Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jasmine Bonilla. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jasmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

My Hero is my mom (Josie Bonifacio). My mom was a single mother of 4 and struggled most of our young lives, but she had determination, grind, and lots of grit. She dabbled in a couple of small business ventures while keeping her full-time job as an international accountant in San Francisco. She sold Insurance, started a business called JJ Boutique selling children’s formal clothing, and she also catered authentic Filipino foods to co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family. These were all side hustles that she was very proud of, but could not maintain due to lack of financial resources and support. These side hustles slowly fizzled out and she ended up retiring from the Bank and lived a pretty quiet life surrounded by her kids, grandchildren, mom, dad, and siblings.

Watching her journey through life, whether it was raising us as mom and dad, working long hours, or dabbling in her businesses, created a fire in me to never give up and to always do what made me happy. When I came to her about my sauce business idea, I was a bit afraid that she would encourage me to go in another direction because my background was not in food (it was in Administrative services for banking and healthcare), instead, she told me to go for it and keep pushing. her exact words were “If you believe in it, stick to it and you will be successful…do it, because I never had the chance to.”

I am often told that I work with a lot of grit and grind. I can say that I learned that from My hero, my mom. Since our conversation, I was able to successfully start my own sauce business, Jazz’s Saucy Sauce. I currently sell my sauces in a couple of Farmer’s Markets in Sacramento, I sell online and my sauces can be found at several local shops in the Sacramento area. We’ve been featured on the front page of the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Business Journal, and Comstock Magazine. We’ve made appearances on several news channels. I was able to enjoy and celebrate my latest magazine article in Sacramento Magazine with my mom in June 2021, a few days before she passed away. She was my cheerleader, one of my biggest supporters, and my HERO.

Thanks, Mom for all your wisdom, sacrifice, and grit that you passed along to me. I hope to pass the same on to my children.

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.

I tried a sauce my friend brought at a get-together, but it was a bit too strong for my palate. However, I was intrigued by it and was inspired to make my version of the sauce that evening. My friends and family fell in love with the sauce and that’s when Jazz’s Saucy Sauce was born! From word of mouth, social media, and the help of the Alchemist Incubator Program, the sauce gained popularity in a short time! From all the beautiful food photos to the kind words. This lit a fire in my heart to pursue a sauce business.

I attribute my love and respect for food to my mom and grandma, both of who are great cooks and I continue my family’s legacy by inspiring my children to appreciate the kitchen’s smells, tastes, and textures.

As my supporters and followers would say, you can taste the love in every drop of Jazz’s Saucy Sauce. Its versatility allows you to use it in many ways. Use it as a condiment, dressing, toss, marinade, dip, or pasta sauce! So how important is sauce in the world of food? Well, depends…How Saucy Do You Like It?

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I was working for Davita Dialysis as Clinical Administrative Assistant. In 2015 My husband and I were expecting our 2nd child and we knew that we would not be able to afford to be in the Bay any longer. We decided to relocate to the Sacramento area to purchase a home and set our roots down there. Before closing on our home my daughter, Elianna came very early at 28 weeks (we signed escrow papers bedside at the hospital). and she spent almost 3 months in the NICU. I was told by the doctors that it would be safer for her to stay home for the first year of her life. With that being said, I had to leave my job and become a stay-at-home mom. This was quite an adjustment, but I knew it w the best for her. As the months went on she was thriving and so were we. The months turned to years and before I knew it she was 3 and I became pregnant with my 3rd child. The stay-at-home mom title was going very well for our family. I made a promise to myself that I would create a business before Elianna started Kindergarten, and me even realizing it Elianna was going to be 5 soon and would be starting Kinder that fall, my business was ready to launch! Although pivoting and adjusting to a new environment and role was challenging, it was necessary to be able to grow and shine.

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

All though I love food, and I love to cook, my background is not in food. I took a huge leap of faith when I found a food accelerator program called Alchemist MicroEnterprose in Sacramento and decided to start a small food business. It was January 2020, the beginning of the COVID Pandemic I was a stay-at-home mom of 3, I was finishing up my online business courses at American River College and I was also homeschooling all three kids because of school closures. This, to say the least, was a very challenging time. Between my homework, the kid’s homework, and now new homework from the accelerator program, I was pretty surprised I had time to make dinner for my family. With the support of my husband who was the sole provider of our family, I was able to persevere and organize tasks from least importance to greatest importance. I stuck to this method and ticked off what was done slowly but surely. By the time I ticked off my last square, My business was ready to launch, I finished and passed my College classes and the kids were ready for summer break! This was the time that tested my resiliency but also proved that I was extremely resilient to the environments around me.

Contact Info:

• Website: jazzssaucysauce.com
• Instagram: @jazzssaucysauce
• Facebook: Jazz’s Saucy Sauce
• Linkedin: Jasmine Bonilla

Image Credits
I have rights to the photos