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

Brooklynn, appreciate you joining 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?

When I was a little girl, I never was able to sit and imagine what job I would be willing to wake up and do every single day for 8 hours straight. I thought, that sounds boring! How will I keep myself going every day? There’s always been a piece of me that knew I was made for a different type of career – I just never thought that would be cotton candy!

Do I wonder what it would be like to have a regular job? Sure, a regular paycheck with a normal weekly schedule, and health benefits sounds like it would be nice – it also sounds boring. There’s honestly a lot more drive involved when you know you need to book more events to pay your bills. It’s a strange pressure, yet one that I live for. The older I got, the more I realized I was never meant to do something “regular.” Despite calling me crazy, my friends and family know I’m right where I need to be, doing what suits me best.

Owning a business is fulfilling and exciting! I’m happier and busier than i’ve ever been. Owning my own business allows me to still pursue my passion in coaching, and provides me an opportunity to connect with so many wonderful people. It lets me be with people on some of their happiest days! It’s hard, stressful, and some weeks I have to ask myself how we’re going to do it, but I wouldn’t give up what myself and my business are accomplishing for anything.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Brooklynn Meinke and I own Sugar + Sky. I’m 28 years old, and have lived in Kansas City for nearly my whole life. I’m passionate about sports, and I coach college and high school soccer locally. I’ve always had a knack for planning and being a part of events, and am slightly obsessed with weddings.

I got into the cotton candy business unexpectedly after developing it as a business for a Master’s project in Nottingham, England in 2019. Sugar + Sky provides live cotton candy spinning at weddings, birthdays, small business and corporate events. We also offer customizable pre-packaged cotton candy to be used as gifts and party favors. Our homemade cotton candy sugars and our attention to detail in our table set ups are absolutely what sets us apart from your normal cotton candy vendor. It’s a big passion for us to present cotton candy as fun, but classy and elegant product that can be served at the most formal of events and not seem out of place. We take pride in fitting in to people’s budget, and customizing their experience with the perfect time frame, set up, and flavors that represent them and their event. I take pride in everything we do, knowing that my business is a direct reflection of myself and my values.

I’m most proud of how we’ve grown and scaled our business with new workers and equipment to be able to say yes to nearly every inquiry. It’s my goal to accept every event, even if that means four on the same day, at the same time in very different locations and provide the exact same, quality experience to each client.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The KC Wedding industry is very supportive and uplifting to one another. The most important thing we did as a business was connect with other industry professionals. The more we built relationships with other businesses and owners, the more our business grew. Getting into every open house at a venue, or offering something to any styled shoot we saw was what opened up the business opportunities we now have. Being kind, reliable and offering fun and new ideas to these collective events really boosted our relationships, and now some of these professionals our some of my best friends! Outside of other vendors, simply nailing it at events we are booked at causes guests at those events to want us at their parties and events too. Consistency and kindness will take a business a long way.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A few months back, I was working an event where the power source we were drawing from had malfunctioned and I was worker in a fairly dark area. Without realizing what was happening I did something I do everyday, that resulted in me burning my entire hand with molten hot, melted sugar. While I wasn’t able to finish the event, I immediately had to start thinking about the soccer season starting the next day and the rest of the events we were booked at for the weekend – but with only one hand! For multiple weeks I was loading, unloading, and spinning cotton without a hitch in our service and execution despite the pain. Moments like these are the bright reminder that even though we have some workers, my business IS me. So when something happens to myself, plans change and everything gets harder. Being able adapt, to problem solve, and sometimes ask for help (humbling for someone like me) has been a great lesson i’ve learned in my journey of being a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: sugarandskykc.com
• Instagram: sugarandsky_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugarandsky/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooklynn-meinke-4289a8141

Image Credits
Juliana Noelle Jumper Photography Two Bright Lights Photography Amy Nix Photography Copper Tree Wedding Photography Sarah Dean Photography