Since its launch in 2005, candace nelsonof furikake cupcake Here are the loyal celebrities after counting everyone from Oprah Winfreyto Katie Holmes (who helped put them on the map) and fellow customers Reese Witherspoon. of cutie blonde Star praises serial entrepreneur in back of her new book sweet successbut have shared a lot of advice with Candace over the years.[Reese taught me] Embrace ambition as a business and not see it as an ugly word. And go for it as a woman,” Candace said. hollywood life in an exclusive interview. “And own it,” she added.
“The other thing is to support other women around you … those who are starting their way and paying up front for women who are making a difference by doing something in your life.” two of the many things that inspired [me on]”former Sugar rush The executive producers and judges added some advice from their Oscar-winning friends.
Entrepreneurship wasn’t a childhood thing for Nelson, especially since his father was a corporate lawyer. “In other words, risk aversion,” she points out. “In my life there weren’t many models of entrepreneurship, there weren’t many female entrepreneurship…the first time I ate a Mrs. Fields cookie, there must have been a whisper of an epiphany.” I still remember bringing it home from…I couldn’t believe that something so delicious made by a woman existed,” she remembers, referring to a fellow entrepreneur. Debbie FieldsLike her father, Candace initially followed a traditional career path, going into banking instead of law, but after both 9/11 and the dot-com crash of the 2000s, she enrolled in confectionery school. I started going to While planning her own wedding around the same time, Nelson took note of the cupcake layer trend. This sparked the idea that America’s favorite dessert could use some sort of ‘upgrade’.
“After I graduated from confectionery school, I wanted to create something that was artistic yet edible on a daily basis…[cupcakes] This is what our country loves and we have great nostalgic memories of it,” she says. “So we did a complete makeover. It’s been done from the ground up, starting with reinventing the technology, the ingredients, the quality of the ingredients, how fresh they are, and the look. I wanted to make a modern cupcake… I tried to make it sophisticated enough to appeal to adults, but I didn’t want it to be playful,” she explains.her and her husband Chris Nelson opened its first Sprinkles store in Beverly Hills in 2005 and eventually became a national chain.
The book is more of a guidebook to taking recipes and making them “profitable,” but Candace points out some key miles along the way, including “key moments” involving Oprah. Reflecting on Stone, “I got a call from Harpo Studios, and it was back in the day when people were calling. oprah winfrey show And she was like, ‘Oprah loves your cupcakes,’” Candace recalled to HL. There is still no one quite like Oprah in terms of the power she had on that show….Having Oprah talk about your product on her show is great for business owners and anyone marketing a product. It was the ultimate pinnacle: I had to complete the daunting task of making 350 cupcakes in one night. When Please take them to Chicago.
“I said no problem. We’ll make it happen,” says Candace. “It was a mild January day, so I thought, ‘Okay, let’s fire up the oven,’ so I baked 350 cupcakes, preordered the Red Eye, and put them all on the plane…we A global brand overnight, in one place.
As well as launching perhaps the most pioneering bakery of the 2000s, Candace went on to make her TV debut cupcake wars 2009, Executive Produced and Performed Sugar rush Also launched a successful pizza business pizzanaA Wesleyan University graduate, she co-founded the latter with her husband. The store has three locations in Los Angeles and plans to open one in Dallas soon, in addition to selling frozen pizza online. She says building her own brand and mentoring other women in her business space ultimately inspired her to write her new book.
“[Sweet Success] I come from a very authentic place where many female founders have asked me for advice. I started an angel investment for ,” she explained. “Covid-19 has given me an opportunity when restaurants were not open. It gave me a little time to reflect and write about the audience.Just a few hours in the day.See how powerful women are and how many people don’t realize it. I think only.”
As for plans to get back in front of the cameras, Candace says she will never say. “I only co-produced and executive produced [Best In Dough] For my partner Daniele Uditi on Hulu’s Pizzana.pizza version of cupcake wars‘” she says of one of her many projects on the go. “In terms of me coming back in front of the camera, I’m always open to it, but it could be more of a business or entrepreneurship show than a baking show!”