We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jammie South a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jammie , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

As a child, I grew up baking with my grandpa and great-grandma, which has been an enormous influence and reason for my business. My favorite childhood memories involve eating cookie batter and frosting by the spoonful and the scent of cookies baking in the oven. I would always burn my tongue on a fresh chocolate chip cookie because I was too impatient to wait and wanted to enjoy the gooeyness. Those memories are unlocked every time I bake. A feeling of nostalgia and reminiscing memories occur while I’m in the kitchen. I still have the original wooden recipe box from my family. It’s chocked full of handwritten recipe cards from the 50s and on, a priceless relic. The childlike joy and memories that could be brought to others are what I want to accomplish. I baked for many, many years. I was always asked to create and bake for friends and family. I would practice both new and vintage recipes. I would formulate my recipes after trial and error. I had many willing taste testers at my side. I was always asked why I had not turned my passion into a business. I was reluctant and didn’t feel I was worth that level. I already was doubting myself and my skills, comparing myself to others. My thought was that nobody would pay me for my baking.
In 2010, I was going through a separation that led to a divorce. Life was changing, and I needed to support myself financially and successfully. I was standing in my living room, looking around, and thought that this was the moment that would propel me into starting my own business, and Jammie Cupcake began.

Jammie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jammie South and I’m a California native, born and raised in Orange County. I’m a creative person with a passion for art, music, and creating with my hands. As the sole proprietor and creative baker for Jammie Cupcake, my creativity, whimsy, and imagination are combined with my baking skills. I create baked goods, specializing in cupcakes and cakes. My goal is to bring joy to all who I bake for. Food is the glue that holds many people together, especially when it comes to events. Weddings, birthdays, school graduations, and many other special moments always include celebratory desserts.
When creating my business, it was important to me to make a positive impact on my community, I wanted to give back. I wanted to bake, but it was an integral part of my business plan to make a positive imprint and lasting memories locally. That is where my tagline reads, Making the world sweeter one treat at a time.
I partner with local hospitals and foundations for children, where I surprise children with custom birthday cakes or cupcakes on their special day. This includes cancer patients and foster youth. I have collaborated with many schools in the Orange County area. I have been a guest speaker numerous times, teaching baking classes both privately and at a local college, and currently donate to special charities and non-profit events. I have created fundraising events through my baking. I conduct lectures and speak to young adults on how to create a small business and entrepreneurship. I offer business mentorship to young adults as well. Being a previous teacher really helps with facilitating and teaching.
I share my journey in hopes of inspiring others. Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

You are a maker and creator, you are working constantly with time, temperature, clients, deadlines, not enough hours in the day, last-minute orders, decision-making, etc. Those can be your daily business struggles, which require daily resilience. Working a nine-to-five job, being a divorced/single mom of a teen, and running a business simultaneously can be challenging. If your passion ignites your love for your business, that’s your strength. My resilience was shown when I was diagnosed with cancer in July of 2022. This was right after my birthday and was a complete shock and an accidental find. Receiving news and going into surgery the following morning was not on my busy calendar. The first thing I thought was, how will I fulfill my client orders during a busy season of school graduation and college send-offs? I can’t cancel orders; they rely on me to execute their baking vision.
For me to handle what was a (hopefully a temporary situation) I continued and didn’t miss a beat. I baked while taking care of myself. My healing came from the satisfaction of baking and creating. I worked slower, with stitches and bandages, but it brought me joy and positivity. This showed my resilience and integrity in my personal life and business life. Now that I’m cancer-free, I utilize this knowledge by donating to those in the hospital, cancer ward, or going through chemo and treatment. Giving back to the community is of the utmost importance to me. It’s amazing how a sweet treat can brighten someone’s day.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Be yourself! Be your pure, authentic self. It’s not about the goal of reaching a million clientele. The goal is to have relationships with your clients. To build trust and show integrity with your work. As a baker, you are a maker. You hand-create everything that you sell. There’s a lot of patience, planning, and execution into everything baked. When I have a client placing an order, I’m trying to invoke a feeling of celebration. Anyone can crank out a million plain cupcakes, but if you are relating to the event, style, color scheme, décor… you will always make a lasting imprint. You will be a piece of that lasting memory of that day. If you follow that formula, you will have returning clientele and many referrals. Your passion sells your work for you.

Contact Info:

• Website: Under construction and will launch soon.
• Instagram: jammie_cupcake_oc
• Linkedin: jammiecupcake
• Youtube: Will have a You tube channel in the near future.
• Other: Jammie Cupcake jammiecupcake@yahoo.com 714-900-3194

Image Credits
Jammie South