We recently connected with Zenobia Taylor-Weiss and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Zenobia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

Running the business that I started has by far been my most rewarding job experience to date. I’ve found that I really thrive in creating my own goals and keeping myself accountable. I love dreaming about new directions in which to take the business. I do occasionally wonder what would happen if for some reason my business didn’t exist anymore and I had to get a “regular job”. I’m sure I could handle it, since I have before, but it would definitely be an adjustment for me!

Zenobia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started making preserves as a hobby in 2012, that hobby grew and grew and eventually I realized that I would rather make preserves than do my day job. At that point I started exploring my options and learning what it took to start a food based business. I opened my business, Cellar Door Preserves in the late fall of 2016. It began as a part time “side hustle” for me, in the summer of 2019 I quit my day job and started to work full time on the business. In May of 2020 I hired my first employee, and now we have a team of 7!

At Cellar Door Preserves we create fruit preserves in small batches using traditional techniques in both classic and innovative flavors with half the sugar many other jam companies use. All of our products are vegan, gluten free, soy free, and contain no added pectin or high fructose corn syrup – we use real ingredients to achieve great flavor.

Our preserves are sold in a variety of different stores in nearly every state in the US. We are very proud that our company is 100% woman owned and we are able to support small-medium sized local farmers.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I founded Cellar Door Preserves alone, but I was approached by two key employees about a year into their time with the company. They told me they were interested in investing in the business and becoming part owners. The timing was wonderful, a cash infusion is exactly what we needed, and the relief of knowing that others were invested in the business for the long hall with me was huge.

Any advice for managing a team?

My style of management has a to do with trust and forgiveness. Heaven knows I’ve made every mistake in the book on my business so when an employee makes a mistake I treat it with understanding and forgiveness, I believe that builds a great team spirit and creates a culture where employees are not afraid to tell you if they have made a mistake.

I’m also fairly hands off, I train my employees but then let them do the job in the way that makes the most sense to them. I’m happy to answer questions as they arise, but if the job is done well in the correct amount of time I don’t have a problem if my employees goes about it in a different way than I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: cellardoorpreserves.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/cellardoorpreserves
• Facebook: facebook.com/cellardoorpreserves