Let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. How did your company get started and why?
In 2009, I began having severe digestive issues, flatulence, and being unable to eat many of the foods I love. I would go to the doctor and was told to stop eating fruits and veggies, dairy and other things I thought were good for me. I went to the a training in Texas and met a class mate who explained gluten-free and her symptoms and she was describing me. I returned home threw out everything with Wheat, rye or Barley and put myself on a gluten-free diet. I would then go to stores to purchase gluten-free baked items to find out that most tasted like cardboard so I began baking, MsPsGFree Inc was born from there.
Has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been many challenges to building MsPsGFree, the biggest challenge was me not clearly understanding how to start or grow a business. I have taken many cohorts beginning with the first one in Spring 2015 with Sunshine Gospel Ministries, now Sunshine Enterprises. Additional challenges have been getting into retail, finding and connecting with our target market, understanding the delivery system for retail, scaling from our initial one Whole Foods Market location to now being in 15 stores. We then lost our sister in 2018, and now dealing with the Pandemic of 2020…phew!
What is your next challenge to overcome? What’s your next milestone?
Submerging from the Pandemic in a better place than where we began. we were just getting our footing, just beginning to pay our Brand Ambassadors, just learning to sample well enough to sell out in the stores. We want to submerge with greater brand awareness and more sales based on scaling and growth.
Tell us about a time that you received help from another entrepreneur or mentor, and how it helped your business?
We have been so blessed to know and get assistance from so many great mentors and entrepreneurs. Shelby Parchman from InUrban Strategies has been instrumental in moving our business from a thought to a dream to a reality. Stan Washington from Honor Services Office, Naperville has been our close mentor even before we were in any stores or markets. Dr. Terri Winfree has taken us on and is a part of the John Maxwell team and teaching us leadership one to one. MsPsGFree has been extremely blessed to have these mentors and supporters as well as many additional businesses and individuals who are walking alongside us in this entrepreneurial journey.
What skills or resources have you learned along that you would like to share with the Foodbevy Community?
Use your state and city sponsored assistance such as the WBDC – Women’s Business Development Centers, PTAC offices, and get BEP – Business Enterprise Program certified through the state of Illinois. MsPsGFree Inc. is both DBE – Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, and WMBE – Women/Minority Business Enterprise certified. These certifications usually can take months, currently the state is trying to get people who qualify through the programs quickly and get them certified.
