We were lucky to catch up with Twylla Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Twylla, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The name, Twylla’s Spices and Essentials, was chosen for multiple reasons. Using my name was definitely a must, my name being unique and we’ll, MINE! Lol. Not many people share my name, and hardly no one spells it the same as I do. The uniqueness would be the extra boost I needed when building my brand.

The word spices was obvious, since that’s what I was selling. The essentials part of my name came from my wanting to incorporate essential oils into my brand. I believe in the healing properties of essential oils, and they were a huge part of my life. Essential oils can be applied topically, but some are great in foods. Later in the process I decided to not use essential oils, and felt the word essentials allowed me the flexibility when growing my brand. Essentials cover many facets such as meal kits, kitchen tools and merchandise such as pot holders, and would cover an e-course or cooking demo.

Twylla, 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?

Twylla’s Spices and Essentials make spice blends for cooking that are additive free, preservative free and Vegan. There are also 3 blends that are sodium free. I chose to go this route because I did not like all the fillers and unnecessary additives of a lot of the seasonings that are on the market. The world was moving towards being more health conscious, and I was more than happy to get in on it.

My background has always been wrapped around food, even when my occupation wasn’t. I have always loved to cook, and I enjoyed even more how food always brought people together-especially good food. Simultaneously, I wanted to also empower people in the kitchen by equipping them with the ability to make good food too. I always heard statements like “how did you get your chicken to taste like that”, or “I have spices, but I don’t know how to put them together”. I created all my blends to be ‘one and dones’, meaning each blend can fly solo in a dish. In addition to taking the guesswork out if cooking, my blends makes cooking easier for those who are just starting out. For example my Taste of Mexico is great for tacos, Chili, or Carne Asada. Imagine how easy it would be to teach your 10 year old to make dinner for Taco Tuesday!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I am the type of cook that measure by a pinch and a dash. Creating blends of spices requires that every blend I make must taste the same every time. I realized this when I was testing out spice combinations. How was I gonna know what to add or what to delete if I didn’t keep track. I had to unlearn my care free way of cooking and write recipes down. Talk about a struggle! It’s even more important because I also do cooking demo’s and create recipe cards, with the hopes of creating a cookbook. The struggle is real!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clients is my current clients. Word of mouth is AMAZING! I have the greatest clients! Many of my customers purchase spices to give away, or make dishes for their family and work functions and brag about me. They share their creations on social media, and share new ways they have used a particular blend. One example would be my Sweet and Spicy Rub. The rub is great in meats like pork or Salmon, but a customer created a dip using the rub and sour cream. Sampling the sour cream at events makes the Sweet and Spicy Rub my #1 seller. Thanks Liz!

My spices makes great gifts, which also is a huge source of new clients. The recipients reorder because they get hooked.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.twyllasspices.com
• Instagram: @SpiceGirl1130
• Facebook: Twylla’s Spices and Essentials
• Youtube: Twylla’s Spices and Essentials

Image Credits
Twylla C. Brown