Speaker 1: 0:31

My name is Jackie Farabee. I am Grammy J from Grammy J's Baking. I'm a cookie baker. My specialty is cookies. I do bake cakes and cupcakes and puppy treats recently, mostly cookies for humans, but I have ventured into the world of puppy treats. For the most part, everything is a cookie for me.

Speaker 2: 0:49

I love that. I think you're my favorite kind of person a cookie maker, you know that's amazing. I love it. Before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, can you give me a backstory about yourself and how you got started, how you started your business and what led you to this industry?

Speaker 1: 1:03

Well, I've been baking my whole life, for as long as I can remember, baking with my mother, baking with my children and then baking now with my grandchildren. I'm an executive assistant, 25 years in the business and after the last restructure I was let go, not because of my abilities or my loyalties, just the way the business is running. And my husband said why don't you do something you really love? And I did love being an executive assistant. But the business changed after COVID. Everything was from home and the personal nature of it just was gone. It was just calendaring, and that gets really boring day after day.

Speaker 1: 1:48

So I said you know what? We had talked about me baking in my retirement, in our retirement, and I thought I'll just, I'll just flash forward the the timeline and we'll, we'll go for it now, yeah. So I said, why not bake now? So what I've decided is that cookies are my life now and as long as my days are. I absolutely love making all the decisions myself, not asking permission when I want to try something new. I get instant feedback at the farmer's markets where I sell my cookies and it's been a very positive experience for me. I've learned so much in the last two years.

Speaker 1: 2:30

It's only been two years, so this is going to be my third season. I do mostly farmers markets, private events and festivals, things like that.

Speaker 2: 2:41

Okay, I love that. And then could you tell me the origin of your business name and logo and branding? What's the story behind that?

Speaker 1: 2:51

Well, in 2021, my daughter had her first child, my granddaughter, june, and that's when I became Grammy. At first, I thought I wanted to be Grammy J and hence the name Grammy J speaking came about. Now, june, I thought Grammy J might be a bit much for her to handle at first, and I will tell you the first time she actually said Grammy, my reaction to her was so big that I actually scared her no. And then, of course, it was no, please say it again. Please say it again. And it's funny, my grandson, marshall. He's a year and a half and he is just able to say Grammy. And the first time he said it, of course it was a big deal and I made him giggle and it was, it was awesome deal, and I made him giggle and it was awesome. Grammy J's baking.

Speaker 1: 3:42

I had an idea for the logo as I was thinking about what I wanted for my business and I've always had a good sense of humor, a little off the top sometimes, but I found a logo that was a cookie with arms and legs and he was holding a sign and I figured I could change the message on the sign if I wanted to, and my nephew always liked to doodle Thomas.

Speaker 1: 4:04

He's a doodler and he, um, I gave him my idea. I couldn't use what I found on the internet because it had a trademark and I couldn't. I said can you, can you make something like this? And gave him the picture and he had it for about a week and he came back to me and he said Aunt Jay, I can't, I can't do arms and legs, they're just. I just can't do it. I'm sorry, but it's just too hard. So he made a cookie for me with a little bite taken out of it, and at first I wasn't sure. It only took a couple of minutes for me to fall in love with this little cookie. So that is my logo now and I took it to um, a young lady who's a web designer. She's actually the daughter of my sister's college roommate.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Oh, I know we're keeping it in the family. I was about to say Her name is Emma and Emma helped me design the branding around the cookie, the font and the colors, and you can see here, right there Show it off, grammy. J's baking was born and I now have this wonderful branding and the colors and I absolutely love it. But it was all in-house, no, that's wonderful. And now I have this wonderful little cookie and the tagline that I also found somewhere along the line, which is life is short, eat the cookie.

Speaker 2: 5:25

That's so good. Life is short, just eat the cookie. Come on, I love it. Why not? Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 5:44

Now how important is branding to you, because clearly that meant a lot to you. To get it right, find that right logo, instill it upon family members to get on board and help. How important is that to you and why? Challenges, and I was very emotional about it and I couldn't figure out why. And he said mom, this is your business. Of course it's personal, it's going to be personal. You put your heart and soul into every piece of it, and that's true when you are the person making all the decisions. Everything is a reflection of who you are. So the baking that I do are so the baking that I do, the flavors, the textures very important to me that when you open a bag of my cookies, that you have one of the best cookies you've ever had.

Speaker 1: 6:24

I tried my hand at decorating. The royal icing craze, you know, was really big a couple of years ago and I tried that and I found that it brought me zero joy because it didn't turn out very well. I said I'm not going to do anything that I don't enjoy, so I put that aside. I do some other decorating, but for me this is um, this is a way for me to share what I love with people. I don't know that's the. That's the part that thrills me still is baking for people. I don't know that's the part that thrills me still is baking for people. I don't know. I mean, I've been baking for my family and friends for as long as I can remember. Now I get to bake for people that come to the farmer's market or find me on Facebook or wherever it is, or word of mouth through a friend. I've had a number of recommendations. I've heard about your banana pudding cookies.

Speaker 1: 7:14

I have a realtor friend. He loves them and he tells everybody he knows that they should have these cookies. So it's it's very personal to me because it's something that I'm very passionate about, and it's not just it's not just a business for me. It's a way for me to bake for everybody else and that's what I enjoy. And I will tell you, oh my gosh, I put in some very long days. I mean, I worked hard in my last job but in my kitchen I can spend 12-14 hour days on my feet baking, creating, trying new things. Yeah, I just tried a new flavor yesterday. Actually, what was it? It's a hot chocolate cookie with little marshmallows on the top. Stop it. It took three recipes to get the one I liked the most, but now I have that on my baking menu as well.

Speaker 2: 8:06

That is awesome. Now, speaking about the cookies, what all flavors do you offer? And I also read that you have, I know, one question at a time, but I also read and saw that you have, like a subscription-based type of program or option. Talk to me about all that Okay.

Speaker 1: 8:23

So my baking menu consists of traditional flavors and specialty flavors and it started out as mostly traditional flavors and I added a few specialties. Now my menu is mostly specialties, with just a few traditional cookies. I do chocolate chip, double chocolate, oatmeal, raisin snickerdoodles. Those are my traditional, just like grandma used to do, or Grammy in this case. But then I also have a chocolate chip potato chip, which is really, really interesting. I think potato chips are the most perfect food in the world.

Speaker 1: 8:58

They're so good, oh man. And when you put crunchy salty sweet together, it's funny the reaction that people have to these cookies. I took them to market in the last month or so at the season and people would have either a love it or hate it relationship. They would say chocolate dip, potato dip, that sounds really good and other people go nope, not doing it.

Speaker 2: 9:21

Don't knock until you try it.

Speaker 1: 9:22

Oh, let me tell you, it is the most dangerous cookie dough for me to have in the kitchen. I try not to eat stuff before I put it in the freezer. This one's really hard. I have a limoncello cookie, which is my signature cookie. Oh, I've made thousands of these in the last few years and I still eat them every time I make them. So that should tell you something. Yes, it should. You don't get tired of these cookies. I have seasonal cookies molasses, pumpkin, white chocolate. I have a blueberry cheesecake cookie, uh, which was my daughter's favorite, and the banana pudding I mentioned before.

Speaker 1: 9:57

I also have started. Vegan chocolate chip Amaretti are gluten-free and dairy-free. And then I have an Almond Joy cookie, which my husband loves. It only has four ingredients and it's also gluten-free. Look at that. So everybody can enjoy. That's right. We have something for everybody. I love it.

Speaker 1: 10:16

Now the cookie of the month subscription. Yes, okay, uh, I guess it was Christmas a few years ago. I thought. You know, people do all kinds of things for Christmas. You get jelly of the month club, you know, or a book of the month club, or whatever. I thought why not send a dozen cookies to somebody every month of the year and I mix up the flavors depending on the season? I thought it would catch on more than it has. I'm still working on that. It's still a work in progress, but the idea is that you can send cookies to somebody locally. I can deliver or I can ship to them Three, six or 12-month subscriptions. You know what? I can't imagine anything better than getting a dozen cookies in the mail or on your doorstep when you get home from work.

Speaker 2: 11:05

Oh yeah, netflix and cookies, that's right.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Netflix and cookies. I love that. I started making puppy cookies too. Yeah, talk to me about that. You know I'm I'm willing to try just about anything when it comes to my business. I've tried some flavors that I didn't care for, so I didn't keep them around. But we have this wonderful display with baskets and bags with little windows and you can see the cookies and they all look so yummy. And a lady came up to our table at the farmer's market and she said are these all? Are these dog cookies? And I thought, wow, can you imagine a dog cookies that look like?

Speaker 2: 11:42

this A galore like that that would be crazy.

Speaker 1: 11:44

All different flavors. I mean, dogs eat out of the garbage, don't they? They don't care about flavors. So my husband said, why not? Why not try dog cookies? So I got a little cookie cutter that looks like a dog bone and I mixed up these cookies and they're all natural pumpkin and peanut butter, of course. Oh yes, eggs, flour, cinnamon, that's pretty much it. They love that they love their peanut butter. They're very popular yeah. You know, if you put peanut butter on anything for a dog, they'll love it. Maybe I'm a cat owner.

Speaker 2: 12:15

So maybe one day in the future maybe you'll. Maybe you put peanut butter on anything for a dog. They'll love it. Maybe I'm a cat owner, so maybe one day in the future maybe you'll. Maybe you'll have to. I don't know how good the market is or the whatever, but maybe some cat cookies would be good, little mini ones.

Speaker 1: 12:26

So you don't have to wait. A little leftover yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:29

But um, yeah. And then let's go back to your previous work history. You were for 25 years an executive assistant. What was that transition like for you into being your own boss and calling the shots, running your own show?

Speaker 1: 12:46

Well, I tell you, being an executive assistant, it was a good job for me, because I like details, I love logistics and planning event planning mostly but the idea of helping someone else do their job well and if you are a good executive assistant, that's what you do you help your boss succeed. So for me, it was thinking ahead, it was planning their day, it was making sure obstacles were removed and that they were able to be their best selves. So when I decided that I wanted to do this myself, I had already. I had had some of the best bosses I think anyone could have. There were some nightmares in there too, no question.

Speaker 1: 13:27

But my last boss, specifically she was. She was such a strong woman and very communicative. She said something to me once. She said if you text me more than three times, I'm not going to answer you. After the third text and I thought, okay, well, I'll keep it to the point Short, we're not friends, we're just going to relay the message. And that helped me to be a better communicator myself.

Speaker 1: 13:58

She actually contacted me last summer and she said Jackie, would you consider coming back to work? My last station was Booz Allen and they went through a massive restructure and she said I have an opening on my team and I really would like for you to come back. And I didn't even have. She's the only one that ever reached back to me and said would you please come back? And I didn't even have to think about it. I said no, thank you. I'm honored that you asked me. You're the reason I want to be my own boss now. Wow, you showed me how to be my best self. So now there's no way I don't think I could ever go back to doing that. So it's all or nothing now. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:42

No, that's so awesome, though, that you were able to do that Like for anybody out there who's listening, who's an entrepreneur, who's thinking of maybe changing their career path, changing a job, the trajectory of their current life. This is motivation that it is possible, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Right, absolutely. It's funny. My dad said I'm really how do you put it? I'm, I'm, uh, I'm really impressed with the courage that you have to try something like this. Yes, I mean, my parents are fully behind me, my sisters, everybody in my family and, uh, I actually get to bake at my parents' house because they have two ovens and I only have one. Perfect, so the price for that is leaving cookies behind. They don't mind that at all Not bad.

Speaker 1: 15:28

It's nice to spend time with them, but you know, I never really thought about it as being anything but the next step. And there are good days and bad days. I won't lie. There's some bad days, but there are also some very positive days for me, and when I think about what's possible and the fact that I get to make all these decisions myself and not ask anyone's permission I think I said that before you did. I really really like that. I really like that. It's, it's all on me.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Yeah, no, I'm, I'm. I'm happy that you get to call the shots and that you're super happy and that you're where you're supposed to be, because everyone loves your cookies. It seems so Well I will tell you.

Speaker 1: 16:05

Going back to the chocolate chip cookie, I try to hold on to the positive feedback when it comes across my table. I've seen what I love the most is when somebody will open a bag of cookies in front of me and try one, kids especially, I mean they can't wait. I package things for them, that cookies are in clear plastic so they can see the sprinkles and the chocolate. And I know what kids like and they want to open them right away and I get to see them, just so happy in that moment.

Speaker 1: 16:38

And when I first started the chocolate chip potato chip cookies, a lady came up to the table. She was a regular and she said oh wow. I said I have something new and she saw the flavor and she's like, oh, I have to try this. She opened the bag in front of me and she took a bite and she said this is the most perfect cookie I've ever had Salty sweet crunchy. Oh my God. So they're part of my menu all the time. Now I'm not getting rid of them.

Speaker 2: 17:05

Good, you shouldn't. The feedback is there. Why get rid of them? I'm jealous, like I can't wait to after this to go eat my cookie. I'm going to be like that kid in front of you, like, okay, I love this cookie, I love a good cookie. I want to see that Okay Challenge accepted. And then you talked to me a little bit about your baking history and how you've always been baking for your family for as long as you can remember. Are there any like new goals or anything that you've learned about yourself through the process, since you've always making? But did you learn something new out of the process that you've always known, and what was it?

Speaker 1: 17:39

Well, I think in the first year of the business I learned a lot about the process and the process. For me, what I found to be most helpful was freezing the cookie dough until I need it. And what's interesting about this? I hadn't really thought about it In the beginning. I was baking a batch of chocolate chip and a batch of limoncello and whatever, and whatever didn't sell went bad. And in not knowing what the demand would be, you end up with a lot of cookies, shell and whatever. And whatever didn't sell went bad. And you know, in not knowing what the what the demand would be, you end up with a lot of cookies that you can't sell. So I read something online about frozen cookie dough. So now for me, everything ends up as a little dough ball in the freezer. Perfect, we've got two freezers downstairs. Now my husband birthdays, anniversaries. I don't get jewelry or roses or any of that. No, it's stuff for my business. I have three mixers on my kitchen counters Regular size, bigger, and then the industrial size oh boy.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Yeah, we have the largest mixer, aside from putting one on the floor, this is about as large as you can go. Mixer, aside from putting one on the floor, this is about as large as you can go. Okay, so all the dough goes into bags in the freezer dough balls and then whenever I need a dozen for somebody or whatever, I'll just pull it out of the freezer. When I bake for market, I only pull out what I need. Then I always have cookie dough in the freezer and um with this, uh, not the cookie of the month, the other one, the frozen dough ball. I now sell them by the dozen.

Speaker 2: 19:13

Look at that. I love how you like find, as you go, as you're going through your process, you're like you know what. This would be a great idea.

Speaker 1: 19:19

And then it is. Well, I took frozen cookie dough to the December markets because our farmer's market season doesn't end until this year it didn't end until the 21st of December, oh wow. So we were out there and it was cold. I was going to say I didn't have to put anything in a cooler, it was just out Right there, perfect. This past two weeks ago we had the snowstorm. I got a message out on Facebook the weekend before the snow hit. I said hey, you guys are going to be stuck. Could be stuck inside. Might be a good time to get some cookie dough in the freezer so you can just pull out cookie dough and bake it in your oven with your kids. No mess, you get all the smells. You get the freshly baked cookies. I have the double chocolate. They're by far the best smelling cookie. When they come out of the oven, my God, your house smells amazing.

Speaker 2: 20:08

It's over for everybody. They're all going to just eat that cookie.

Speaker 1: 20:11

So I had a big weekend. Normally it's very hard to sell cookies in January. Everybody has a resolution I'm not eating sugar, I'm not eating whatever. So for me, as a baker, I have to be a little more creative when it comes to selling cookies in January.

Speaker 2: 20:28

A veggie cookie? No, I'm just kidding. Yes, did I? We have a vegan?

Speaker 1: 20:32

cookie, not veggie though.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Well, exactly who wants a veggie cookie? But potato, potato's a vegetable, Potato's a vegetable, that's an exception, right, I was waiting for you to say something. Be like, okay, fine. Well, the vegan cookies, too, are made with coconut.

Speaker 1: 20:48

So there's fruit in there, we've got blueberry and banana.

Speaker 2: 20:52

So we've got fruits covered? Yeah, we do. Who needs the veggies? We've got fruits, love it. And now for your new options cookie of the month and frozen cookie dough. How do you select? Do you have like a list already? You're like okay, I've got February, I've got April, december. What are those cookies? And how do you come up with the ideas for cookie of the month?

Speaker 1: 21:13

Well, I try to do seasonal offerings. For cookie of the month Um, I don't have a listing from now till the end of the year which cookie it's going to be, but typically, um, from now till the end of the year which cookie it's going to be. But typically summertime cookies are a little lighter, lemony things like that. The fall cookies are either pumpkin or molasses and in December of course you've got gingerbread and rolled cookie dough. I like that. I can decide that month what the flavor is going to be for the month.

Speaker 2: 21:48

Yeah, and change my mind a little bit.

Speaker 1: 21:50

You want to, and sometimes I just see something online and go, huh, that sounds like a really good flavor. I think I'll try that and, as a Cookie of the Month subscriber, you just get what Grammy J delivers and you'll like it. No, just kidding. Yeah, in the beginning there's an email that you tell me do you have any dietary restrictions or anything you're allergic to or any preferences? Most people say nope, I'm good Whatever you want to say and then I get to pick it.

Speaker 1: 22:16

We did chocolate peppermint in February last year, oh, and in March I do whoopie pies. What's that A whoopie pie? What's that a whoopie pie? It's a cross between a cookie and a cake. It's very cake like and usually it's double and you've got a cream filling. They're, they're about this big oh my gosh the ones I make in March for St Patrick's Day. They're made with Guinness and the filling is a Bailey's buttercream.

Speaker 2: 22:46

For adults only, for adults only. That is incredible. I love that I have to try those.

Speaker 1: 22:52

My husband loves Guinness, so I'm sure this will be right up his alley, oh, it's so good, it's like a chocolate cake and then you add the Guinness to it and it just gives it that. You know the Guinness bitterness. Yes, and then it mixes with the Bailey's buttercream and the pairing is just amazing, oh my goodness, I love that.

Speaker 2: 23:08

I love the passion that you have in your creativity and through making your cookies it really shows through like you came today, like even just the way you're dressed but your hair you could just tell you're like a fun, artsy, loving, warm, passionate entrepreneur and I love and appreciate that so much that you put your personality through entrepreneur and I love and appreciate that so much that you put your personality through.

Speaker 1: 23:32

It's important to me. Like I said, I'm, I'm uh. In my past life people would say I was everyone's mother, and it was true. If I met you and you needed something, you had it. Um, now I guess I'm everyone's Grammy.

Speaker 2: 23:39

I was going to say yes, you are. I love that. And where do you see yourself in the next five years as a person and with your business?

Speaker 1: 23:49

Well, the dream is a storefront. For sure I want to put crumble out of business. I didn't just say that you did. I did not say that. No, I don't want to put anyone out.

Speaker 2: 24:00

I don't like crumble cookies. I did say that.

Speaker 1: 24:04

I pride myself again on flavor and texture, not size. My cookies are actually a little on the small side and that's because if you bake something too big the middles don't cook and the outside gets too crunchy, and I don't like cookies like that. I'd say 95% of my cookies are soft and have a chew to them. Yes, sometimes the chocolate chip, potato chip, because of the oil from the potato chips. It gives them an added crunch, around the edges especially. But other than that, soft cookies are my jam and I would love to have a storefront somewhere. Who knows where that will be.

Speaker 2: 24:41

Yeah, that would be amazing. Hopefully you stay local and don't go to like West Virginia or Maryland. We need a Virginia representation of cookies and Grammy is going to be that storefront.

Speaker 1: 24:51

Grammy J is baking. Grammy J, we're going to put it on the map.

Speaker 2: 24:54

We are, we're manifesting right now. I love it.

Speaker 1: 24:56

Yeah, I can already see my little cookie in the front window.

Speaker 2: 25:00

Right. Oh, they're going to be so happy, like my heart made it. Yes, you should make stickers of that People put in their car and put like Grammy J, like the little I have stickers.

Speaker 1: 25:10

There's one on your cookie box.

Speaker 2: 25:12

I hope they don't take it. It's mine now I'm claiming it. I love it, but yeah, no. And then, as far as team members go, who is working? Is it just Grammy J? Does Grammy J have some help behind the scenes?

Speaker 1: 25:26

Grammy J always has help. My husband is my number one supporter.

Speaker 2: 25:31

Shout out husband.

Speaker 1: 25:32

That's right. He's amazing. When I signed up for this, I don't think he understood that, exactly what he was signing up for as well, he said.

Speaker 1: 25:40

I'll help you in any way I can, and he has. He has been such a wonderful support for me in this business. He said I want you to do something you love. That was the first I'll support whatever you decide. He's the muscle he helps me set up, get all the stuff in the truck and get it out of the truck and set it up and get it home.

Speaker 1: 26:01

Um, he has had some of the best ideas for my business, um, marketing ideas. I mean, he is, uh, he's retired. He retired just before I left Booz Allen, which was good timing. Yes, uh, he was a natural resource specialist, so he knows about trees and animals and he worked at Rock Creek Park for 30 plus years and he has these wonderful marketing ideas. I just it floors me and I'm very grateful that he's such a part of what I do and he sits out there with me in the hot summer afternoons and in the cold winter mornings. He sits there the whole time and tries to keep me from jumping off the ledge, because sometimes it's hard to be out there every Saturday morning.

Speaker 1: 26:50

And he's been a wonderful resource.

Speaker 2: 26:52

He's a keeper. It sounds like he is a keeper. You can stay, hubby, Just kidding. I love that. I love it. That's so great.

Speaker 1: 26:58

I hired two teenagers this past summer as well, because I got tired of washing my own dishes all the time.

Speaker 2: 27:03

Fair enough.

Speaker 1: 27:04

And, as you can, I'm sure you can understand. The days that I make the cookie dough, I'm in the kitchen doing the same thing over and over Dough balls. My husband will say it's dough ball day, dough ball day, yeah, it's dough ball day. And I just watched the same things over and over and over and I thought this summer we've got two markets I'm baking for, I'm going to hire, I'm going to hire some help. So the young man that I hired, he was actually a freshman in high school. His name is AJ. He's a.

Speaker 1: 27:37

I met him at the Haymarket Days Festival. His mom and I used to work together at Booz Allen and they came to my table and he had my limoncello cookies. Through the course of that day he came back four times to buy more cookies and he said Miss Jackie, I'm going to work for you and then I'm going to buy your company and I thought, all right, well, there's something there. So he came and worked in my kitchen this summer and we had nice chats and he washed dishes and I taught him how to separate eggs he's a big freshman football player, okay and I taught him how to do all kinds of stuff in the kitchen. It was fun. That is awesome. And then I had a young lady come and work with me, nico, and she as the daughter of my realtor friend and she expressed an interest in wanting to come and she did and also a lot of the same things that AJ was doing. Very totally different energies. She's an art student, very creative, expressive. I let her do, I let her, I asked her permission, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1: 28:45

I asked her to do some of my chalkboard signage for a farmer's market at my table and she, she did such a great job with that. Yeah, how wonderful. My signs are very form, informative. Her signs are creative and they catch your eye. And uh, yeah, I was very excited to have two new employees in my kitchen this summer.

Speaker 2: 29:05

Exciting. That's great. I love that you were able to find the help and it's people that you're able to grow and help teach them and it sounds like the first one he it might be an origin story of like the CEO one day maybe, I don't know or co-founder. I love it.

Speaker 1: 29:20

And the conversations we have when. When I, when we went into COVID, you know, everything stopped all the personal relationships, the one-on-one, the people that you see in the office every day it was all gone and, having left the company and starting my own business, I never got that back and I'm a pretty social person and I really missed that. Trying to catch up with people, texting and whatever, it's not the same for me, so I wanted to bring somebody back into my kitchen. I need time to have the conversations. I mean, I spend time at the farmer's markets too, which is a lot of fun for me. Yeah, that's my downtime.

Speaker 1: 30:08

I tell my husband, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 30:10

I was going to say what farmer's markets are you at, so in case people are listening, they can go see you at them.

Speaker 1: 30:15

We do Wednesday afternoons at Wakefield Park, which is at the Audrey Moore Rec Center, braddock Road and 495 in Annandale, virginia, and then we're also going to do the Lorton Market, which is at the train station. I don't remember the address off the top, but they're on Sunday mornings from 8 to 12. The Wakefield market is from 2 to 6 in the afternoon. That market's fun for me because it's the older community that are retired. You get the same people every day. They want the same thing every time.

Speaker 1: 30:48

Yeah, they're a lot of fun. And then you get the kids in summer that have the camps at the rec center and they bring them through so they can see what's there, and then they come back with their parents as they're headed home. So we get it. It's very interesting.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Um group difference in customers between the two markets. This is, I tell my husband, this is my downtime. It's the only time I get to sit and I can't do anything else, so I have to. I have to. I love it. I get to talk to people about what I love my cookies. Yes, it's all good for me.

Speaker 2: 31:23

I love that. I'm so happy for you Like after 25 more years doing something else. You've changed trajectories and you're somewhere that you really love and it just really shows it really does and I'm so happy for you. Is there anything that perhaps I have not touched on that you would like to get?

Speaker 1: 31:46

out there for listeners, whether it's in regards to your business, cookies, something personal you have the floor. Oh, wow, okay, well, um, I, I, uh. I was thinking about what you just said about, uh, enjoying what I do, and I did enjoy my job very much as an executive assistant. I met some wonderful people. I was part of every type of organization you can imagine nonprofits, small business, international, multi-million dollar companies. I mean I did it all and I enjoyed it very much, and I think each piece of that helped me to become the person that can now make the decisions for myself. And I look forward to every day when I get to wake up and say, all right, I'm going to do this, I've done it before, I know it works, I'm going to stick with that, and then the next day I can get up and say I need to try something new today, and that's something new. It might work, it might not work, but I'm going to try it anyway and we'll see.

Speaker 1: 32:46

I mean it's really hard to go wrong with cookies. I mean they're pretty forgiving. It's not pie, it's not souffle, it's. I mean cookies are pretty easy to do. Yeah, crumble Coming for you, watch out, I'm. I'm very happy, even at the end of my 12, 14 hour days when I can say, all right, I feel good about what I did today. You can't ask for more than that. No, I mean, I'm, I'm blessed, I'm very happy, very happy to be able to do what I do, and I'm happy for you and I'm happy you get to spread the joy.

Speaker 1: 33:17

I know, I, I, uh, I would love for more people to love Grammy J's baking.

Speaker 2: 33:22

Yeah, and where can people find your cookies online? What's the website? Do we message you on Instagram, facebook? What does that look like?

Speaker 1: 33:31

Well, you know, I'm an I'm a Grammy now, so I'm I'm learning about Instagram and you can find me there for sure. I also have a Facebook page which has pictures of everything that I do. Perfect, I'm actually at the moment I'm trying to secure a baby shower for Alexis Landestoy. She does commentary for CAPS, monumental Sports. Oh, and she is pregnant and due. And I reached out to her and I said hey, I'm a local baker, I would love to bake for your baby shower. And she's like oh, that sounds wonderful, so if I could have an in with her, anybody that knows her, hey make it happen.

Speaker 1: 34:16

I told my husband I want to bake for the Caps. We are huge Caps fans. Could you imagine I want to bake for them.

Speaker 2: 34:21

I just can't Birthday parties and in the locker room and whatever that's part of the dream, too, you should come up with a cookie, their signature cookie, with either colors or ingredients that are like that, something like that, I don't know. A Caps cookie, exactly, grammy J's Cap cookie. Come and get it. Get them while they're hot. That's right. Yeah, all right. My final question Do you have a quote, a saying or a mantra that you've heard, or maybe somebody's told you, or you read it in a book that you would like to leave our listeners with you?

Speaker 1: 34:51

don't mind sharing. I'm going to leave you with my tagline, because it fuels my every day, and you with my tagline, because it fuels my every day, and that is life is short, eat the cookie that's right.

Speaker 2: 35:01

Couldn't get any simpler and better than that Eat that cookie. That's right, that's right. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and for sharing your brilliant story and the amazing work that you're doing. Thank you, it was my pleasure to be here. Yeah.