Beauty & Baker: Brianna Smith
Meet Brianna Smith, the fearless entrepreneur behind Cookies N Crumbs. Last year, I had the pleasure of having her as a vendor for a local pop-up market I curated, featuring Tampa’s best small businesses and brands. She’s a self-proclaimed cookie dealer who discovered her passion for baking during her ‘mid-mid life crisis.’ The St. Pete native developed her handcrafted dessert brand after feeling unfulfilled in her work life.
“Cookies just became my thing. Cookie dough was a blank canvas for me to create flavor, and the decorating part became my new creative outlet.”
During her early twenties, Brianna worked in the hair and beauty industry. “After years of being in and out of different salons, I was great at what I did, but severely unhappy,” Brianna says. “At the time I thought cookie decorating & baking was my way of coping with my sadness and confusion. I was wondering why I wasn’t as happy doing hair, because I swore that was going to be my career.”
Cookie decorating become a newfound outlet and solace for Smith. “In times of big changes we tend to feel a little lost in the world—not like ourselves. I think it is a natural tendency to focus on what makes us feel most at home, and at peace.” After friends noticed, they encouraged her to create, share and start selling her cookies. “I wanted people to take me seriously,” Brianna recalls. As an established hairstylist, she ‘felt a bit embarrassed to be starting a new career path’ in the baking world. “Who’s to say we can’t have multiple passions and careers in a lifetime? If anything only have one life,” she emphasizes. “One life should be a catalyst to try all of your passions, and see which one grows!”
Since starting Cookies N Crumbs, Brianna hasn’t looked back. The development of her brand took a few months after she toyed around with her entrepreneurial roots and love for marketing. Brianna notes that her father encouraged her, always teaching her the values of having her own business and financial freedom.
Brianna says that its a blessing to have a self-made brand, as a black female business owner. “It takes a lot of work, but it is possible. I hope to encourage anyone with a passion, especially any BIPOC that you can have something of your own and create a business. Even if that means you have to work twice as hard as a white person to get there, it is most certainly worth doing.”
Being a ‘one-woman show’, Brianna tells me she wears many hats as a business owner, from “being my own accountant, marketing manager, social media specialist, sales person, packaging and order operations, scientist (I create all my recipes from scratch), designer, baker, decorator, customer service representative, and so much more.”
Obstacles? Not an issue for this cookie connoisseur. She spends time with The Lord, ‘continually educating herself in all areas of the business,’ from attending networking events, taking classes, reading and outside trainings.
She tells me her motivation and creativity comes from her everyday life. “My creative process involves a lot of pulled inspiration from party invites, cards, party decor, patterns, wallpaper, texture, and a whole lot of Pinterest. I also come across many things in my day-to-day life where I say to myself ‘Hey, I could cookie that!’. Once I have my inspiration and color palette picked out I rough draft/chicken scratch sketch out my designs.”
In regards to the continual injustices of Black lives and the new conversations surrounding it, Brianna says “this isn’t anything new” to Black people who have consistently acknowledged the movement, felt it and vocalized it. She says she is having more open dialogue with people she personally knows and loves, along with strangers. “I have these conversations no matter how repetitive they are. I have these conversations because they are necessary. If you want to talk, if you want to understand, if you want to have a conversation because you don’t feel the same way I do—let’s open those doors for communication.”
Brianna tells me that owning Cookies N Crumbs is one of her biggest life accomplishments. Her plans for the future include owning her a cookie studio her own property/land. “I would want to host cookie decorating classes with a twist, host business workshops, and networking events for local artists/entrepreneurs! I also see myself adding on a high quality baking apparel line and writing a cookie book where I would share all of my recipes! All while still taking on custom cookie orders.”
Brianna lives by the motto: Gotta risk it for the biscuit. Her fearlessness comes from acknowledging any inhibitions, and ‘doing the damn thing anyways.’ Her passion and work ethic is motivating. She exemplifies strength and the qualities of a visionary boss!
