.jpg)
Cake Therapy
Cake Therapy is a heartwarming and uplifting podcast that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. Hosted by Dr. Altreisha Foster, the passionate baker, entrepreneur and advocate behind Cake Therapy, this podcast is a delightful blend of inspiring stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode takes listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking.
Cake Therapy
Natasha Givens of NattyKakes shares her journey with infused cakes
Natasha Givens transforms cannabis and cake into art with purpose. As the creative force behind Cream Cakery (also known as Natty Kakes), she's turned her twin passions into a platform for healing, advocacy, and destigmatization.
Our conversation traces Natasha's remarkable journey from her Caribbean roots to corporate America, where she thrived as an art director before workplace challenges pushed her toward a different path. What began as a creative outlet—making a three-tiered cake for a friend's baby shower—eventually blossomed into something unexpected when she rediscovered baking during her pregnancy in 2019. "It felt like revisiting an old friend," she shares, describing how baking became her therapy during a crucial life transition.
Most fascinating is Natasha's evolution into cannabis-infused baking. After experiencing the plant's medicinal benefits firsthand for anxiety and PTSD, she became captivated by its potential. Despite concerns about stigma—especially as a mother—she leaned into cannabis education, developing signature butters and oils while building a client base that includes everyone from traumatized first responders to older women processing grief. "I have clients who still use my products and tell me how I helped them through a really dark time," she reveals, her voice filled with emotion.
As Minnesota navigates cannabis legalization, Natasha positions herself at the forefront of creating an equitable industry while expanding her vision to include a boutique flower store. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? "Be driven by your heart. Take time to listen to what's inside you and go back to your childhood—what lit you up?" Her own six-month break from corporate America has stretched into six years of purposeful entrepreneurship, showing how following your passion can lead to unexpected healing—for yourself and others.
Discover how Natasha is blending flour and flower into medicine, art, and community at @nattykakes on Instagram.
Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Share the episodes and let's chat in the comments.
Support the Cake Therapy Foundation:
1. Cake Therapy - Cake Therapy (thecaketherapyfoundation.org)
2 Buy Me A Coffee : The Cake Therapy Foundation (buymeacoffee.com)
3. Buy The Book: Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life https://a.co/d/76dZ5T0
Follow Sugarspoon Desserts on all social media platforms @sugarspoondesserts
Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast a slice of joy and healing, with your host, dr Altricia Foster. This is a heartwarming and uplifting space that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. The conversations will be a delightful blend of inspirational stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode will take listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking. There's something here for everyone, so lock in and let's get into it, hi everyone, welcome back to the Cake Therapy Podcast with me, your host, trisha Foster.
Speaker 2:Today we're joined by Ms Natasha Givens. I'm calling this series the Minneapolis Minnesota Takeover because this season we've spoken to a lot of people from the Twin Cities. This season we're talking to a lot of people from the Twin Cities. This season we're talking to a lot of guests from the Twin Cities and I'm extremely excited to have Natasha on the show with us For our listeners and subscribers. Thank you for joining us and if you're listening and you haven't subscribed yet, please go ahead and subscribe. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. We have our media up on YouTube. You can find that podcast there.
Speaker 2:So thank you again for the ongoing support. Leave us a message, comment you know, share, Let us know how you're feeling, how you're liking our guests and you know what the podcast has been doing for you. So, as usual, we are hoping to bring you a slice of joy and healing through our conversation and to really anchor our podcast and remind everyone that we just don't talk about baking here. We talk about art forms that people use as their extended source of support. So today we are speaking with Natasha Gibbons.
Speaker 2:She is extremely innovative. She's the visionary behind Cream Cakery, also known as Natty Cakes. She's a one-woman show, just like at Sugar Spoon Desserts, but she's a one-woman powerhouse indeed in the world of gourmet edibles. She's a one-woman powerhouse indeed, in the world of gourmet edibles. She's blending her background in art, baking and cannabis into delectable masterpieces, and if you follow on Instagram, you can see the artistic side of her resonating in her pieces as well. As you know, she talks about her love for edibles in there. So before she launched Cream Cakery, she spent over a decade in corporate world. Corporate America always gets us in first, so she spent over a decade there, where she was the art director and designer of a particular organization. But you know, as she says in her story, that in the corporate world it's hard as a black woman just navigating this space. And she is falling in love with edibles. And she's not only redefining what's possible in cannabis edibles, but she's also passionate. She's also a passionate advocate for the destigmatization of cannabis use and empowering women of color in the industry. She is extremely committed to her craft. Her community shines through in every cake and cookie she creates. So we've been delving in her inspiring journey from corporate grinding to making these brilliant and meaningful and impactful delectable delights.
Speaker 2:So I'm excited to talk to Natasha today. So welcome, Natasha to the show. All right, Hi, Natasha, Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast. How are you doing today? Hello, Thank you for having me. I'm good. How are you? I am doing well. You know I've waited a while to have this conversation. You know, when I started to think about the Cake Therapy podcast, I was like, oh my God, I have to bring everybody I know on. I want to talk to everybody, you know, to kind of understand their background and their why, as they're opening these businesses right, and mostly there are a lot of women who are doing cake any time of art form to really center themselves, and you were one of my people on my list, so I'm really excited that Stephanie finally got you in.
Speaker 3:Thank you, you're welcome yeah.
Speaker 2:I know. So at the top of the conversation I was telling our listeners that your specialty is in edibles, but you make amazing cakes because you do have an art background. So I want to, you know, do a mental health check-in, see how excited you are to be on the podcast, see what's going on around you and to even check in on fam, like what's good.
Speaker 3:Of course, of course. So, um, my life right now is really hectic. I have a four-year-old that I am home with every day, so my hubby's at the office and everybody's at school it's me and my four-year-old. So, although it is lovely to be at home, especially coming from a corporate background, this era of my life is blessed, but also chaotic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've had a pretty chaotic summer too, because this summer I decided not to enroll my kids in anything because they've had such a big school year. But man, I'm like that I should have. I should have gotten their ass out.
Speaker 3:You ready for them to go back?
Speaker 2:I am. I am too ready for them to go back to school. Yeah, so you know you briefly mentioned about your corporate background, but I want to know about you, natasha, your upbringing and how did your early life, your family environment kind of influence the path you took into corporate?
Speaker 3:Okay, sure. So my family is originally from Trinidad and Tobago. Both my parents my dad is by way of India and my mom is kind of like an indigenous mix of Trinidad. So when they migrated to the United States, they moved to Brooklyn, naturally. That's where they lived in Bed-Stuy for a little, and then moved to the Baltimore area before having me, and so I was the only girl. I was the middle girl of a very traditional Caribbean family. You know what that means. So they expected only the highest of things for me and all those things. So as, as I, as I was growing up, my older brother, who is now a cosmetic surgeon, was like, wow, like I had this person in front of me that was doing like amazing schoolwork, all these things, and I was the artist always the artist, the writer, the, you know, played the violin.
Speaker 3:I was heavy, always leaning into art. You know, played the violin, I was heavy, always leaning into art. Um, I remember I had to do like a, like a, something in English class where I had to like demonstrate but also teach people. And I chose to teach people how to do, um, kid decorating. So like I went into class I brought a little cake, took my piping bags and started teaching them different techniques of how to pipe at the time in the 90s, so like basket weave and all the basic kind of piping techniques. I never thought that I'd go into cake design, always wanted to be a designer.
Speaker 3:So immediately after high school I ended up actually having my first daughter at the age of 19. So I took, I took kind of like a sidetrack to like the path that I was on kind of got wrapped up in just that young adult kind of mess. You know what I mean. Had a baby my boyfriend at the time. I had a baby my boyfriend at the time. We were in a relationship. Just it just was toxic and young adult type stuff. It really derailed me from what I was wanting to do with my life and the path.
Speaker 3:So I took that, I took that detour for probably like five years before going back to school to finish design. Immediately after finishing up my design and communication degree, I got a job right away at a publication house and really like climbed fast in corporate America, despite being a woman, despite being a woman of color because I, my talent just spoke for itself. I am so passionate about design. Still to this very day I will leave everything and go work in Manhattan somewhere for a design company if I could. So super passionate, but while I was in that, corporate America is a rat race, yeah. And then you do start to see the things like people around you are getting paid more than you but they're not at your level. Things like having to fight for titles over years. It was, it was much.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I started supplementing my income at the time with caking and also my creativity, because I was like boxed in. I always had a love for cake. I will live off of cake. So my friend was having a baby shower. I was still like, let's try to make a cake. Make a cake. I was like, ok, fine, it's going to be less expensive if I make it. First three tiered cake I made was for one of my best friend's baby shower and I had no idea what I was doing, but it came out gorgeous and it tastes even better and people at the party were like you need to do this, you really need to do this. And I kept doing it. It I kept doing it through that career.
Speaker 2:So at what point of all of this did you realize that you were passionate about cake that you were going to? You know, start doing, because first you talk about teaching people in school you know from this kid and then making this baby shower cake. When did it? It hit you that man. I'm passionate about this art form also.
Speaker 3:Well, I knew at that moment that first tear cake, it was like something went off in me, yeah, and I was like, wow, it gave me, it fulfilled me. It gave me so much joy, not only from making something from nothing, but the part that filled me so much and still, to this day, fills me so much is the the reaction when they see it and when they taste it, like knowing people are consuming your art is the most amazing feeling.
Speaker 2:No, no, I do get it. You know, I've had like so many conversations on here with women and men who are kind of juggling right, have this corporate lifestyle, and then they're baking, this is their hobby. How do you, or how did you manage, you know, to balance this, your corporate career, with your growing interest in baking as you were doing it?
Speaker 3:at the time. So I think I started back in 2010,. Besides the corporate world kind of triggering me into doing doing that for creative outlet, um, I also was going through like a really bad breakup and I was a single mom and it kept me out of that. You know what I mean. Baking kept me out of my mind as much and it sustained me in corporate America for maybe two years, honestly, before I got burnt out because I wasn't pricing accordingly, because I was working full time also, I just didn't have the capacity. So I stopped. I actually stopped taking around 2013 because of work, life, things like that, and I put it on the back burner. I didn't come back to it until 2019.
Speaker 3:By that time, I had met my husband. He very much believed in my dream and I started doing it with my last pregnancy. I started baking again during my last pregnancy with my son. Yeah, um, it's re-sparked everything in me, but because of this era of my life I'm in, I was able to like, lean into it as, like, in a real healthy and beautiful way. That made it, made everything come alive at that point, like I knew. I knew then that, like, okay, I circled back to what I one of the talents that I was supposed to be doing circled back to what I, one of the talents that I was supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, like, what resonates with me is like you finding your passion and your purpose in baking again as you were pregnant, cause I, too, found baking when I was pregnant with my second child. Oh, wow, that's right. Yeah, absolutely, I took a cookie class when I was pregnant with her and that's when all hell broke loose. Yeah, absolutely, I took a cookie class when I was pregnant with her, and that's when all hell broke loose. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just couldn't stop baking. So in those moments, like for me, I found myself right when I was pregnant with my daughter and I was baking. Then I all the trauma that happened to me as a child start coming back. So I started to bake through that stuff and I just kept. I just stayed in the kitchen. But, and it? What is it for you that kept you going as you were pregnant? Is it passion, purpose, what was it that kept you going as you were pregnant, and why?
Speaker 3:it felt like I was revisiting an old friend and it was exciting to see them. It was exciting to participate and it tapped another creativity for me Because I wasn't like boxed in with like a full-time job. I was still very much healing from my, my work life and my work experience. It it felt, it felt like therapy.
Speaker 3:It felt like therapy, yeah, so like literally. When I first found out about your podcast, I was like, oh wow, because caking is therapy. Yeah, anybody that bakes knows like I don't know what it is, but during that process of like putting together a cake, being inspired in those moments, but also like working through whatever it is at the time you're going through and seeing this beautiful thing come out that people can enjoy, was, like again, like really the most fulfilling for me and I think in my mind I was really wanting to put creative energy into that baby. I wanted him to be a creator and an artist and all these things that men don't openly get to be sometimes. Yes, and it worked, because now he is that's very, very, that's good stuff.
Speaker 2:That's good stuff. You know, so many of us like live in fear of leaving these. Nine to five jobs like that gives them this consistent cash, dollar, dollar bills, right. So someone like myself I'm tithering on the edge of like this completely, just walking away from it all and just going into bakery. Yeah, what do you say to a woman like me who's just tithering on the edge?
Speaker 3:and saying, oh my God, I can't leave all these degrees behind and walk away like you did.
Speaker 2:Like what is it that made you decide I'm going to do this and forget about that? That made you decide I'm going to do this and forget about that.
Speaker 3:My husband, honestly, and the support group that I had around me like the support system that I had around me really allowed me to like press into it.
Speaker 3:If I didn't have that, honestly, I wouldn't have done it. I still, every day, as an entrepreneur, wake up and think I need to go get a job, I need to go get a job, I need a 401k. So I'm not even going to lie, I'm not even going to lie around the struggle of like I mean sometimes you're flooded with, you know, you think everybody's going to need cakes, like from the end of time to the end of time people's going to need cakes, like from the end of time to the end of time people are going to need cakes. But with the economy, you know how that is and so, honestly, I don't push women to like make that leap or push anybody to make that leap. I say way out, you know, way out what those, what those are. If I, at any point, if my husband, you know, was like what those, what those are, if I, at any point, if my husband, you know, was like you need to go back to work, I would.
Speaker 2:I would like my money.
Speaker 3:My baby going into school too, and as at five, five, I think about that, will I press into my bakery more or will I? I struggle, I have to say honestly, right at this very moment. I struggle with that because of the economy and the state that we're kind of in.
Speaker 2:It really does ebbs and flows. There are moments where you're just doing extremely well and I think that's what put the fear of God inside of me. I tell people all the time Natasha, I was poor and broke before and I don't want to be poor and broke no more. So I'm just sitting One foot on the right and one foot on the left. That is my biggest fear.
Speaker 3:I'm like I can never be broke again.
Speaker 2:No, I can't, I can't. I'm allergic to that stuff, so I'm just sitting here. No, for real, I'm just like Lord, help me in that moment. So I was reading Stephanie and I were talking yesterday as we were preparing for our conversation eating. Stephanie and I were talking yesterday as we were preparing for our conversation and she sent me over the notes and she said that you watch Bon Appetit and that sparked your interest in cannabis infused baking. And I'm like tapping into you, Did she say Bon Appetit? And she's like no. And I went to Google, girl, and I was like there is such a thing.
Speaker 3:Yes, so tell us.
Speaker 3:It even took me to a next level. Yeah, so I started. I mean, I've always been an advocate of marijuana. I mean, obviously I dabbled when I was a teenager, like most people Coming up. I really started to see like the benefits of the plant During, like my corporate years. I definitely didn't because I was always in some kind of work mode, but as I got out of corporate America and was really trying to heal from that experience, from my workplace trauma, I started using cannabis for my anxiety, for PTSD, for I mean, and I just was literally obsessed with like the plant, like the magic of this plant and, being Caribbean, like I always believed in everything is made here, god has everything already here for us medicines, all that. So I lead into it, started looking and learning and researching the plant itself, fell in love with it, absolutely fell in love with the plant and started learning about extractions.
Speaker 3:I stumbled upon the show Bon Appetit, like you said, which is it used to be on Vice, I believe the channel, and it was. They brought in all these chefs and pastry chefs and bakers and they would infuse their foods with tinctures or, um, you know, butters and oils, and I was fascinated. I was, I was absolutely captivated by the culture, the plant, the medicine, and I started to dabble. Yeah, it took me months to eventually create my own kind of signature butters and oils that were medicinal, and that was back in 2018. And I would say, before Minnesota was legalized. I knew that I wanted to be in the forefront of that industry in a way, in a niche way. That spoke to me, yeah, and I just literally started one day. I worried what people would think about me as a mom, as a wife, as a professional, like what is she doing?
Speaker 2:What is she doing? I know because that's what I wanted to wanted to know, because there's such a stigma, right, and I'm like, did you face any of that kind of backlash when you first started incorporate THC in your, your desserts or your baked?
Speaker 3:goods. Yes, my parents honestly didn't know about it for like a year or two. But I'm like, I'm in my 40s, I'm fine, I'll be all right. And I leaned into it because I hated that stigma. Yeah, so I leaned in even more because I hated that stigma. I wanted people to know, like women, mothers, this is medicine, like, and the only way to educate people and I'm sorry to take away that stigma is to educate people and I'm sorry to take away that stigma is to educate people around it and around the plant. So that was always my intention and goal. So, immediately when I started openly advertising and telling people, people were very leery. But my product absolutely speaks for itself.
Speaker 3:And as legalization became, you know, on the forefront, through legalization, all of those things it just kept on building and women saw me as just being fearless in the sense that I'm. I'm okay If, whatever your idea of what I'm doing is Because I know that it's magic, I know that it's helping people. I have clients who are firefighters. During the George Floyd time I had civil servants who were out there every night battling fires, arresting people. You know what I mean, like really trauma in their lives that they were experiencing in their profession, some of my most loyal customers that help they still to this day.
Speaker 3:I get chill I just got goosebumps thinking about it because they still use my products. They still come to me and tell me how I helped them through a really dark time. I have older women. An older woman who comes and buys edibles because her mom just passed. She's having a hard time processing that. So the lives that I touch outside of just cakes, it just has been built upon and it fills my heart Like, honestly, just speaking about it makes me want like tear up, because not only has it made a way for me but has empowered so many other women in their lives without even saying it, you know so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. You speak of like empowerment and you speak of what you do with such passion and in some ways I get you felt, you feel and you know that you this work is purpose-driven for you. How do you see Natasha as the or do you see Natasha as a figurehead in the destigmatization of cannabis use in not only Minnesota but across the US and across the world? What is your vision for that?
Speaker 3:Repeat the actual question. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was saying that if you see yourself as a figurehead in destigmatization of cannabis, I do.
Speaker 3:I really want to further push. There are so many black and brown women currently in the market nationally that are doing amazing work for destigmatization mothers, incarcerated mothers, like so many women out there doing it. I hope that in Minnesota I can maintain my position in it. Honestly, I've had a few articles written about my infuse side when I say my infuse side, my edible brand, which is Netflix Artisan Edibles. I've had some articles written. I try to engage in podcasts to like further get the message out there around just education in general. Eventually I would love to start teaching how to infuse your own foods, how to infuse your own cakes, things like that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Do you ever think you'll move away from cream cakery and just be Natasha the infused side, or would you keep both? Do you think?
Speaker 3:Well, currently, right now, I only kind of I only work under Natty Cake Artisan Edibles and I do not infuse under that brand as well. Okay, I don't. I feel like my edible customers are kind of both. Both sides of my customers are worried like, oh, if I order a cake from a, will it be infused or will it not be infused? So, um, I try to be like really very clear about safety around dosing and things like that. You can trust me. Um, but I do operate under that and I do feel like my infused edible side has honestly taken off. That side of my business is far surpassed just doing cakes.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so what are some of the? Uh, this is my my question, something that I'm really interested because I've never smoked a split. I've seen it, I'm Jamaican, I know I've never. Oh, okay, I know, believe me, I have never touched that thing and I fall into the group that kind of stigmatized, you know, weed smoking and that kind of stuff, sure? So, um, what unique benefits do you believe cannabis infused edibles offer compared to other methods of cannabis consumption? Smoking a weed versus you know? Smoking a split for his yeah, the edible itself.
Speaker 3:So the actual flower it's flower. What you smoke is the flower of the plant, so, so I personally love to smoke flower. It is a different intake process in your body, so usually when people ingest edibles, it's more for a body response, so you will get the body effects from like. I personally use hybrid flowers in my in my treats. A hybrid has and indica components in it, usually levels of CBD in there, but I'm not pulling for that. I'm usually pulling for the THC. Okay, and the indica is going to help you relax. Depending on the strain.
Speaker 3:I could choose strains that offer more help with anxiety relief, more help with body pain, things like that. I was recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, so as a banker, I'm like, oh my gosh, how long am I going to be able to do this? Yeah, so currently I'm like really researching strains that will help with inflammation, help with pain management, things like that. So, yeah, I love being a scientist. I know, help with pain management, things like that. So, yeah, I love being a scientist. I know Baker is a little bit like being a scientist.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's absolute chemistry, and you know what I love listening to you. You know talking about, oh, how you're doing your research to make sure that this is just right. I can hear from you that you are really intentional about ensuring that your THC level is right for every moment and every disparity.
Speaker 3:Right, that's what I'm getting Dosing is so very important, because you never want to overdose someone that can trigger anxiety in them, but you also don't want to underdose someone that really needs the medicine. Dose someone that really needs the medicine. So there is like a really careful balance of knowing and respecting, totally respect, having respect for the plant first and foremost, and just knowing that, just trusting, and I feel like intuitively I work off of, like my ancestors whispering to me as well, because, as I found out later, my parents and my aunts told me your grandparents used to do this in Trinidad for flavors, not with cannabis, but with different herbs, nuts. They'd make remedies for people and I'm like I have this in me. I have it in me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're living your legacy. So we're talking about your grandparents' legacy. Let's talk about your legacy in terms of being one of the figurehead African-American or Black women in this space. What are some of the things that you think that needs to still be done to ensure that the space is diverse and inclusive in terms of having more women in this space? What would you do differently?
Speaker 3:Well, I think Minnesota is doing a great job currently in trying to create a socially equitable landscape for cannabis. When it was legalized, they first said we will have a social equity lottery for licensing and that would include black and brown indigenous people with marijuana charges and felonies, things like that. Those would be the first who are allowed to apply for cannabis licensing, which I love that. I applauded them for that, for at least trying to create an equitable environment. If you follow legalization throughout the nation, you will see that although those preliminary things are put into place in a lot of states, it goes into a shit show shortly after Other people from different states move in to do business, you know. So, as of right now, I feel good about Minnesota's legalization.
Speaker 3:In two years I might feel different. Yeah, but as I'm going through the licensing process currently, I would say like all of that is kind of scary. It's kind of scary honestly. I would say it's a little bit more intense than any kind of other regular licensing or business kind of venture. Yeah, so I can't. I don't know where I personally will be in like in the grand scheme of licensing. I do know that I will continue to do what I do as a healer, as a baker and hopefully I can maintain kind of like a stance in or hold my place in it so that I can push my agenda of education and women's rights around marijuana, I should say this definitely dominated by, by males.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, you know, when I see your work, I see I artistry, because I, without you know, having not read your background, and until I read your background, I realized, ok, that's her artsy side, shining. Your edibles are just amazing, and for me, if I walked in a space and I see them, like just the presentation alone will call me to take one and eat. You know, no, they really are amazing, and I see where you experiment with different forms. You know, I'm like oh my God, is that an edible? What's next, though? What are you working on? What can we look forward to seeing pop out? What's next for you? What's the next big thing that's coming for you? Talk back to us.
Speaker 3:So I'm actually going to be me and my husband will be launching a second business alongside mine that will curated flour, so all the flour that I use in my big products. A lot of people are like I want the actual flower to smoke, ingest whatever. So we will be opening up a boutique flower store where you can get curated flowers that I use. My flower that I use is always premium medical grade. So that's one side, but I don't know.
Speaker 3:I honestly I kind of want to go to London and do a do like a crazy art decoration class and like come back and just like make amazingly infused cakes like structures, Cause I made like this huge cake once that had like 1200 milligrams in it. But I really want to like travel the world and see what they're doing with cannabis yeah, in thailand and definitely want. I have a strong calling to europe, to the cakers over there are just like mind-blowing to me. Yeah, so just and and also like I want to dance in that line. I forever want to dance in that line of cakes and marijuana. Like it feels so like natural to me.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah. Well, I know many of us will, you know, look forward to seeing your post. I'm really excited when I see your your edibles. I'm really. I love seeing your work. It's very meticulous, they're neat, they're clean yeah.
Speaker 2:Presentation is key in this, in this space, and you've got it. You definitely have gotten that gift and I admire your bravery, thank you, to step out into a space that is often so stigmatized, but you step in into it and you step into it with such grace. You lean into the stigma. You do everything to empower women and girls within the space. But before I have you jump off because it sounds like I'm wrapping up here, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those looking to enter your niche market of infused products?
Speaker 3:I would say be driven by your heart, because this isn't a space for for anyone that is trying to make a million dollars overnight. It's not a space for for someone that especially. I want to speak especially to the cannabis industry. I feel like the most successful edible makers and producers, growers, farmers is because of what's in them, because of that, the heart and the passion, the love for the plant itself and what it does for other people. So I always tell, even no matter the industry, I say take time to listen to what's inside of you, Go back to your early days of childhood and think about the times, what lit you up, what were you good at, and if you find that the same talents are present in your life now, why not lean into them, Even if it's just for three months?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Those three months might turn into three years. That's what happened to me. I was only taking a break from corporate America. I didn't plan five years, actually six years now. Six years now I've been an entrepreneur. I only I said I was taking a six months off. It's turned into six years. So believe in yourself, believe in your personal magic, pray about it, ask your guides about it and I know that sounds all foo-foo, but truly I feel like that's the only way to succeed is like by following what's inside of you Trust. You're going to have to ride out the hard times, like you said, the ebbs and flows of finance, finances. You have to have a strong something in place so that, if it goes left, yeah, you're gonna be okay as well yep.
Speaker 2:She said that you're actually gonna be okay if it goes left. She's also encouraging you to lean into your own purpose, lean into your dream, lean into that thing that you loved and you were attached to as a child. Tell our listeners, Natasha, where they can find you.
Speaker 3:Currently, my website is being built. I am like you said. I'm very meticulous and perfectionist, so that's taking some time, but for right now, most of my audience finds me on Instagram and you could find me at Maddie Cakes, and that's N-A-D-T-Y-K-A-K-E-S for now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you definitely cannot miss Maddie Cakes. You'll be impressed by her edibles. I'm profoundly happy to have spoken with you, Natasha. It's a long time coming. I've enjoyed this conversation with you and I know that our listeners will too.
Speaker 3:I can say from a personal perspective.
Speaker 2:I admire you. I'm very, very proud of you. I'm proud of the work that you do. I'm proud that you're holding your own in this niche market. It's everything, it's all. Black Girl Magic and as an island girl, from one island girl to the next, excited about that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So thank you so much for joining us. This has been your slice of joy and healing. This has been the cake therapy podcast. If you haven't yet like, subscribe and follow us and guess what? Check out our website. It's the thecaketherapyfoundationorg. Buy us a coffee. Every time you buy us a coffee, it goes towards the girl. I don't drink coffee, but if you buy us a coffee, all of that money goes to supporting the girls in our community. So thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 3:Natasha for joining us Absolute pleasure. Thank you so much. Take care.
Speaker 2:Today's mindful moment tells us that cooking connects us to ourselves. Each meal is an invitation to care, to nourish, to be kind thank you for tuning in to the cake therapy podcast.
Speaker 1:Your support means the world to us. Let us know what you thought about today's episode in the comment section. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and if you found the conversation helpful, please share it with a friend. Also, follow Sugar Spoon Desserts on all social media platforms. We invite you to support Cake Therapy and the work we do with our foundation by clicking on the Buy Me a Coffee link in the description or by visiting the cake therapy website and making a donation. All your support will go towards the cake therapy foundation and the work we are doing to help women and girls. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next episode.