Cousins!

Me on the night of my Debutante Ball with my "cuzzos" there to support me
(left to right: Jonei, Kyra, Logan, Kyle, Maggi, Me and Terra)

This picture captures an important night in my life, a lot of character and most importantly "Cuzzos!" A cuzzo is a cousin, a friend, a brother, or a sister. A cuzzo is a person that you can talk to and tell anything and not be judged. They are almost like a best friend but closer. In the south (or at least where I am from), cousins are very important. We all look out for each other, make memories and just generally have a good time together. 

All of my cuzzos have had a hand in making my business, JazzieCakes, successful. My sister, Jonei, is the artist/visual arts part of my business. She makes sure everything looks good and flows together at events. From designing signage to placing merchandise, Jonei has played a key role. My brother, Logan, and cousin, Kyle, provide moving services and manual labor when I am participating in an event.When I need a tent mounted, heavy baked goods loaded, or any desserts that need to be taste tested those two are always present. 

My cousin, Maggi, is a business woman. She is naturally good at marketing and possesses an internal ambition that drives her to focus on customer satisfaction and profitability. In many ways, she is like the financial planning part of my business. My cousin Kyra is literally always a phone call (and 15 minutes travel time) away when I am at home in North Carolina. Kyra is always so eager to work,prep, bake, and pitch in whenever my load is too heavy. She has such a natural sense of urgency so when it comes to the kitchen we make a great team. Kyra always tries to keep me calm when I'm stressing about not finishing a project and she just makes a everything a lot easier. 

Finally, we have my oldest cousin Terra. Terra and Kyra are similar, so everything I said about Kyra applies to her. However, we bump heads a little more because we both think that we know more than each other! She helped me start my business in 2012 and taught me many of the recipes that started my business. I feel like she has had a huge hand in my kitchen skills. Now that I have learned so much from my other culinary mentors, I feel like we feed off of each other's knowledge. 

I love all my cuzzos they are all very supportive in everything I do! 

Me and my oldest cousin, Terra in 2006