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

Jeneil, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I always say pastry is an introduced passion. I was a dish washer at Nobu57, in New York, when I was asked if I wanted a pastry position available. I have never said yes so quickly in my life! Being the only woman among men was just something I couldn’t get used to! I had never been on that side of the kitchen before and i mean literally hadn’t baked a thing in my life before then. This was all new to me and as excited as I was, I sucked at it. Given this opportunity though, I would go home and try to replicate desserts or make my own until i became really good at it. What made this something tha excited me was the idea of putting not only delicious elements together, but also creating something that people would simply be amazed by and made them happy. I decided in 2019, that I wanted to create my own business to show the world what crazy yet intriguing ideas I could come up with. I wanted to play around with different pastries and see what works. The name Jens Pastry Pleasures was made when I did a table of Desserts for a well known event in New York and I didn’t have a name for the business as yet, on the tag they had Jens Pastry Pleasures so i just ran with that name.

Jeneil, 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 Jeneil Lawrence owner and CEO of Jen’s Pastry Pleasures and HYBUZE’. I was born and raised in Jamaica. In 2015 I migrated to New York where I was introduced to the desserts and pastries world by working at a known restaurant in New York Nobu57. That’s when my passion for this craft came about. My business is a catering business, soon to be a store front. I cater to weddings, parties, events etc. I think what sets me apart from others is, for me everything is inspiration. W ith that, I can create just about anything and I know it will be great. I think what I am most proud of is where I am today. In the past, having to constantly fight to prove I’m great at what I do, I am happy that I’m currently in a position where instead of making a manager happy, I make my clients happy and thats what my business is about.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is success comes super easy. You know you might turn on your tv or even be scrolling through instagram or tik tok and your like I want to be just like that. SUCCESSFUL! But what does it take to get there? What goes on behind the scenes of a successful person? A lot of people show the joy of being successful and not the endless tears to reach there. And that’s what confused me the most. I dived in opening a business with the expectation that everyday would be sales, sales, sales! Fun fact, It took weeks before my first sale. The key to the success for my business is the consistency and the thought of just never giving up or losing hope.

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

As a child growing up in jamaica, it was never easy. And tho my mom tried her best to give as much as she could, it was just her for the most part which meant things would never come easy. It was instilled in me from a young age that if we can’t afford it we just can’t, no crying necessary. In 2015, I was given the chance to be here, but even so, coming into a new country with no help and having to figure everything out on your own was the most terrifying thing i had to do. A few times almost being homeless and a lot of times i went hungry just to make sure i was providing for my family back home. The moment I decided to really sit and plan this business, i realized with proper resources and a prior planing of just not wanting to be back in the position of not being able to afford just the simplest of things made me push really hard to make sure whatever my company needs to reach the level of succes it needs will get done. This might not be the typical business story but this is what motivates me to be even more than I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jenspastrypleasures.com
• Instagram: @jenspastrypleasures/ @eventuallysherose
• Facebook: jenspastrypleasures
• Twitter: jenspastrypleasures