Meet Tonya Pettit

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tonya Pettit. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tonya below.

Hi Tonya, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is innately woven into the fabric of the women in my family. But my personal introduction and understanding of just how important resilience was, happened to me on June 18, 1989. The day my son was born. I believe I was anointed with a deeper level of resilience and a reserve amount of resilience that I didn’t even realize that I would need. Whenever challenges would come, and believe me as a 22 year old Single Parent, challenges began to roll in and did not stop for the next 2 decades. Yet I could always draw from the reservoir of resilience, that never seemed to run dry. Because of the traumatic childhood I lived through, I was bound and determined to do what needed to be done, so my Son’s upbringing, would be worth bringing up. It was and is imperative that I change the narrative and remove self imposed and generational limitations of young Single Moms. REALsilence is what I call.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

One of the biggest influences in my childhood was my Great Grandmother. Some of the best memories that I have are living with her, in a home with no running water and our roomates were often creatures and critters as baby sitters. Lololo!! But I was always on her coattail. And I learned at a young age, how to garden, how to cook and how to bake. I spent a lot of my time watching Julia Child and Justin Wilson. I had a Betty Crocker red and white checkered cookbook and a McCall’s Cooking School Cookbook, before I had a bible. I remember telling my Mom that I wanted to be a caterer and I don’t even know if I knew how to spell caterer. I was probably about 8 years old. But that career choice wasn’t popular back then and I was encouraged to consider something else. Fast forward a lot of years to being a single Mom, I had to find ways to make ends meet, without having to leave the house and pay a babysitter. So I began to do what I really loved to do which was cook, bake and decorate, in addition to working full time, and being a Boy Mom, a Dog Mom, and a Sports Mom. Although I started out catering meals for events as well as designing the event, my dessert always stole the show. You can see my face in the Soul Food Documentary Soul Food Junkies. But, I decided to niche down and concentrate on desserts and take a leap of faith. Twenty107 Signature Sweets is where I landed, my own business. Im an EntrePRAYneur; a Cake and Treat Designer, specializing in Custom made Cakes and Treats. I absolutely love that I get to be a part of some of the most important events in people’s lives. They are making memories and Im a part of that. Im breaking down racial barriers. Im going into homes and neighborhoods making a positive impact with cake, icing and sprinkles prayer.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Clubhouse absolutely changed the game. I met so many talented, gifted, and non-gatekeeping people, that caused me to level up in so many ways. Connections are priceless.
Invest in your Craft: Although there are a lot of things you can learn for free, especially from You Tube University, do not neglect investing in yourself or your craft for a cost. Sometimes in order to level up, you must pay up. Do your research, ask a lot of questions. Just don’t be signing up for classes and workshops that have no proven track record.

Invest in your Self: Burn out is real and sometimes the recovery period from a burn out can be extensive. Burn out not only affects you, it affects everyone connected to you. Find a way to pamper, nourish and nurture yourself

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

My faith and my REALationship with God is hands down the most important thing that helps me overcome challenges. There are two people in particular, I consider my Mentors. Both live in Houston Texas, one is a Cake Designer and one is a Treat Designer. The help, the knowledge, the correction, the excellence, the brutal honestly has helped me tremendously in developing the essential skills, qualities and knowledge to be a successful in this industry.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Twenty107signaturesweets
• Facebook: Twenty107 Signature Sweets and Events

Image Credits

Tonya Pettit