We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mariama Sallah a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mariama, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Growing up in The Gambia, I struggled a lot with confidence and self esteem as I heard these words a lot “you are stubborn, stupid, and fat.” Those words pierced through me like a thousand shards. I had ADHD as a kid but most people don’t know what that is back home including myself so they called it “stubborn.” I found out in 2022 that I have ADHD which makes so much sense why my brain, and my life had always been chaotic. Developing my self esteem and confidence was a tough journey which required a lot of mental work to accomplish.
These are some of the things that helped me overcome low self esteem and lack of confidence.
1) It started with one person believing in me and along the way others did too.
2) Realizing as an adult that I am actually an overachiever
3) Learning to love myself, my body and my imperfections
4)Taking business courses made me realize I had to work on my mindset, and what I believe about myself in order to make progress in all aspects of my life.
5) I started doing daily affirmations to remind myself that I am worthy and capable of more than I know. The more I said it; I started to internalize it and see change in all aspects of my life.
5) Listening to audible books because, it made me realize that I can be as successful as those people someday. I believe I have a bigger impact and I am on this earth to make a difference in people’s lives.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a luxury cake designer in Raleigh NC and I specialize in non traditional wedding cakes/celebration cakes. People always tell me that my work is unique, and I am certainly proud of that as it took a lot of investments such as time, money, late nights/early mornings; trials and errors to get it to this point.
Standing out is very important to me as I am passionate about my craft, and that is why I create a one of a kind luxury experience for my clients. To me, it’s not just cake,” it’s more than that; a delectable cake is something you will always remember. The cake is the centerpiece along with the beautiful backdrop where everyone at your event takes photos and being the person to bring your vision to life while putting the biggest smile on your face is so fulfilling. I feel honored to be a part of your celebrations.
Delectable Cakes is about handcrafting uniquely tailored luxury cake designs that is sure to wow your guests. Our cakes are not only scratch made, and moist; our flavor combinations are also unique and delectable.
I am considering adding other services to expand my brand. I have had a lot of requests to teach my unique designs. Although, I am considering it, I am not sure how soon or, when that will be. I have some other exciting things in the works that I can’t wait to share with you.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey.
1) Excellent customer service skills: making sure my clients are happy with their product, presentation and service is top priority but also knowing when to say no to things that don’t align with my brand.
2) Being thorough and detail oriented: I always want to present my best so this one is a no brainer. I am meticulous when it comes to my craft and the little finishing touches make a world of difference.
3)Knowing my numbers: knowing how much it cost me to produce my products, including the percentage profit I need to make to stay afloat.
Here is my advice to people early in their journey.
Do the best you can to provide the best service for your clients but don’t forget to set boundaries for yourself so you don’t get burnt out. You don’t have to say yes to everything; you are human not a machine.
Being detailed oriented is great but don’t get stuck on being a perfectionist. Take that little extra time to make sure your work is clean like wiping the cake board when you are done decorating but, don’t spend hours on one cake trying to get sharp edges. Remember you will get better along the way with more practice so it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Knowing your numbers will take you further than just charging what everyone else is charging because, we all have different clientele, different experiences/skills sets and different costs. Do the math and reach out if you need guidance.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The 5 second rule by Mel Robbins
These are my key takeaways
1) When an idea crosses your mind you have 5 seconds to make a decision before the negative thoughts that will discourage you start creeping in
2) If you want to do something like get out of bed when your alarm goes off in the morning count 5,4,3,2,1 then get up right away. Another trick is to put your phone in the bathroom so when the alarm goes off you have no choice but to physically get up and go stop it.
3) If you want to be super productive in the morning don’t use your phone first thing in the morning; get up and start tackling some of your responsibilities for the day because you brain is most productive the first 2-4 hours of the day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.delectablecakes.info
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/delectablecakesllc?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/delectablescakes?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariama-sallah-70724127a
Image Credits
Amir Rushdan Aaron Lurie Christian Wilson Carla Nunez Temilola Adjibulu Chara Densmore
