AM, RD)
THE LACTATION PROJECTS
My recent project and most dear to her heart are our vegan lactation line of cookies. My pregnancy was far from being easy. From getting pregnant to staying pregnant it was just HARD. After giving birth to Sofia and Grace at 34 weeks, I struggled to produce milk due to loss of a loved one and stress of now being a parent of twins. As a mother, I began to feel overwhelmed because nursing was important to me, being that Sofia and Grace were in the NICU. I met a nurse at the hospital who gave me chocolate and oats. To my surprise I started to produce milk; it wasn't a lot, but I produced it. I wish you would have seen the happiness on my face that day. Fast forward, I met a doula named Ebonie and we began to talk about lactation and cookies. With the assistance of other doulas Naratu and Jaenice, I began her vegan lactation line. I wanted to make something that was NATURAL but also tasted good. We experimented with many flavors.
However, 4 flavors made it Apricot and Almonds, Chocolate and Oats, Triple Chocolate and Lemon Ginger Basil. These cookies are vegan using natural ingredients that will help to increase milk supply over time. Our plan is not to stop here, we are working on an alkaline lacation cookie which we plan to launch in 2023. It was important to me to create a product that was not only good, but it worked for expectant mothers.
I've worked with expectant mothers, and they all say the same thing. They taste amazing and it works. I know how it felt not to produce milk and honestly many mothers deal with the same thing. We are so excited about our vegan lactation line, and we hope you try it.
Shalonda | Sofia and Grace’s mom