Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tanesha Sims-Summers . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tanesha , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Family businesses have stood the test of time for centuries. A family owned business can offer commitment, unified leadership and goals, trust and authenticity. Money can stay in the family. It can also offer, flexibility and versatility, vision and long-term goals, decrease costs and expenditures and next -generation ingenuity.

While there are so many pros in creating and working in a family business, it comes with inherent challenges. Communication styles can make it difficult to get to a common goal. Emotions can disrupt growth. Comfort or pride can stunt growth.
Personal Conflicts Can Interrupt Business.
It’s hard to create time off and separate the needs and conversations of the business. We have had to work tirelessly to create structure and boundaries particularly wearing so many hats. If not managed and structured properly, it can be a demise to families. Fewer Rules Could Lead to Too Leniency. We highly recommend , onboarding a leadership and mindset coach to help create proper expectations, boundaries and tools to affectively hold one another accountable without the extra emotions.

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

Tanesha Sims-Summers an award winning graduate from UAB, where she studied marketing and Spanish has always had a passion for people and community. After nearly 15 years in a corporate career of #investmentbanking and later #digitalmarketing, she decided that the time had come to pursue her passion of entrepreneurship. While #kettlecorn was never on her radar of pursuits, it has become a fun endeavor that has been the catalyst to work she feels God has called her to do. She co-owns and operates Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co. with her rock and ride or die, partner in business and in life, husband Clem Summers. Her joy is in raising her 4 extraordinary children.

NBNKC, based in BirminghamAL and established in 2014, has coined itself as #Birmingham and Beyond’s Favorite Snack, specializing in unique sweet and salty kettle corn blends, their small batch kettle-to-hand process allows for the freshest snack possible. The high quality flavorings keep #Popheads (customers) coming back for more. NBNKC helps people celebrate life’s sweet moments whether it’s weddings, employee engagement celebrations or a family movie night.
It’s Not Just Popcorn with NBNKC, the brand is FUN, FRESH & FESTIVE and exists to make the world a sweeter place to live.

We are a proud Top 40 Under 40 Recipient 2020 recipient. Minority Business of the Year Recipient 2021, Goldman Sachs 10KSB Graduate 2021 , SBA Emerging Leaders Graduate, 2018 , Trufund EmpowHER Graduate 2019, CARA Graduate 2021 , Co Starters Graduate 2015, PNC Bank Big Pitch Winner 2015 Renasant and Roots Accelerator with Birmingham Business Resource Center Graduate, 2019
Small Business Council for the City Of Birmingham 2019 -present
I3 Academy Board Member, 2019
CARA Advisory Board Member, 2022
Jones Valley Teaching Farm Board Member, 2022
UAB Excellence in Business Top 25, 2022
BADD Women 2023 Recipient

Growing up as the village child, Tanesha sees the value in receiving support from the community as well as offering support. She is a mother of four extraordinary children – sons Jaylen 18 and Amir 17, and daughters Jacee 7 and Janaah 6, as well as fur baby Merry – who are her complete pride and joy, daily motivation, and one of the most important roles in her life.

Have you ever had to pivot?

NBNKC was established in 2014. It was birthed from a passion and desire to stay home with my children. It also derived from my passion for entrepreneurship.

When the business started, my husband and I already had two extraordinary sons from a previous marriage and relationship. Our sons were 4 years old when we met. Fast forward 5 1/2 years later, we had recently gotten married. I was on maternity leave with our little Jacee. She would have been our third child. Her birth is synonymous for the birth of Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co. I spent the entire summer researching competitors and preparing for launch. After 4 months, it was time to return to my corporate job. Although I loved my job, I felt this was a transitional moment in life. So my goal to resign 3 months after returning . I would have been vested at that point. Well unbenounced to me I was in line for a promotion. This was a cross road moment. I’m asking myself, God was I supposed to invest in this project or focus on growing in my corporate career. So I took the promotion.

Less than 6 moths in, I discover that I was pregnant again. At this point, I know that God was transitioning me into my destiny. So in January of 2016, my husband and I made the decision for me finally resign. It was the scariest yet freeing decision I’ve ever made. Then journey began .

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Ironically, we are in a season where we are having to make some critical and tough decisions. We were fortunate to survive the pandemic. Additionally, during the pandemic , my husband / partner’s corporate job ended 2 days after the U.S. Government declared a state of emergency.

We had multiple close calls throughout this season in our journey. Our resiliency, sustainability and our ability to pivot and be resourceful.

Currently, our company is feeling the pressure of inflation, reduced spending and capital constraints. We have had to make cuts in payroll, qauntities of products and ingredients and overall strategy to ensure we can weather the backlash of Covid Storm .

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nbnkettlecorn.com
• Instagram: @nbnkettlecornco
• Facebook: Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.
• Linkedin: Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.
• Youtube: Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.
• Yelp: Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.