Meet Sabira Ali | Self-taught Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sabira Ali and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabira, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
As a mommy of three, I always find ways to do some fun and creative stuff with them. Especially when it comes to food and that which is halal, which is not easily available in local grocery stores. Whenever I went for grocery with my kids, from the snacks isle, they always picked items like Rice Krispies, marshmallow treats. I would explain them that they are not halal and we can not eat them. Then I looked for stores where I would find halal ingredients. Soon the trend of chocolate bombs came during pandemic and since I love creativity, I tried few at homes and shared it with family and friends. They all loved it and asked me to start advertising and introduce halal chocolate bombs and thats how Festive Chocolate Treats came into existence. I started making chocolate bombs in different flavors and as of now I have probably made over 1000‘s of them. I still remember my son use to tell our neighbors “ My mom is selling some halal hot chocolate bombs”. Creative mind, hard work and a little magic of my hands are now satisfying everyones sweet tooth

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Creating desserts with only halal ingredients sets me apart from others. As we live in the West, we do not have very many halal options to choose from. I came up with different types of fusion desserts and feel happy that my customers enjoy them and above all the appreciate and love the creativity. I try to focus on details as all of my treats are made to order.I feel its a gift from God that I have the ability to learn and create these scrumptious treats and I am proud to say that I am A self-taught baker. Cooking is an art and baking requires a lot of patience, encouragement and support and I must say that my husband and kids gave me strength to focus on my passion to come up with new recipes and flavors which requires creativity and a lot of hard work. I am hands-on person and I love to do things which involves art. Of course it’s not easy to run a home base business, from getting materials to baking, making, decorating, photography and packing needs a lot of time. Every custom order is a challenge for me, I do not compete with anyone but my self, when I look back to my custom treats, I say to myself I would have done better and I always find ways to improvise. The most important thing that I have learned in running this business is time management.

I enjoy what I do and love creating new recipes and always looking for ideas for improvements. One should never give up. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” Stephen King, author

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If one of my friend is planning on visiting I must say Houston gets too hot in summer so visiting in fall or spring where you can enjoy nature like Hermann Park, Waterfall near Galleria, Strawberry picking, Mercer Botanic Garden, Galveston beach, Kemah board Walk. There are a lot of shopping places like Galleria, City Center, Katy Mills Mall, Houston Premium Outlets. Indoors areas that I love to go with kids are Houston Science Museum, Space Center, Aquarium. Last but not least a lot of food options that we have here in Houston like Bismillah Cafe, Busy Boy, Sayed, Bijan, DDK, Fadi’s, LaPasha, AghaJuice, Coco Crepes, Hwy6 Food truck. RodeoHouston is one of the biggest event that happens around this time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my family who always support me and push me to pursue my passion which gave me strength to create new recipes and ideas and to come up with more delicious and unique desserts. Above all my husband is the one who would help me with anything from packing treats boxes, running to grocery stores, delivering treats.

Website: Www.fctreats.com

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