We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mellanie Lucio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mellanie below.

Alright, Mellanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

Treats by Melly was created in 2020. Ever since then, it has been a one woman show. I’m the one who manages all of my social media accounts, creates the menu, makes the graphic designs, and makes the treats. At first I made this decision because when I got the idea of making this business, I believed I was the only one who could execute it and lead it to success, which me personally I feel like I did a good job leading this show because I get so much support from my friends, family, and customers which I’m forever grateful for because I enjoy making every single order. An insight that I will share is that it’s always good to have at least a person help you a long the way because it could come to a point where you can end up at a dead end and not know what to do next. So hearing other people’s opinions and putting yourself out there will really help your brand expand and make new connections that can help you later on.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got the idea of my baking business thanks to my sister. One day, we were watching the movie ELF and the scene where Buddy was making his infamous candy spaghetti played on the TV and my sister got the sudden rutgers to eat something sweet. She went to the pantry and she noticed we had some left over hershey chocolate from Halloween and she remembered we also had strawberries in the fridge. Lightbulb, which led my sister to make chocolate covered strawberries. Her making the strawberries gave me the obsession to look into chocolate covered strawberries which opened a portal of different designs and styles. Who knew that making these delicious treats takes time and creativity. Ever since then, I started practicing my skills and giving away treats ti my parents colleagues. I got to a point where I felt comfortable with my skills and decided to launch my business. I was excited but nervous because I never put myself out there and I was nervous that I wasn’t going to get much attention, but blissfully, my nerves were calmed by how much support I got. My clientele kept growing and with that I started making different treats like cakepops, churros cheesecakes, etc.. However, failure sometimes comes with suckers which is inevitable. Whenever I bump into failure, I try my best to fix it or find a way to be better. My main goal is customer satisfaction. I try to accommodate as much as I can because I want my customer to leave with a smile on their face and have that trust that they’ll be back, which I will always satisfy their needs. I’m mainly proud of how much my platform has grown and grateful for all the support I received, especially from my family. If it weren’t for them promoting my business as much as they could, my platform wouldn’t be as recognizable and I wouldn’t have my loyal clientele. I’m also proud of how my skills have improved over time and how it shows in every order. I like to experiment with different styles which I believe it makes me successful in that way because it helps me improve and becoming better.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

First, all it took for me to build my profile was photoshop and canva. Those apps helped me create my profile picture and helped me build an outline on how I wanted my profiles to look like and the kind of color scheme I wanted to follow. Equipment wise, my parents helped me fund most of my equipment, which I’m forever grateful for because I wouldn’t be where I am today. Whenever I was lacking supplies, they wouldn’t hesitate to get it for me. Thankfully I’m in a position where I’m able to get my own supplies, but I know if I need help, they won’t hesitate to help me

Have you ever had to pivot?

There was a moment that happened that I’m not proud of, but thanks to it, it helped me improve on this and I haven’t made this mistake since. It was on Mother’s day, I was blessed to have the orders I had that day and I did and still have the habit of writing down all the orders, every detail to how they want designs, how much they were charged for, what time they want me to drop it off, etc… I like to make the orders the day of so they can be fresh and I was on a roll that day , which led me to get carried away. Even though I had written down all the information, I had the comfortability that I could memorize each and every order and not out the sheet on the fridge or wall. Me getting carried away made me miss the opportunity to drop off an order to a client, which she was not happy about since she had another commitment to go. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet her at the pickup spot since she had to leave but blessed my parents, they were willing to drop it off for her which the drive was pretty lengthy. I tried compensating her by offering her free treats but I haven’t heard from that client since. As much as how disappointed I was at myself for that situation, I was blessed to become better. Ever since, I organized all my supplies the day before, I became more clear in my order slips, and I purchased a bulletin board so I can attach and see all my orders

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treatsby.melly?igsh=cHRrN3ZjNWRjd2dx
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@treatsby.melly?_t=8ijzClGC7Bb&_r=1