We recently connected with Jessica Restel and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
My genererosity comes from the values instilled in me from my parents, and my family before them. Both my mom and dad’s sides of the family immigrated over from other countries. It is something we were all taught while being raised, to give to others if you can, and it is something I instill in my own children. We have nothing to lose by being generous to the world and spreading nothing but kindness and happiness.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My craft is baking and party arts. I’ve been doing it for the past 23 years and it’s something I absolutely love and adore. There’s just something that baked goods does to bring people together in love and happiness that just warms my heart to see. It truly is something honorable that I take with pride that people let me in on their special moments, like weddings, birthdays, and baby showers.
I do have a lot of things coming up for the bakery such as new menus coming out, and some new product launches such as sample boxes, new cake pop flavors, and specialty cupcakes.
I am also thrilled to announce we have also expanded and are now serving in Oklahoma! The Oklahoma expansion is something I have been working on for just under a year! This is in addition to serving Colorado and New Jersey.
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?
Honestly one of the biggest qualities was my drive for success. We all have obstacles to over come and setbacks whether it be abusive relationships, financial hardships, or just general self doubt. Another quality looking back was being ambitious when odds were stacked against me. I was, at one point, a single mom, going to school full time and work full time to provide for my son in addition to running a business, in the very early days of launching. It definitely was not easy by any means but absolutely worth all the sleepless nights. Being resilient and having the courage to take the steps necessary to your success are always a must.
The advice I’d give to anyone in their early stages of their journey is to set yourself apart. There will always be others in the same market as you. Find your niche and push that to the limits. Once you find your footing, start venturing out of your comfort zone to new things. The only way to know if you’ll succeed is to try.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impacting thing my parents ever did for me was taking my sisters and myself to Cuba. We got to see a whole different life that my mother, her siblings, and parents lived. We saw the love, compassion, and selflessness of our family, a lot of which still live there. We saw the harrowing affects and effects of a developing country with third world characteristics. To see people suffering without escape or relief really leaves an impression, and gives you stride to do the right thing and help out where you can even if you don’t have much to give. It also gave me a lot of perspective on exactly what my mother’s parents escaped, and left their own business empire behind to give us a better life, and what my parents continued to ensure we had the tools to succeed with hard work, dedication and passion. To be able to come this far is truly a testament to my parents and my maternal grandparents, and how they sacrificed to give us the world, but only if we wanted to take it.
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Jessica LeMoine (nee Restel)
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