We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Curtia S. Jarvis Roberts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Curtia S., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
The legacy I hope to leave behind is that I cared, and I gave my best! I cared and gave my best to Myself, My Children, My Husband, My Family, and My Friends.
Some may think that this is so simple but for me it’s the simple things in life that matter the most. If you really think about it, if you don’t care about anything or anyone you won’t give it your best. Caring for and giving my best to myself meaning waking up early or going to bed late so I can get my daily self care routine going weather that maybe running a warm bath, sipping on a glass of wine, relaxing watching a movie while soaking my feet in warm water and Epsom salt to relieve some of that pressure from standing all day. It really doesn’t matter what it is as long as that moment is for you and only you. If I don’t do these things for Tia, then I can’t care for or give my best to the above list.
I’m dedicated to doing what I have to do to see myself and them succeed in life because without them there’s no me and without me there no them. This saying is more so to my children and husband. I Love each and every one of you unconditionally and all I ask of you and the persons that I come inContact with is to carry on my legacy.
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 background and context?
Hello out there my name is Curtia S Jarvis-Roberts. I was born and raised on the beautiful island of St. Thomas USVI. I have 3 beautiful children all belonging to my husband Akeem “BamBam” Roberts. We have been together for 13 years and married for 6 years. After we got married in July of 2016, we decided to relocate to Georgia so that we could give our children a better life. We made that big change in December of 2016. Let me elaborate a little bit more on a better life! Where we come from it’s only 32sq miles so opportunities and activities for the children are very limited. We wanted more for ourselves as well, so in order for us to have gotten what we wanted we had to take that leap of faith. I can guarantee you that it wasn’t easy and still isn’t easy but if I was still living in St. Thomas I wouldn’t have been able to be writing this article right now. I would have never started to bake or cook anything as much as I loved cooking because everything I wanted food wise was right there at my fingertips. I could find somebody to make me exactly what I wanted but living in America makes you appreciate what you have back home a lot more. I personally don’t miss home but I do miss my culture. I would’ve loved for my children to grow up in the bright sun, sand and sea however the opportunistic future that we want for them is way more important. My children know just about everything there is to know about my culture and where we came from, you can take me out of the culture but you can’t take the culture out of me. When I was younger I wanted to be a truck driver, a cosmetologist, a chef, a Er Trauma Doctor or a Nurse. I went as far as filling out the college application and then did absolutely nothing with it when I realized how long I will have to be in school to become a ER Trauma doctor or a nurse. I went ahead and pursued my dream of becoming a chef, i had already lost interest in becoming a cosmetologist a long time ago. I want you all to realize how much I have talked about becoming a chef and loved cooking, nothing at all about baking, absolutely nothing about baking because it was NEVER in my line of sight. I always felt it was a lot of work and underappreciated we will get into that a little later! Truck driving dream is still there to some extent and will be pursued at another time.
Where did the name Come Back Eats and Treats, LLC come from? This is a good question because I myself don’t even know how I came up with the name, the main goal of this was to keep the customers coming back and that is just what I did. I’ve had many of my customers call my food and cake “crack” the more they talked about how they have to come back and get some food and cake. The name just popped into my head, I filed for my LLC, got approved and CBET was created on April 15,2019. Fun fact, that is also my best friend’s and 5 days before the worlds best sister in law birthday (I love You Ladies). In the blink of an eye, I was the CEO of something I love doing. As my ancestors would say, if you love what you are doing, you will never work a day in your life so it’s safe to say I haven’t worked a day in my life since 2019 when I became my own boss. Since then, I’ve made a promise to myself to always remain humble in everything I do, and I will make it. I’m very impressed with how far I’ve come for a self-taught baker/chef. The more you learn on your own the more you will appreciate your work, the struggle through life only makes you stronger. Something in life too always remember no one wants to see you doing better than them, everyone is happy for you and cheering you on once you stay below them. the moment that they feel you are a threat to them they will do everything in their power to keep you down, but you don’t let them stop you from getting to your goal in the end, there is a whole world out there and enough money for everyone to get some.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My side hustle turned into my full-time business! As I stated before baking was never in my line-of-sight because I always felt it was way too much work and unappreciated. However, I do feel it’s still unappreciated even though I’m now in that line of work. I’m doing this not only because I fell in love with it but I’m doing it for my children as well. Remember now I wouldn’t be baking if it wasn’t for my oldest son! He was just 4yrs old when we relocated to Georgia and at the time, I had just gotten married July of 2016 and was pregnant in Aug of 2016 with my second child (Honeymoon was sweet as you can tell lol). When we relocated I moved up before my husband and son. Moved in with my Aunt in law and things were starting to look up. Baby girl was doing well, and I was looking for work. While I was looking for work nothing was happening no one was calling i lost so much hope thinking this was the wrong decision. So yes, after a while I decided to stop applying for jobs and said to myself, I guess I’m supposed to be a stay-at-home mom at this point. I later told my husband how I was feeling, and he did his best to mesmerize me with his words trying to reassure me that everything is going to be okay. I would like to say his words didn’t work too well because the following day was my Dr. appointment and it’s safe to say that the next time I spoke to my husband and son was when they were visiting my beautiful baby girl and I in the hospital. Yes, I said beautiful baby girl and hospital. As we all know by now ( if you anything like me you already did the math lol) she was due May of 2017 but came into this world prematurely hollering at 3lbs 4oz in March of 2017. Rewind, When I got to my Dr. appointment that day my blood pressure was thru the roof literally walking around here about to explode and didn’t even know (that’s why they say blood pressure is a salient killer). Dr called hubby from the office, mind you he is thousands of miles away and nothing he can do, the person I had here was our aunt (very grateful for her) so I called and told her what’s going on and she was at the hospital in no time and never left until my family arrived. Thank you, aunty.
It really all started back in Sept of 2018 when we moved into our new home it was right around the time when my son was making his 5th birthday and I asked the world’s biggest question to any 4yr old. What would you like for your birthday? His response was“Mom, can you make me a cake for my birthday?” I don’t like the cake from the store.” At that time, he was only making 5 so what does he know about cake and the taste? I asked myself and laughed it off thinking he was joking but no, he wasn’t the next morning he asked, mommy are you going to make me the cake for my birthday even before he brushed his teeth so you knew he meant business lol. I paused for a brief moment and then told him yes, me being the mom that i am i couldn’t tell the sweet innocent face NO! I figured it was just a cake for children but excuse me I’m totally wrong their taste buds work just as good as everyone else’s own if not better. I didn’t know anything about making cake besides it should be moist, flavorful and delicious so I pulled out my recipe book and made him a cake for his birthday. The cake was amazing for my first-time baking. I shared the cake with many families and friends, and they all loved it. It had some stuff I personally didn’t like about the cake but, who is my biggest critic other than myself lol. I went back to the drawing board a few weeks later with at least 4 different recipe books and did my combination thing and created the masterpiece that I have today. Now that I’ve gotten into baking, I can actually say I love it. Do I love baking more than cooking? No, but what really excites me is the art work in the end and the facial expression on my customers faces. Melts my heart every time, I love good and bad reviews helps me to know my strengths and weaknesses all at the same time! When I make a cake I fall in love with the craft at the end, it amazing to see the work I do. I surprise myself all the time lol. Sometimes I don’t even believe that I made those cakes. Now, guys it is not always easy running a business and having little people running around but it is all worth it at the end of each day. because I honestly thought I would have been driving a truck, combing hair, cutting into or even sticking people with a needle. Life is so funny you never know where your journey is going to take you. Enjoy your life, live it to the fullest and do your best in everything you do. “How you do one thing is how you will do everything, take pride in your work and accomplishments. Don’t ever give up on your dreams, every situation you’re in is only for a moment so just ride it out and come out on top and only you can determine your top.
“When I baked my son’s birthday cake, I didn’t even know what I was doing but I did it! Was it the best-looking cake a 4yr old could ask for? No, it wasn’t but did it taste like everything this 4yr old hoped for? Yes, it did, and that kid was the happiest 4yr old known to mankind that whole week until his cake was finished.” My point to this is you never know what you can do unless you try!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Honestly speaking I’m mediocre at this whole social media thing. At one point I had a good following on Instagram. It was like about 550 followers (I know I know lol) but someone wanted the followers more than I apparently did so they hacked my page and took all of my followers along with them. I’ve since then created a new account, but the struggle is real when it comes to getting traction and followers. I must admit I’m very inconsistent in posting. Am I going to give up NO, I’m not losing faith because one day I’m going to wake up and my Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook followers will be through the roof. Come Back Eats and Treats, LLC will be viral by the end of 2023! Also, I’ve noticed that people who are going places with social media, they post content all the time so I’m thinking that’s what I’m doing wrong. I don’t post often. I’ve never really been a social media person. Never really liked being in the spotlight so building my social media content is helping me change that about myself.
For the ones planning to start a business on social media DO IT AND DONE! Really ask yourself what is holding you back besides you! Get your equipment, take your pictures, videos, and post post post post. Don’t let what you see on social media drive you or your business as my wise friend once told me, be unique in everything you do. Create your own signature to your work. Content isn’t only posted on social media it is also posted in someone’s brain just by seeing your work at the event it’s posted up at. Yes, the world is currently all about social media however that’s not what you should be all about there is more to life than social media. Just put your business out there everywhere you can, and you will be successful! Your work will speak for itself no doubt, just believe in yourself! I’m still working on believing in myself. I must say without my husband’s support I wouldn’t have made it thus far. I Love You BamBam and thank you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/comebackeatsandtreatsllc
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/comebackeatsandtreatsllc
- Other: Google: COME BACK EATS AND TREATS LLC TikTok: COME BACK EATS AND TREATS LLC
Image Credits
Curtia Roberts