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

Hi Nasiah, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My husband and I have always had our own business, so starting my own business was just a natural. I want to be able to run my business my way, with my ideas and values.

What should our readers know about your business?
My business is called Confectionery Coma, and our motto is “ We are here for your emergency sweet services”. I started this business with just an idea with my kids of a business that we could start together. I absolutely love cooking so it was just natural to have a food based business. My desserts are the made with premium ingredients; real butter, cane sugar, and premium chocolate. We use medical terms to come up with names for our desserts as part of our “emergency service” theme. My daughter , who was 15 at the time, came up with the name. She said “our desserts are so good they’ll make you go into a coma” hence Confectionery Coma. With that name we all brainstormed and came up with the whole medical theme and naming our desserts with medical terminology. We started out doing Farmers Markets and city events. Selling mini bundt cakes and cookies. Our top selling cookie is “the Cardiac Arrest Chocolate Chip Cookie”. During this time we had good days and bad days. Our biggest challenges were just knowing how much to prepare for events. There were times where we sold out and times where we had a lot of leftovers and would have to give away or call around to family and friends and see if anyone wanted to purchase any. We even went to my daughters soccer practice with crates of desserts and sold them there. Our original plan was to do a dessert food truck and have it designed like a medical ambulance. My supportive husband had a friend in the DC area with a truck he was getting rid of but it needed some work and had to be driven down to Houston. So being my biggest supporter he went and got it for me. We started drawing up designs for how we wanted the truck to look and getting all of the information needed to run a food truck. That’s when we started finding out how much trouble and headache it would be to do a food truck. From not being able to actually use it to prepare my items to having to rent a commercial kitchen space for my supplies and preparing the desserts, which was a lot of added costs. So we decided to sell the truck and continue my business as a cottage kitchen business through my home. I enrolled in Escoffier Culinary School to get my degree as a Pastry Chef to further my baking skills and I am now in my last weeks before graduation working my externship hours through my baking business. What I want the world to know about my brand is that we strive to make the best tasting baked goods made with premium ingredients that remind you of the desserts your mom, grandmother or even aunts used to make. What I want the world to know about my story is that it was always my dream to go to culinary school. When I was in my early 20’s I looked into culinary school and just couldn’t afford it, then I was married and had a family to raise and never had the time. Now that my kids are all mostly grown up and don’t require as much attention I can concentrate on my dreams. I’m 48yrs old, been a stay at home mom for 20 years where I homeschooled all of my kids and helped my husband run his businesses when I could, now it’s my turn to pursue my dreams. It’s never too late to do what you love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well we love to hangout in the city and the surrounding areas as a family. Some of our favorite places are Discovery Green, The Heights and Sugar Land Town Center. All of these destinations have some great art, music, Farmers Market events and great places to eat. There are so many great places to eat around town and I can’t just pick one. But for family and friends they always just ask “what are you cooking for us?”. So I would do the cooking but I would check out Houston365 website and see what’s going on in the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My biggest and best mentor is my husband Aziz. An an entrepreneur/ business owner himself, he knows the ups and downs that go with starting your own business. He runs a property investment business and knows the work needed to be done to be successful. He constantly pushes and encourages me to stay positive and work hard for my dreams. Whatever I need he’s there 110% and he is my rock.

Website: www.confectionerycoma.com

Instagram: @confectionerycoma

Facebook: Confectionerycoma

Image Credits
Confectionery Coma Sumayyah Ross

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