We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Guynes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
My legacy is definitely built for my family. At the end of it all I’m always doing whatever I do first and foremost to glorify the Lord and secondly for my family – I always say to myself if it’s not being done for that then what is the purpose. I want my children to inherit generational wealth and to know they were born for a purpose. Listen I understand not everyone is an entrepreneur TRUST ME I’ve learned that, but I don’t want my legacy to fall for thinking they must have a job, etc. I want them to know and understand how wealth works – it’s about options. After I’m gone I would hope people remember me for being ambitious and determined, never giving up, and most importantly that I lived by faith and couldn’t accomplish anything without the Lord’s direction.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Oh how did I get here LOL, I knew young I wanted to be a chef – in which I found out later my great grandfather was a chef and cooked for President Regan many times. So cutting a long story short my ambitions lead me to my craft. Now how did I get to Toss & Sauce, after begging and convincing my aunt (now business partner) who’s been an entrepreneur basically her whole life that we could bring something for the culture of the people to Detroit – short put – a vision. I can’t make this up. I had been doing private chef work in Nashville, DC, and a couple of other places and saw an article that said the Detroit Central Station was being purchased and brought back to life! I moved away from home to go to Howard University at the age of 17 and said I would never go back UNLESS the central station was up and running again. Sometimes you have to be careful what you speak; so once I saw that article I was like oh my gosh is this a sign? I couldn’t help to think it was so through a prayer, grant from motor city match, helping hand from Invest Detroit, and plenty of tears and hard work – here I am about to open the doors of my first fast casual restaurant.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Life dealt me a great hand with some of the most incredible women I’ve ever met in my life. I’m not just saying this because they happen to be my family, but I rarely come across women that has been close to matching my mother and aunts – not just beauty both inside and out, but heart, strength, and tenacity. So by cofounder/Business partner (Cher Slater) is my aunt and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
We are a proud recipient of a Motor City Match grant. We actually applied once and had to apply again before winning. It was an amazing process honestly. From learning more about ourselves to networking and making some impactful business relationships, I would encourage anyone who has a solid business concept and plans to give it a try.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tossandsaucepizza.com/
- Instagram: tossandsauce_