S2 E4- A Conversation with Carla Briggs, Founder and CEO of Viola’s Heritage
In this episode, Daniella sits down with Chef Carla Briggs, Founder and CEO of Viola's Heritage, a business celebrating the contributions of people of color in the culinary world with high-quality bread. Carla shares her entrepreneurial journey from leaving the baking industry due to carpal tunnel syndrome to starting a bread business during the pandemic. She discusses growing her business from a side hustle to a full-fledged bakery by filling a market gap for healthy, locally-made bread and integrating New Orleans’s vibrant cultural heritage into her products. Carla also highlights the challenges of scaling a business as a woman of color, including financial constraints and managing growth, and shares her experience overcoming imposter syndrome. The conversation underscores the importance of creativity, taking risks in entrepreneurship, and sharing the untold stories of people of color in the food industry.
Where to connect with Carla on the internet:
Website | Instagram | LinkedIn
EPISODE KEY MOMENTS
The story of how Viola's came into existence
The culinary contributions of people of color
Showcasing cultural heritage in food innovation
Scaling challenges as a woman of color
Overcoming impostor syndrome and financial barriers
Balancing long-term vision with present needs
Episode Transcript:
Daniella Allam: Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the podcast. I am super excited for our guest today. Her name is Chef Carla Briggs. Welcome, Carla, to the show.
Carla: Thank you for having me. Great to be here. Yeah, so
Daniella Allam: I'm super excited to have Carla on the show because we met during the Propeller Impact Accelerator Program in New Orleans. And she has an incredible brand and incredible story, so I can't wait to share it with y'all. So, born and raised in New Orleans, Chef Carla grew up witnessing women in her family cooking and baking in well-revered kitchens and bakeries with little to no recognition. After baking professionally for over 20 years. Carla created Viola's Heritage with the goal of Cree of creating a perpetual international business. Violets Heritage provides high-quality and flavorful bread and is rooted in honoring the contributions of People of Color in the culinary world, with the original goal of sharing a better-for-you bread for PB and J sandwiches. Viola's Heritage offerings now include sandwich loves Louisiana seafood, boil rolls, sweet potatoes Rosemary rolls, sweet potato and seasonal granola cookies and more sourcing Louisiana sweet potatoes, red potatoes and local and organic ingredients when possible. Viola's menu and offerings is crafted to create flavor using fresh, high quality and wholesome ingredients. Yum, now I'm hungry. Now I need some of those sweet potato rolls. It's such a pleasure, again to have you on the show Carla and I wanted to kick it off with a little bit about your background and entrepreneurial story. So you were baking professionally for over 20 years. What was that moment when you decided I want to bring some of my offerings to the market.
Carla: Um, I wish it was this direct moment to me like I just want to have my own business. Um, it actually came out of hardship. I have been baking right out of college so went to school to become a pastry chef went to school at Johnson and Wales one of the leading schools for hospitality and food service. And so got a four year pastry degree and was like I'm on my way got my dream job, um, two year or a few months out of college, working Emeril's here in New Orleans. And then was there and was just hoping someone go up the ladder, but then developed carpal tunnel, and are really not even immediately but it was I had already had symptoms of it but didn't realize that I was suffering with carpal tunnel until my hands one day on chip while baking bread at Amorosa was a bread Baker and baked bread to serve every night. And my hands locked up and had to make a hard decision. So either stay baking so went to a hand Doctor, hand surgeron, and it was like you can have this carpal tunnel surgery, but the reality is, you're gonna still have this issue if you continue to do the work that you're doing. And so I actually left the industry because it was like, either continue to do this leave. And so kind of love I was this was post Katrina in New Orleans. So it's pretty hard to kind of transition and get a job doing the same thing in food, you know, outside of baking so I went into education, and then still incorporate food and everything I did, um, but just for years, just kind of just doing side food things not bread in particular. But we got to the pandemic that you know, in a pandemic, or before the pandemic, I was with my first business partner, and we were just sitting around it was like, she actually is just like, You got to make bread like we're just talking about some other things and I was like yeah, I used to bake bread all the time and I was like you make bread because we were actually just trying to find out better peanut butter and jelly sandwich like it's a very simple story was like there's nothing on the market that tastes good to be healthy, that had simple ingredients. So it was either you're getting a very local Bunny Bread, Flower's Bread, you know, just very basic, or something very nontasty and super healthy. That did not taste good with a basic peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And it's like I can bake bread. So I baked bread for a Mari Gras party. And we had bread for that breakfast was waiting for the parade. So roll and that was the first loaf for Viola. And history was there. And then we shut down for a pandemic. We just weren't, you know, I just made the bread. That was cool. You want to think about different ways to kind of enter the industry because no one else was really baking bread as African American, you didn't see too many, or any bread on the shelf that was made by People of Color. And so it was like, Okay, well, what this might be a cool opportunity. And then pandemic shutdown looked on the shelves, there was no bread. But we had a network of friends. I was like, I need bread. And so that was kind of the story of opportunity from just trying and doing something I hadn't done years before. And then kind of taking pain and transform that and so like, Okay, well, I couldn't do it, you know, the original way I wanted to through the industry. These are still skills I picked up and was able to kind of use in the change of time, you know,
Daniella Allam: yeah, that's so interesting. So I feel like it's a common story that we hear, right? It's like, sometimes these businesses come out of a necessity. But also seeing like a need and gap in the marketplace, right that you're like I have identified this and stories are out of bread. And maybe this is the chance to bring this this product to market. So tell me about those those early days once you decided to do that. What What were some of the initial kind of breads you put out there? And how did you kind of evolve your product offerings over time?
Carla: Yeah, definitely, the first loaf was actually real slow. So it did not start with sweet potato rosemary, um, and brioche is, I think one of my dreams coming out of culinary school was like, I'm gonna be a French pastry chef and do all these things. And if you're familiar with French pastries, they take a little more intensity. So like, and a whole lot of extra butter. Um, but love the techniques and the skills and was like, This is great, um, the brioche making it on small batch is a little more expensive and not as accessible to get into as everybody so people loved it. But it was just very, very much more expensive to produce. And then not truly local, right? Like it, it was a good product, and we sold a good bit of them. And people enjoyed it, but it just wasn't the best product fit. But then the other side, it was like just exploring different brands, different ingredients that were local, and I'm addicted to a sweet potato, a Louisiana sweet potato, very partial to Louisiana. I had at Emeril's, I actually baked potato bread and one of the staples that I kind of loved and knew it was like a very versatile bread and just thought, well what if I replaced it with a sweet potato instead of just a Yukon or white potato? What would you know what would the difference so just kind of exploring that exploring herbs. And just really just being creative and kind of play with what I know, the joy of going to culinary school is learning the basis of why things do and how agreements work together. And then kind of taking that and adding what I love and the flavors that I love from where I am and just kind of recreating something that kind of just display what I am. So there's some research and was like okay, well let me just make, you know, sweet potato Rosemary seemed like a good thing. And it was like legit the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I wish there was like very much depth. So like this is a while it was like legit. I just want better peanut butter and jelly.
Daniella Allam: But hey, you know, necessity breeds innovation. And I think really this story is really great because not only did you like innovate to make a better product, but also utilizing some of the local ingredients that you know and love and really using your creativity to elevate which is what all the best entrepreneurs do. And I think you know, let's talk a little bit about this local environment. Right so you're from New Orleans, your family Louisiana using Louisiana sweet potatoes. So what is the importance of the New Orleans heritage for your brand and for the business that you've built?
Carla; Um, I think New Orleans is the culinary mecca of so many things, right? I think we have such an America in general, but definitely, New Orleans has this hub of so many different cultures that have contributed to the making of the flavors, which are very rooted in African and Spanish and French and all of these different, you know, make the gumbo, right? Like, this is where flavor and stuff comes from. And you can see it in so many aspects around the world, how our flavors and our techniques and uniqueness kind of spread, right? And that is a rich culture, right. But also going to culinary school where my culture isn't taught. And in the classroom and having to kind of leave that at the door was a big part of my education of like, and I tell this story in other places was just like, my grandmother taught me how to cook right in her. And there's they're learning of cooking and technique is not very technical, but like best flavors, best techniques that learn how to like, budget very extremely well with what they had secured a great flavor and contribute to their family, where I go professionally that isn't taught or that isn't respected that this skill is respect. So this heritage of like really taking what is truly my authentic identity of like identity, this is what I know this is what I love, this is who I am, is important to incorporate in the food that I create, but also taking very technical efficient skills of production into what I do, right, so how do I marry both and get to show up authentically in that space? And then seeing the gap right, so I think you learn that by New Orleans as people say those are or Louisiana rose sweet potatoes and just as this is where you are so you have an abundance of this very rich and understanding local ingredients and how better they are for your systems and better it is for the economy like I worked at a farmers market breakfast sweet potatoes from the person next to me put it in my product I just had to create this life cycle of the dollar within a community that I love and live it's also important to the heritage like continuing to support a community and we started during the pandemic where that's what we had access to right right so like I couldn't go off somewhere crazy anyway because this is all I had access to so it was how to maximize what was available right taking and realizing what I have is enough to do what I needed to do. That's kind of the like heart of heritage for me is authentically this is who I am this is my city this is what I've learned this is what I live through this is my family and community has poured into me that is so important to me to display that in what I'm producing and give back
Daniella Allam: I love that and I feel like that's so it's so needed and it's so disruptive right like you said you know the culinary world tends to be so Western European it tends to glorify the French technique or this though those kinds of flavors those types of ingredients in in you know like that big culinary culture but but really the depth of culture and flavor that exists right within within your community within New Orleans within that melting pot deserves also right to be centered it deserves perhaps even more right in my opinion a lot more flavorful. A lot of European food no shade to European food but no it's a little bland but you know but I think it's it's this is what we need. We need more entrepreneurs like you that are feeling that desire to bring their heritage their know how their ancestral wisdom to others right and to share that with others. Instead of just going for these like kind of cookie-cutter ways, interacting with our food That doesn't have that connection to culture and heritage.
Carla: Yeah, it definitely, I think it connects the culture. But there also was this as I kind of dive into this business and saw on the industry level, right? Like, there's a big difference in who was on the shelf, right. So basically, there's a lot of companies, when you think about bread and production to be on the shelf, couple of people basically own what's on your shelf, right? Like, there's not that you might think you have a diverse, bright company, you know, our diverse options, but basically, it's owned by the same people. But when we think about like innovation and the science behind bread baking, so one other side of this is like, why even got into baking from choosing it as a career was like the science behind it, like, I love food science and the depths of like, understanding. So understanding how things react to each other, and that type of thing. Um, and I wasn't taught, like, I took a full science course on school, and but there was never this access to the reality that innovation by Black and Brown people existed in this industry on the industrial level, right, so and just my research of like, understanding the contributions. So when I think about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or sweet potato agriculture, and George Washington Carver's science and work around developing the production of an agriculture and for sweet potatoes and sugar, and all of these other ingredients, or the way sugar cane is produced. And Robert, gosh, I'm blanking on his name, but like he was a part of the sugar processing of how we get granulated sugar but was considered a slave in this country, right, but actually, was able to kind of change the way we produce sugar. And that's how we can get this ingredient into this bread. But we kind of don't think about that, or I did research on, like, I'm from New Orleans, I never knew there was a Black-owned bread company, during reconstruction that actually, they started this for economic freedom, this bread, but people's bakery in order to change, right? So there's like, the cultural part that says, flavorful, we contribute to this industry, but also innovation and advancement. And understanding the economics of it also is a contributing factor to this industry that we don't get to learn a story of right. And so it's different to be like, I'm going and navigating an industry that I only learn about white chefs and what they do and how they show up. So also know, like, no, there's people who existed. And there's proof about it, that actually created a bakery, to change the economic future of people based on a product. You know, bread is a daily consumption product, right? People are eating bread daily. And they look like me. And they created this to change it now. A whole world of difference happened and why it doesn't exist to this day. But there's this reality that we have meaningful contributions to this world, this world of food, this world of industry, as well of economics, that we don't get to hear those stories.
Daniella Allam: Right, that history sometimes doesn't get doesn't get the due credit, but the innovation was certainly there. Right there. We're innovating. Yeah, like we're all benefiting from the innovation of Black and Brown people the world over. But yeah, it's often times not recognized, not shown. And not to certainly not given its due credit. And I think this is why, you know, I think it's so important to elevate these stories of all kinds of entrepreneurs breaking these molds, even in situations right, like, like being enslaved, but still being somebody who is incredibly entrepreneurial and innovative. Right, that doesn't, that doesn't define somebody completely. That's not who they are. They are people, you know, there were people who were actually doing things even in the worst of conditions, thinking about ways to to advance themselves, advance their communities, advanced technologies, ways of thinking. And I think this very kind of white Western way of looking at food culture and food innovation is sort of starting to crumble, right? Because more and more of these stories are coming out more and more, we're starting to see across the world how much of People of Colors’ contributions have actually been hidden from the rest of us. And And yeah, that understanding of like, do you do people really understand the story of like a sweet potato, or the story of sugar production, the story of how do we get here? How did that thing that's on your plate today, get there? And what is the history? And who were the hands and the people that had to struggle and work hard to make that happen? And yeah, this is part of the intention here right with this podcast to is to celebrate all of these contributions as well. Um, what about like Viola? So I wanted to ask about Viola and who is Viola, and how did she inspire the brand? Yeah, so she is an industry Auntie. I'm so not someone, particularly family, but someone who I have watched their work in the industry and is not recognized at all. Right? So yeah, to our point, yeah.
Carla: Yeah. Like not recognize it all. But there's money to be made off of her contribution. And it's still being made off the her contribution to the industry. And it's one of those like, as, you know, talking about naming the company and thinking about, you know, it's also just a really good Auntie name, also my Viola Davis to just like, adopt us one day.
Daniella Allam: Viola Davis, if you're on!
Carla: That's another, you know, be cool with that, too. But I just think it just knowing her story, and realizing it's a very similar story to the Jack Daniel's story with Uncle Nearist. And just kind of seeing the success of like, what is happening there, just like, so
Daniella Allam: What is her story for folks that don't know?
Carla: Um, she created a product for she was a house, a housekeeper, and she created a product for a very large New Orleans brand. Um, and the family doesn't know that that was her recipe, but they still kind of contribute, still take from it. Like they don't, it's not they haven't given her recognition or food, right. So we know the private story of it, but it's like, it's still it's a it's a big brand. But nobody really knows her
Daniella Allam: That she was the one behind that.
Carla: Yeah.
Daniella Allam: Wow.
Carla: So it's just this, um, just honor her story in our own way of just like, is that silent existence of a woman, but this is her story.
Daniella Allam: Unrecognized contribution.
Carla: Yeah.
Daniella Allam: Unrecognized innovation.
Carla: Yeah.
Daniella Allam: And then that gets exploited. Right, because that's the other thing. It's not just getting unrecognized. I think it's also being used and utilized. And, you know, using your labor, your intellectual property, your creativity, your culture to to an end, that doesn't benefit you. Yeah. So I think that's super important.
Carla: So it's just like, how do you you know, as a brand, knowing it, their mission-driven from the beginning, right, just with name and who Viola Heritage is is just, you, there's so many of these stories that exist, where people benefit and exploit or take advantage of entrepreneurs or even just like just creatives or just people, right? Um, how do we re tell that story or change that story. And it's not an easy change, there's not a by no means, but also think about the stories of knowing about this bakery. And knowing like about this credit was created and reconstruction and though it didn't survive that survived, just the ability to be encouraged that they also went through hardship, right. They also went through this entrepreneur path that is not easy. Um, and though success did not look like the 100-year-old brands that we see in New Orleans when it comes to French bread and breads, that success didn't happen. But their story isn't. Is it less important, right? Or contribution isn't less important. And as I think about my own entrepreneur journey, and as I'm refocusing and rebranding and re-building something that's sustainable, right? So we think about woman-owned brands and black brands and it's a five and pass year five. It is the hardest thing to do, to sustain business. And to do this during a pandemic are in to come on other side of this through all of these economic changes and navigate an industry that isn't fully supportive of new entry and all of these things, to have stories like this and have this like reality, like, it's not easy, right? It paints a very clear picture. This is not an easy thing, but it's possible, right? And if nobody else is gonna tell the story, then actually, we don't want to be able to tell the story if nothing else, right. But it isn't, it's still hard.
Daniella Allam: So hard. Yeah, it's never an easy journey. And I think, yeah, especially for women entrepreneurs, especially for People of Color. It's it's a tough industry, it's a tough industry to thrive in. You know, like it kind of just, you know, the start is hard, the middle is hard. Well, you know, five years is hard ten years i, it's just a different level of hard that gets upgraded over time. So related to that, like, what would you say, have been some of those big challenges that you've had to deal with, as you've started scaling your business?
Carla: I think because there's no lack of like creativity and great product. I have found success and be able, being able to find customers and have people enjoy the products I create. And I am super blessed in love that part of it. That also comes with growth, right and growth costs. And I think there's this there's this one belief that taken on every opportunity, um, that kind of because you're so desperate to stay in this industry, just taking on opportunities when you can't afford the growth has been part of my kind of like,
Daniella Allam: wow, learning big learning journeys.
Carla: Yeah in learnings. Because it's just like, I it's not like, I used to be like, oh, there's a lack of opportunities. Well, I can't get in front of these people. I can't do these things. Because I don't, I'm not even in that door. Right. So that's one thing. And then there was a lot of things that would push to get you in front of that door. And you get there and you can't stay right because you can't afford the growth that it takes or the financing to do it. Right. Like I'm a very reality of business, like what I make is what I sell is like, it's not there's no cushion. So if you don't sell, I mean the cost of it. I had a very hard Mardi Gras two seasons ago, where I ship had a great opportunity was on Good Morning America, because New Orleans I shut down for Mardi Gras. So over 150 orders went out, right, but it was a winter storm. FedEx, that sudden misses lost all their product had to wind down, I'm covering that cost, right? So it hit hard, because greatest moment to be able to have this like very marketed like, opportunity. And then you get hit, you know. So it's like this every day, you don't know you wake up. One day you're on top of the world next day is like what? And then to continue to get up and do it again. Right? That was probably one of the hardest things to like, do in like, navigate or losing production facility because I can't afford it or because I'm not getting enough sales on traction, or I'm a one-woman team sometimes and not that I don't know how to bring people in, but it's hard to afford people when you're not, you know, so like making the decisions of growth where you need to bring more people on but funds to like support them. But then you can't do all the things you need to to get more funds and so it's it's like this constant back and forth, right? And so now I'm like, Okay, well let's restructure how do I make this more manageable grow more system or a systematic, sustainable way? How do I offset some of this production time and just do it in a way that's healthy as an individual and not feeling like I have to be a machine to do it?
Daniella Allam: that's part of the journey. Yeah, it's so common, right? I feel like so many entrepreneurs listening will be like, yep, story on my life, like one day on the top on there at the bottom. It's just such a roller coaster, right? And because you're so dependent, sometimes it is on. Yeah. Like how your business is doing is how you're doing how your personal finances are doing right. So it just requires so much of you and so much. So much work, time, energy resources, money, lack of sleep, whatever it is. Right, that is hitting a lot of folks. And I think that's just so true. Did you you self funded the entire business? Right? Yeah. That also right.
Carla: Yes. I feel like that's a like loaded term because I feel so funding kind of assumes there's funding. Assume that there's funding, right? This is not so funded. I quit a very well-paying job and had enough
Daniella Allam: money to put into it. Yeah, that's self-funding
Carla: Self-funding was when you ordered a loaf of bread, I went out and bought the flour and sugar, and because you paid for that one loaf, I paid for it, baked it, and gave it to you.
Daniella Allam: Right, right.
Carla: That's self-funding, I've been kind of navigating this conversation, especially because I think the definition of like startup and self funding can be very different for a lot of different businesses. And I struggle with as an entrepreneur from someone that does not have a history of a family that have been entrepreneurs, or I've been blessed, and access to programs like Propeller and other things to learn a lot of different things. But that's not like my story. Isn't there some lump sum of support that comes in the financial way. Um, so I live in, I say, self funded, but it's like, no, it's like, it's like you pay for it and funded it.
Daniella Allam: And so like, Yeah, it's true, that's all fine. That sometimes does make people think like, oh, you had maybe $100,000 sitting in the bank. And you use that to start your own brand, right. But I think it most often actually means when we say self funded, especially for entrepreneurs, People of Color, it usually means it's coming out of my very limited finances, or what whatever's coming in is what I'm using to fund the business. Maybe I'm using credit cards, like running up the credit card bill, in order to make this work. It's not like I just had a pot of money that I just was like, let me just invest into a business right now. Right. And I think that that is important for folks to know, too, because I think people that are considering the path of entrepreneurship sometimes think it's a little bit more glamorous than it actually is, right? That it's a little bit more like, oh, I only do it once I have X amount of money in the bank or whatever. But it's like, actually, so many people that are doing this is yeah, like you said, out of necessity, out of innovation out of hardship, out of having to do something, and trying to make it work day in and day out. It's not like you can never like really rest on your laurels and be like, Yeah, well, I've arrived, at least not in these early stages, right, of building a business and a brand.
Carla: Yeah, it's been it's, I, I've had to kind of get to that part of like, the one comparing to what other people's story is two mine, and also wrestling with like, because that is someone's story and I'm not starting there. Do I have a place to be here? Right? So lack of understanding, like if it's imposter syndrome, or nothing like I think I belong in the industry because I have something to contribute. I have a story, I have a product that can compete against anything else, right? And finance should not be the thing. That is the barrier that keeps me out of the industry, but it is right. It's like, do I go get another job? Do I go do these things? Do I take myself out of this equation because, financially, this is way harder than I think it is for other people who insert and navigate this right? Or just even paying for the resources to have a support to grow to the necessary right or in summary in the conversations of wholesale like I just think about you know, reflection of how you kind of open my eyes to different things to where our like coaching sessions Propeller and I'm like, Well, that sounds dandy, but Who's gonna do that and who's gonna pay for that, that it's true. It's so true. It's such a it's a rock and a hard place usually with those with those types of things because I know You gave me great suggestions that were like low cost, but it also is like the reframe of thinking because you're so stuck in this like survival mode that you can't think innovatively or you can't think outside of the box or you can't do the research. Like I think there was a very simple thing of this like exploring other brands pages look like and just how that opened up. Took 10 minutes, but I didn't go as far as doing it, which seemed like very simple, but it was just like, Well, I'm gonna have time to sit and like, give myself the space to explore and see what I like and answer these few questions about this brand that draws me towards so I can apply that kind of knowledge. And it's like, but if you're in survival? And this is, you know, this is the mode and I'm like, in his very transitional phase of like, how to I belong in this industry.
Daniella Allam: Yeah.
Carla: I should be sustainable in this industry.
Daniella Allam: Yes.
Carla: What are the things that I need to do that, and then the hard part of this is like really stepping back, and like stepping out of production, like, you, your website might need to be updated. Like, this real thing is like, I want to show up a certain way. Definitely. But there also is this like self-protection, rest of like, do what you need to so that you can show up consistently, and lose small things of like, fix the website that can do but like, should I sleep?
Daniella Allam: Right, but the sleeping is also important. No, and I think what you're talking about is this, like very common journey to of like, how do I go? I've been in survival mode for X many years. But I know that's not sustainable, that's gonna burn me out, it's gonna, you know, it's not going to be sustainable for for you or for the brand. And how do you get into thriving mode, right? Where, like, Where, where, yeah, you can step back, and you can focus on things because a one a one woman show is already a lot to handle, right? Because you're not just production, you're marketing, you're finance, you're accounting, you're literally everything, you're sales, you're, you're PR, you're literally everything and everyone Web design. Like it's everything. And I think that is I feel that tool into expense in my business of like, how do you find ways that you can like focus on the things that really matter? And where your energy and your resources will go the farthest? While also how can you find creative ways to take some things off your plate, right, or to streamline some of the things that you're doing? And oftentimes, that means, like pivoting in some way, right? Or like making some hard decisions about what is really needed and what's not. And because, yeah, nobody can do it really all. Right, nobody can do it really all. I think so many entrepreneurs also that I talked to, though, it does feel like that injection of funding would really make a big difference, right? So like if there was a pot of money available for you to be able to like, focus on the right things, that really makes a huge, huge difference and what is in what is available. But I think, again, so many folks don't even know like, where do I start looking? Like, what kind of financing do I need? Like, do I want to do debt? Do I want to do equity? Will anybody ever give some money to somebody like me, right? Like, how am I even gonna get into the room to get that? And I think there are, there are things that are starting to open up in that way. But I feel like this year in particular, I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of entrepreneurs in the same thing, like I'm ready to grow, I'm ready to thrive. But I need to adjust some things slash an injection of cash would be really helpful.
Carla: Web design! Yeah, I think I also support the injection of cash, however, it could come. But I've also had injections of cash, whether it was because I sold a bunch of things, and made money that way or got a grant and record it. And I think there's a freedom and decisions that happens when you can make decisions not based on your bank account, right. So like you make decisions out of fear, because this doesn't, but if you have this injection, it's this, this kind of ability to wiggle and make no risk or take risks is great. I think the other side of it that I'm also reflecting on that also is a real thing for me is even if I had an injection of funds at this time- is my business,ll of the core stuff, in place, right? That would take it and be rolling myself like that seems like a very good thing. But would it all get lost in all of the stuff that I'm doing because I'm not controlling my numbers too. Right. And I think I have come from and of course our education system doesn't doesn't teach this even in food education, does that teach entrepreneurship in this way, or we don't have like this basic economics of understanding numbers and production and this kind of thing. But I also that I'm just like, there's this real hard conversation we should have when we think about growth and longevity and legacy and business that comes to having systems and things in place to plan and to budget and to see, like, one of the hardest things I did was like, great opportunity came to be a part of a festival, right? And I hadn't thought about it, like, the numbers were like, great on the return. But I cut like, I don't really sit into the numbers, but then I was like, Nope, this is my year goal is if I'm gonna make a decision in business, it has to be based on numbers. And I actually said, work the recipe numbers out, decided how much it was gonna cost me what was the like, and it forces you to like, really think about the process of what you're doing when you actually sit and do this time. Now Not it took time, right? Oh, no joke, but it was like, it wasn't gonna cost me upfront 14,000 investment.
Daniella Allam: Wow!
Carla: You said return right after to be at this festival four days to make almost 30 grand off of the 14, which is great. But how do I get that money in the front end, which was also issue. Um, but it was just like, what I do all the crazy things, to make this work to get to somewhere, that I would have to work crazy hours to just get the money to pay to do this, which also would have been an intense working thing for four days to get that return. And I have to balance what I want. Right? So I went through this very crazy Kincaid season, where I also was exhausted and also crazy, you know, the recovery time that it takes off of that. And then to jump into this opportunity, though, is good. But the numbers, just the numbers, and the quality of life did not add up.
Daniella Allam: They did not add up. Well, also, you have to put in the numbers too like, what is the cost of your labor? And like, what are some of these hidden costs, right, the cost to your to your, to your sanity, that cost to your physical health? Like, because those also are costs that go into that into that calculation, right. And I think it's sometimes hard to make choices like that. But I really kind of applaud you for doing that. Because I think that the ability to say no to things, opens you up to what you really need to say yes to, right. Because if we're saying yes to everything, we're spread too thin, we're not going to have yeses to give to the right things and the right places for our energy. And I think as entrepreneurs, like it's so important to know, just like, what is the best use, like this might be sexy and shiny and whatever. But is it really gonna give me what I need right now and what I'm committed to getting right and this year.
Carla: Or event not like the right now. But it's like balancing the right now And then the longevity
Daniella Allam: longevity, right?
Carla: How much of this is what I'm doing just to survive this moment? That is not contributing to what I ultimately want to do. Right? And how do I make sure the decisions that I'm making are like, not just going to fix my current problem, right? Because it goes into like survival mode, right? So I'm doing this to make money to survive now. And that's a needed and real thing. Um, how much of that is going to also take me out of where I want to go? Like, I think I'm focusing and refocused this year on doing things that only Carla can do, right? That only my brain can do and how my brain can only show up because, because I am so talented and gifted in so many things. That doesn't help me grow the brand that I want to grow and get to where I am if I'm doing all the things that I'm good at, right? So what is the best things and how do I make the best decision for me these are good decisions. But is this the best decision to get me to would I get to contribute to it industry? Right? So the change that I want to see in this industry and that's a harder it's easy to say yes to the other things, because I can do it. I can do my eyes close, right. Like nothing about the process, besides taking the time to do the numbers was like, Yeah, I can do the numbers right, because that was also the issue was like, I don't know how to do this. This isn't in my you know, give me a call. Get my kitchen, I can mix up some stuff, why am I there playing with numbers or Excel sheets and this kind of stuff? And I'm like, No, I can do this, I avoid this. But it's a necessary thing that I need to do is to, to make the right decisions and not make the decisions on desperation, height, it's another business. It's a business decision. And when we stop making decisions on emotions and survival, or right, we make decisions on our bank account to say, oh, we need to do this or not. But it's like, the bigger numbers like, what is it? Really? What is this going to cost me because we, I forget to do cost I forget to charge for my time. You know? And I show no, and I'm like, no, no, I need to. So a big part of this has been decisions of like, I can't give away my time for free. I can't give away to that product for free. Because it's an opportunity and potential, like, I can't do potential.
Daniella Allam: Got to have a return exactly. So
Carla: got to have a return on it, and then I'm not, I'm not doing it. And I'm gonna position myself to be able to maximize those things, right? That when those opportunities that come that I want to be that are sustainable, that are going to get me where I want to go, I want to be ready to say yes to those, and I want to be able to have the production and the stuff behind me. So like, be ready to go and do it. And in other hard decisions, they don't put you in a pretty place.
Daniella Allam: They don't put you in a pretty place. But sometimes these are the decisions that need to be made. And I think also, you know, for example, when you look upwards, and you look at these huge companies with this big big CEOs, that's what CEOs do, right? I've been around these big heavyweight CEOs, what they're doing all day is making hard decisions. And they're just like, Should we do this, or this? What's the best use of the company's time, right? They're thinking about it in like a huge organization, but you're doing you're, you're doing that same thing, you're like, This is my organization, this is my brand, this is my company, and I need to start making some hard decisions and start acting like the chief executive that I am, right like that. Right, instead of I'm just the baker, I'm just a creative, I'm just a designer, I'm just this is numbers. Right? It's like trans, transforming out of that mindset and being like, No, I'm the CEO bit, you know, like I am, I am here, and I'm gonna, and what that means is, I'm the boss, I'm in charge. And oftentimes, just what I see is you just got to be willing to make decisions with the information that you can gather, right? And really stepping into that role of like, running a business, you know, I'm running a business and it's and I think, um, you know, like CEOs at big companies know that if the business is not doing well, the board is, you know, Off with their heads, you know, they're there, they have, they feel this, like, you know, even though you think they're like the big boss, they actually have other bosses to respond to if they don't deliver the results that they said they're going to deliver. So I think sometimes using some of that mindset on yourself and being like, there's like an invisible board breathing down my neck and making sure that I do what I say I'm going to do in my goals, that I run the business in a way that is going to get better over time. Right? And and just having that sort of mindset shift. So with that in mind, I wanted to ask you as we wrap up, like any piece of advice, like what's one piece of advice you would give people that are maybe like in the early like year one year two of their business, particularly right if they're like a woman of color, a Black woman who was like I have this amazing idea or I have this amazing product, what's one piece of advice based on the years you've been doing this that you would give them?
Carla: Trust you're good enough, right? I think there's there's a belief factor that trust and believe that you belong here, right, there's a lot of time that is spent second guessing that that's wasted time. Your product can compete against so many. Know your numbers. And I I say that in a very simple way, but you know, like, like, do the research and write it down. Also write it down. Right Oh, it's real basic. All right, write it down, make it concrete.
Daniella Allam: Yeah.
Carla: Do what you can in front of you. I think I also have this advice of this just like, it's cool to dream, the big dream, and like have that in mind. But sometimes I skip the steps to get to the big dream and forget the necessary steps to do what's in front of me. Because I want to see, I want to see the manufacturing facility, I want to see the truck that drives around the city that has Viola's logo on it, and I want it delivered to schools. And I see that and and I believe that's where I want to go and what I want to build and what I want to do it sometimes as I remember, in the first years of having that big dream and seeing that and doing the research of like, what it takes, but then you start to dive in to see the numbers and what it takes. And you're like, intimidated about that. And it's not a problem to have the dream, but know, do your research to figure out what those steps are, but then still do the stuff that's in front of you to get to doing those steps. So many things that seems like unattainable and fearful. But I've been blessed to be in the rooms to learn. I just keep learning about it. Right. So I was like, I want to work in a manu.. I want to do manufacturing and had no clue about it as a baker, because that's not you don't learn that in school, who knows what you learn, but one of the things that I took the time and year to evolve was was to go work at a cake manufacturing company in the city, because that's all we have, we don't have a bread. Well, I guess we have bread but it's so different, just to learn the process, and learn the systems behind it was not. So it made it more accessible that it wasn't this. I can't do this, because I don't know this. Um, we have Google, we have access to the internet. And there's a lot of things you don't know. But just like don't be afraid to ask the questions. Don't just sit in the room. And feel like you're not worth asking the question. It doesn't make sense. Ask the question.
Daniella Allam: Ask the question. And trust I really love what you said, Trust that like you belong, you belong there, there is no reason for you to think that you don't. You have a product, you have an idea you belong. And, and that. So oftentimes I feel like is the thing that trips people up the most is like, yeah, that like I'm an imposter. Or maybe I shouldn't be here, I don't know enough. I don't have enough money, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough contacts, I don't have enough access. But things will come over time. But that first foundational level is that trust to say, I do belong. This is like if I have been blessed with this idea with this with this concept with this company, then it's like for a reason. And I deserve to be here. Now. It's a question for me, to whether like want to continue it or not. But you deserve to be there. You deserve to see your ideas and your company and your brand come to fruition. And nobody says it's going to be easy. And because it probably you know, the external world will often make you feel like you don't belong there. But as long as you kind of stick to that inner knowing and stick to your truth, then then yeah, you'll hopefully be flying in no time.
Carla: Yeah, also failure is not final or your idea with stone is not final. I don't know if I'm saying that. Right. I think I've heard that quoted, but like, there's a lot. So I have taken, there's a lot of breaks that I'd take. And I used to feel like I had to explain a whole lot more than I need to about why things don't or are trying to be perfect. And I think there's this like false belief that I have to show up perfect to do this. And that there aren't mistakes, like right now, there's some edits that needs to be done on the website, fully recognize it. But just prioritizing what needs to get, you know, done and like I'm going to fix it I will get to it. But I'm not going to be fake that intrudes on me being whole as a person. And not like I think we stretch ourselves because we feel like there's this weight as a Black woman in turn In an industry that doesn't accept me, and it's my only chance, and this is the only thing and it's like, so authentically show up means to know that you're not perfect. And you're learning and like that freedom of failure and chance and exploring and just learning exists and like, stuff does not go like if nothing else I've learned about business and entrepreneurship is like, it is not. The science is doing it.
Daniella Allam: Is being in it, right? Yeah, you just gotta do it, and just, I deserve to be here, and I'm gonna keep doing it, and I'm gonna keep learning, I'm gonna fall down the horse, I'm gonna get back up, I'm gonna try something new. If this doesn't work, I'm gonna pivot and right and like having that, that entrepreneurial mindset, right of like, like, it's okay, I'm just, I'm just gonna keep going, I still have a vision, I still have a mission I need to fulfill, but there are going to be roadblocks and obstacles along the way, for sure. So I think
Carla: is the other side of this. Like, I don't think I'm a great chef, because I do things perfectly. And I make them so amazing. And I know how to fix way more stuff than people give credit for right? So people will mess up on a dish and be like, Ah, it's ruined and whatever. And it's like, Nah, let's fix it, right?
Daniella Allam: Let's fix the dish.
Carla: Let's learn how to make this. This cake has crumbled, but with icing, and can I add to make it look pretty again? What can I like
Daniella Allam: Or how can I deconstruct it and call it something else? Yeah, great. Creativity!
Carla: creative. And that's the beauty part of this, right? Those are the things that you get to learn, like, entrepreneurship is learning about yourself and like, your desires and like going after dreams and doing that. And just like that's the freedom in this right, so much of this country and being enslaved to work and showing up to somebody's job is that taken away of this freedom of creativity and stuff, and you get to, you get to do that. But you also get the responsibility of doing that mean?
Daniella Allam: Yeah. It's a both and yeah. So just as we wrap up, I wanted to hear about like, what are you excited about the most in the next year with Viola's Heritage, what's what's cooking, What's cooking in the kitchen? We're gonna put all the links for folks to like, follow you and things like that. But yeah, any exciting things planned,
Carla: I think exciting to relaunch a granola line. It has been something that I've loved to make and expand it. So I have this savory granola, which most people probably haven't tried or think about trying. But it's a great just addition to like a new bar food, you know, or that. But just like really taking simple ingredients. And exploring new options with them is kind of what I love about Viola's Brand. Bread will definitely be back in production soon, but just on a different level, to give accessibility to more people. So just raising funds to do that, to have the space to bring Viola's to, to more people, right, I think there's a space for it. So just kind of being intentional while raising and putting the brand out in a way that is authentic, but is in a different place. And so looking at growth, the growth takes finances, as we talked about. So just looking for help and to doing that. So, that definitely is coming in the pipeline. So yeah, but just keeping it simple getting things structurally streamlined,
Daniella Allam: Streamlined, standardized.
Carla: Yeah. I don't want to just look good as a brand, I spent a lot of investment and time of looking good and trying to make the brand. show up well in the market and doing very photography, but I also want to have a brand that has a lot of life. And so that means cleaning up the stuff on the back end. So just working on that and excited about that, which is weird. So yeah, I'm excited about the numbers. I'm excited about
Daniella Allam: Spring cleaning. I love it. I love it.
Carla: Yeah, so that's what Viola is doing. I'm also in telling a story of unknown bakers, I am writing I wrote a book and working on getting it illustrated to tell the story. Viola's story and the people's bakery stories. I wrote a children's book to explore the people's bakery. So working to bring that to market in 2025. And so
Daniella Allam: I love it. Stay tuned for that book. That sounds awesome. That's amazing.\
Carla: That's what's going on.
Daniella Allam: And well Whoa. It was such a pleasure to have you Carla, as always, and to speak with you and hear your amazing story. Everyone make sure to check out Viola's Heritage, get some granola, get some bread, and then we'll all be tuned for this amazing book, as well. So thank you so much and we'll talk soon.
Carla: Thank you.