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

Taylor, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful it all comes down to your mindset. First you need to think what you do you want? and why do you want it? When people think of success nine times out of ten the first thing they think of is the financial aspect of success. But success should be for your own personal fulfillment of getting your goal completed, and how can you use your success to help others? What you choose to do should not always be about the money. Because what are you going to do when the money isn’t there? When you are truly passionate about something you will continue to work on your craft regardless of the circumstances. So, what it takes to be successful is four things which is discipline, consistency, self-awareness, and prayer to whoever your highest power is.

I have developed this point of view of success by being a college student and unintentionally starting a business. I have always baked with my family growing up and one day in my junior year I was in my college dorm, and I started baking for fun. I started baking cupcakes, and cake pops and brung them to meetings for the student organizations I was a part of and, people really liked my desserts. Then my friend told me you should start a business and call it Tay’s Tasty Treats and in that moment we were joking about it, but then I said why not ? A few days later I started an Instagram page and I was just casually baking for fun. Then ,I started selling my items on campus and I realized I was making an impact when I made a cake for someone who never had a birthday cake before. I continued to bake after I graduated college in 2020. I proceeded to get my Masters degree in 2022 ,and I continued to bake and grow my business. I continued to bake even when my cakes didn’t come out right or my vision wasn’t coming through. I had nights where I was very frustrated if my cake wasn’t perfect. But, I kept going. I began to get better at my craft and really ask myself what type of baker do I want to be? I learned that I have an aesthetic artsy style of baking because ,I’m a very creative person and I love art ,and the fact that I can follow a recipe and then create a work of art from icing is very fulfilling. So I started baking as a personal passion .I then impacted others and baking has became another stream of income that has blessed me in many ways. I can honestly say baking has made me successful and it’s still only the beginning.

Taylor, 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?

I am 24 years old and was born and raised in Maryland. I attended Delaware State University to obtain my bachelor’s in criminal justice and in my junior year of college I started my baking business. I baked for students on campus and my business really kicked off when I was a vendor when my school hosted a Women’s business brunch. I sold all my treats and desserts in under an hour. I continued my business while living at home and I am proud of my consistency and growth. The moment I was proud was when I baked my first wedding cake and hosted a community service with the profits made from my business.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

At first funding and spending money on ingredients was difficult. I was spending my profits on inventory and not seeing my true profits. So, I then applied for a business credit card through capital one and spend any baking needs on there. I also opened a business bank account, and all my proceeds are in a separate account. I pay my credit card off from my 9-5 job as a case manager. It is a win win because I am not touching my earned money and my credit score goes up in the process. I can also keep track of my spending and profits accurately when tax season comes around.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media by posting good quality of my work. I have been consistent with posting on my actual timeline on multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok. I use hashtags so when people are looking for custom cakes they can be directed to my pages. The advice I would give is to post on Tiktok, and Instagram with trending audios because it will resurface your audiences pages quicker. I would also suggest engaging with your audience in your comments as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: Taystreats.org
• Instagram: @_taystastytreats_
• Facebook: Tays Tasty Treats
• Youtube: @Tayleetv