We recently connected with CaLandra Gibson Fields and have shared our conversation below.

CaLandra, appreciate you joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

Hmm, so that’s an interesting question.

When it comes down to asking friends and family to support my business, I simply don’t do it. I had to learn that if they wanted to support me in any form they would. Retweeting my business, like my post, share my post, recommend me to others, all of that matters and definitely doesn’t go unnoticed. A mentor once told me, “Support isn’t always monetary, it cost absolutely nothing to simply believe in someone!” “Don’t wait till I make it to finally say you knew it was going to happen!”

You know, everything becomes so personal when family/friends are involved, it’s almost as if they want things for FREE because of the personal aspect, forgetting that it’s my source of income so getting things for FREE is pushing it. You’d be surprised to know that 95% of my clients were all strangers and only 5% make up my family AND friends. You just have to set boundaries and stand on them at all times.

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.

A small town Mississippi girl with a dream so BIG is what I always think of when people ask me about me! I’m CaLandra Gibson Fields from Terry, Mississippi.

Originally, I started in 2018, I had no clear plan whatsoever on what I wanted to do besides make “cooking videos” on YouTube. I would go online and look for different recipes that I thought would grab viewers’ attention, go to the store and spend the last of my money to buy the ingredients just to make a video.
Fast forward one of my videos starts going viral on YouTube, and started gaining more traction, then I started to expand outside of my comfort zones to make different recipes. I was consistent for 8 months straight, with no breaks, I created content, sold food, baked desserts/treats, networked, worked on my marketing/promo skills just anything that would have bettered my business.

October 2022 rolls around and from there the business have grown substantially! I tell people all the time that everything tastes better in the south and you haven’t had any good food till you’ve had food in Mississippi. Lol. I am most proud at how far we have grown over the past 5 years and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us. I want my supporters to know we have so many new and exciting things coming out in 2024 and I hope you all stay on this journey with me to see where we end up next!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

So for me, it wasn’t as hard to build my audience on social media per se however it was hard to find the right targeted audience for what I was doing.

I want to furthermore explain what I mean when I say it wasn’t hard for me per se. So I had always had a lot of friends on Facebook growing up in my teens years so when I originally came up with the idea of starting a YouTube it was somewhat easy because of all the connections I had on Facebook. Also during that time it wasn’t a competitive industry as much as it is today. Maintaining the social media presence is just as important as building it though as I’ve learned over the years.
Those that are looking to build their social media presence, I would simply say to POST, POOOSSTT, POOOOSSSSTTTT & POST! 😂 I know that’s a bit much but in reality I mean it. People may not like your post, comment or share but trust me they see it. Find relatable content, engaged with other influencers, engaged in community tabs online, post interesting content and valuable! Main thing is though and most importantly is to be YOURSELF!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

LOL, so I always tell this story, so I’ll share it with you all too. I remember wanting to quit several times because I felt like I just couldn’t balance it all, being a first-time mom, adjusting to a new state, newlywed, having no family or friends in my new state, creating content on top of not making enough money at 9-5 during the time. I use to hate living from paycheck to paycheck but that’s what I would do. Use all of my money on ingredients just to make some content for “viewers” that I didn’t have. It made no sense at the time. I wasn’t consistent and I wanted everything to happen at a drop of a dime. I was angry all the time and very impatient. I would even cry all the time!

Speed it up, one morning I wake up in a terrible mood, had an argument with my husband that morning all because I didn’t want to go to work. Fast forward, I leave the house and on my way to work and Jhene Aiko song “W.A.Y.S “ came on and as I was listening to the song I took a deep breath and just sobbed the whole time. Emotions were on an all time high. I calmed down, sought out my thoughts and prayed about it. Made it to work and instantly got back upset I knew then I needed to change my life. In a
total of 8 months I watched my life change all the way around. I’ve been booked every month from parties, weddings, to baby showers and even corporate events. I ship across the US and also have been able to hire someone to join the team. I’m saying all this to say had I gave up I wouldn’t be were I am today. Just stick with it! Stay focused on the vision!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bakesy.shop/b/cooking-with-calandra
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/cookingwithcalandra?utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000065304691&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CookingWithCaLandra?si=c7bAkkDkI5F2H8R5

Image Credits
Calandra Gibson Fields Preston Fields