We are so excited to be starting a new monthly feature called Community Spotlight! This is where we will take the time to interview a member of our community that is an entrepreneur and/or leading the way in our community to make it a better place. We love that we get to meet all these amazing people and want you to be able to get to know them as well. So here’s your chance:
First up, Patyence Buil of Pae’s Sweet Rum Treats, whom we recently featured on our Instagram for our Women Crushing it Wednesday…
Patyence, I am so grateful to have met you and gotten to know you. Can you let our readers know how you are, where you’re from, and how you got here? All the details.
Hi, my name is Patyence and I am a native of the Bahamas. I grew up in Nassau, on the island of New Providence, and spent most of my childhood and young adult life there. After college, I met my amazing husband at a church festival and soon after, moved to the United States. I have two very independent and ambitious adult children, and a third young teen that is talented in the arts, and presently home-schooled. My family lived in Florida for some time before settling in the Fort Worth area. We moved here due to better job opportunities and have lived here for 16 years. We could not have made a better choice!!
That is so awesome! I love the Bahamas. Give me all the waves and sand, and crystal blue waters!
So after marrying and moving to the states, what made you become interested in the trade that led you to your career as a baker of, what I might say are the BEST allergen-friendly desserts in town? How did your business come to be?
As a young girl, I always enjoyed baking. My very first baked good was cornbread from a Jiffy box mix! Eek!! I thought that was the best-tasting thing ever! But my mom's style of baking was never from a box. She made everything from scratch. Sometimes it was the best-tasting thing you've ever had in your mouth, and at other times, it just wasn't up to par.
Either way, I admired her tenacity to just jump in and bake no matter the outcome! She was my inspiration for wanting to bake and this kickstarted my love for baking.
When I had my children, I was constantly experimenting with new and old recipes, and my family was the perfect "guinea pigs." They enjoyed just about everything I made.
I began noticing that many people were blogging about various facets of their lives, so I decided to do the same. Not only did I enjoy baking but crocheting as well. So, I blogged about the two passions I had and that was baking and crocheting, hence, my blog name "Bakerchet".
The blog was going well until my health declined and that brought about an abrupt halt to the blog. I had to change the way I ate as being gluten-free, sugar-free, and grain-free had become a part of my daily diet. This proved to be quite challenging, but it was necessary for my body to heal. It was torture not being able to eat the desserts I loved so much. I tried many gluten and sugar-free desserts from bakeries, and they were not very good! So I began my journey to creating desserts that were not only organic but also gluten and sugar-free.
I needed to make sure that my healthier desserts tasted just as good as my regular desserts, and that my family would enjoy them just as much as they did the regular ones. Little by little, they came to love my gluten and sugar-free desserts along with my many friends, some of whom also suffered from autoimmune illnesses.
It was then that I decided to start selling my desserts. Even though I enjoyed crocheting, I needed to center my life around just one thing, and in the end, the love of baking won! I enjoyed rum cake growing up on the island and decided to focus my business on rum treats that offer organic ingredients while also making available healthier options for those who were gluten and/or sugar-free. Hence, Pae's Sweet Rum Treats was born. I think this was the best decision I made in my life!
That is such an amazing story! I have a similar one with my health and healing journey and healing my autoimmune disease. I think so many people suffer from this and don’t realize that food IS medicine. You’re a healer with your baking! It’s so awesome to see and hear about other people’s stories and how they got to where we see them now.
At Macaroni Kid, we are ALL about community and connection. What is your favorite thing about your community?
I live in a very large and diverse community. My favorite thing about it is that there are many stores and farm options available to those of different cultural and health backgrounds. I can go to a store that sells produce that is from my native country, and at the same time, go to a nearby farm and purchase local home-grown organic produce that aids in my healthy lifestyle.
Yes! Diversity is such an important part of a thriving community. And feeling like you can find bits of home when you’re far from home is always helpful and comforting. I’m going to need the name of that grocer!
There’s just nothing like a great tribe to help you feel more at home, and with the range of diversity in your community, where do you find your mentors or heroes here?
I have a few community mentors that were of great inspiration and help to me. One of which was Mr. Samudio and his team at Elizabeth Anna Urban Farm. They gave me a whole new perspective on what it meant to grow your own food and knowing its source. Recognizing what is in season and what grows locally helps in providing my customers’ with fresh ingredients in my baked goods.
Ms. Karla (Our MacKid Publisher!) is another mentor that I can truly say has been a blessing in helping my business. She has immense knowledge in sales and marketing and has provided excellent advice in helping steer my business in the right direction.
My absolute hero is my husband!! Without him, none of this could be achieved!! He has been my rock and greatest supporter! Who says heroes must have powers and wear a cape? Mine has the Word of God on his lips for encouragement and a shield of faith for believing in me and having my back every step of the way. He is truly my hero!
Oh wow. Now you’ve got every reader wiping their eyes with that one, Patyence! We ALL need a good partner in this life and I can tell you have found yours. It’s inspirational.
Speaking of inspiration, you’re definitely someone in the community to watch and we view you as a star on the rise. Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I see my husband and myself owning a small food truck selling organic coffee/tea and healthy sweet treats.
Yes! We want to help speak that into existence with you!
Being a business owner always has its ups and downs, and I’m sure you are not short on stories about your journey. Is there a lesson or a story or a failure that turned into a lesson that you could share with our readers who are thinking of starting their own entrepreneurial journey?
I believe it is important to have honest "guinea pigs"! Make sure most of them are young and speak their minds honestly! My kids and grandkids, along with a few adult family and friends, are my go-to when experimenting with a recipe. The best advice comes from my grandkids. Most of the time, they love what I make. But, if they don't like something, they would tell me, "Abu [that's what they call me] that doesn't taste good," and will proceed to throw it in the trash. Well…those words and actions are all that I need to make some serious adjustments!
Just remember, failures that are rated by honest people you love and admire can motivate you to make changes which allow you to push forward.
That is great advice! Don’t surround yourself with an echo chamber and “yes” people. And kids are always great at being honest and to the point. Lesson here: When testing a new product, focus groups full of young children are your go-to for good results!
Speaking of our younger audience, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to younger, aspiring entrepreneurs?
One piece of advice I think I would give to young entrepreneurs is to write everything down! No matter how trivial you may think your ideas are…write it down. If you have a great idea…write it down! You will be surprised how quickly you can forget things. This way, you can look back at what you wrote and make a definite decision as to what you want to do going forward!
That’s sound advice right there! I always forget things and have to write everything down. My house runs on post-it notes!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers before we close?
Keep going!! No matter how grim things may look, keep going!! If you are passionate about your business, then you need to motivate yourself every day to keep moving forward until you achieve your goals.
Patyence, you’re an inspiration and we wish you nothing but blessings on your entrepreneurial journey, and we’ll be looking forward to that food truck in the very near future!
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us and introduce yourself to our community.
To all our readers, please be sure to follow Patyence on Instagram at @prum.treats You can click on one of her ads on the side of this page as well and it will take you to her site. (It’s the one with all the delicious looking cupcakes.) Or you can visit her website at www.paessweetrumtreats.com
Be sure to follow us on Instagram for our weekly Women Crushing it Wednesday where we feature women both locally and nationally that are doing big things! @mackidmansfieldtx
