Meet Tatiana Wingate
Name and Title: Tatiana Wingate, Pastry Chef
Name of Business: Sprinkled Sweetness Custom Cake Creations, LLC.
Your location? West Philadelphia
Website and Social Media Links: www.sprinkledsweetness.com
FB: Sprinkled Sweetness LLC. IG: sprinkledsweetness
What year was your business started? 2007
How did you start in your field?
I’ve always had a passion for cooking, my grandmother had me by her side in the kitchen and it never left me.
What do you attribute to your success?
I attribute my hard work, dedication to my craft, my tenacity and the unwavering support of my family to my success.
What were the hardships you faced/barriers to entry before getting started?
I come from a lower middle class family of people who taught me to go to school and get a good job, going against the grain wasn’t easy. I was met with much opposition at first. I am the first person in my family to graduate college and start a business; having no one to look up to or show me the way was very difficult.
What is your motivation to continue?
My son, I gave birth to him when I was 17, I just want to show him that you are NOT your circumstances.
How do you deal with competition?
I deal with competition by staying laser focused on me and my goals and only concern myself with honing my skills and getting more polished everyday.
How do you balance work and personal life?
Ha! What’s that? But no seriously I try to set aside at least one day a week for date night and one for family night.
What’s your favorite business or self-help book?
Really anything that Dr. Eric Thomas (ET the hip hop preacher) writes
What advice would you give to up and coming entrepreneurs?
I would tell them to not walk but RUN towards their dreams. Do not concern yourself with whether or not others see your vision or believe in your dream. It wasn’t given to them…it was given to you.
What 5 business tools can you not do without?
I simply CANNOT live without: a notebook/journal and pen (I’m so old school), my cell phone (obvs), my decorating spatula, Instagram and Canva, oh! And Paypal (hehe)
What quote do you live by?
“Be Phenomenal or Be Forgotten” –Eric Thomas
If you had to battle a giant, what weapon would you use?
Logic
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
My son is 11 and has an entrepreneurial brain, he also knows what he wants from his career already and is working diligently towards it, to me there is no greater achievement than inspiring your own offspring to be their best self.
What do you do in your downtime?
In my downtime I am a dancer, it is the other passion in my life.