Starting off making homemade banana pudding and strawberry brownies, KyDavia Hassell has taken 2 desserts and manifested her dream of owning her own bakery full of custom cakes and trendy desserts

You’re this little black girl from Orange Mound that’s getting ready to shake the dessert world up in just a few weeks. How did you get started in baking?

I fell in love with baking when I was 18 years old. I watched a show on Food Network called Cupcake Wars. I saw how the two women were partnering together to create beautiful desserts. I wanted to do that. So, I fell in love with cupcakes. At the time, I was living with my mom, and she hosted a lot of parties, dinner dates, and stuff like that with family at our house. She would let me bake all of the desserts. That’s how I first started getting feedback from family and everybody. But it wasn't until 2015 that I decided to start Gimme Sugar Bakery.

When you started your bakery in 2015, what did you start doing and what did you offer at that time?

My first item was banana pudding. I always made it and I just wanted to make some. Just so happened, a friend of mine tried it and he said, “I would buy some from you.” I'm like, “Buy”, as in “give me some money” and “I'll give you pudding?” He was like, yeah, I would buy it. He bought the banana pudding, ate it and he loved it. He came back and was like, well, can you do a peach cobbler? He just became my test person at that time. Banana Pudding and Peach Cobbler were my first two hits. Then I started trying other things such as cupcakes and custom cakes.

What are some of your specialties?

My specialties are strawberry brownies and custom cakes. I love creating cakes for people's occasions, baby showers, and birthdays. I love being a part of people's events. The strawberry brownies will always be near and dear to my heart. In 2018, they went viral on social media—millions of likes and shares. I created a course showing people how to make them. I've been making them literally since 2018, so they will always be, I feel like, my specialty.

Tell us what makes Gimme Sugar Bakery different than other bakeries.

Creativity. I feel like my creativity comes from God, and I feel like he gives me the ideas and the creativity to stand out from my competitors. I'm always looking for new, fresh, and innovative ideas. I'm always riding the trends. If there's a trend, I try to jump on it early. I try to stay creative because I feel people eat with their eyes first. So, if they see something that looks new, looks different, they've never tried it before, I feel they gravitate towards that more than your traditional cupcake or things like that. I think what has set me apart are just trendy desserts.

You mentioned that you created a course for your strawberry brownies. Is teaching part of your business?

Yes. I have a heart for people first. Before baking and before Gimme Sugar Bakery, I have always had a heart for people and helping people. Once I got my foot in the door with Gimme Sugar, a lot of people started to ask me, hey, do you teach? Can you show me how to do those? I was happy to assist and did it for free. I realized it became time-consuming and time is precious. If I'm working on orders and other aspects of my business, how can teach people how to bake? I sat down one day, and I strategized how to offer classes and show people how to do what I do for a small amount. None of my classes are expensive. They start from anywhere from $5, $10. I came up with teaching people how to conduct classes as well. I think that's probably the best thing that I've done in my career is to add classes to my business.

What are some celebrity bakers or local bakers that you admire?

There was a host on Cupcake Wars named Candace who now owns multiple bakers around the world. I thought to myself that I want multiple locations like that.

Tell us more about you. How old are you? Do you have any children? What are some of your goals?

I've been a full-time entrepreneur since January 2019. I am 32 years old, and I have three daughters. They are all two years apart, ages 10, 8, and 6. My goal is just to continue to have a heart for God's people. If God is going to use me in my bakery and this platform, I'm going to take that and I'm going to let it branch off to many things. I would love to have a few franchises of Gimme Sugar Bakery around the city, and around the world in different states. I’m opening my first location with many more to come. Then I want to start an organization, a nonprofit, to help children bake. I want to teach them to bake, and I don't want it to be costly for them. I just want them to come in, learn a trade, learn how to work with their hands, learn how to be effective in the kitchen, and maybe they can use it for business one day or just a skill that they can keep under their belt.

The mockup for your exterior and awning is so mesmerizing. Those colors are just absolutely fantabulous! Let's talk about location, and opening date, and walk us through what your vision looks like for your grand opening.

My vision for Gimme Sugar Bakery is just to be a super fun and inviting place. I want everybody from all walks of life in the city to just come and be happy and get something sweet. When they walk in, I want them to never know what they're going to get. I don't want to have a set menu. I'll have a rotating menu. They will be able to try some of everything. If you’ve followed me on Instagram over the years, you see that my menu is very intensive. I want people to come in and say, “What's on the menu today”, or “What can I come in and get today”? I'm going to have a rotating menu. The bakery is located at 2200 North Germantown Parkway, Suite 7 in Cordova. I feel like it's the perfect place. I am going to help revolutionize Germantown Parkway. I feel like it's gone down a little bit over the years. It used to be a premier place.

I'm going to revive that. My building used to be Gigi's Cupcakes before they went bankrupt and closed down all of the locations in the city.

I am praying that I can open in late August or September for sure. We have to go through a lot of things such as getting the building painted. I would love for it to be as close to my mockup as possible. We have to pass inspection, and I'm waiting for the refrigerator to be delivered. Social media will be the first to know. That's where most of my support comes from, so I have to keep them updated on that grand opening.

You created a millionaire baker journal. How did you come up with that and what makes it so beneficial?

I coined the term millionaire baker. It has nothing to do with finances. It has everything to do with a millionaire personality, a millionaire aura, just my whole person, my whole being. Of course, I don't have a million dollars in my bank account yet. I love to call myself a millionaire baker because I just feel like, wake up in the morning and have a millionaire attitude, a millionaire mindset, walk in your purpose, walk as if you already have it. I come from nothing, and I feel like one day that will be my reality. I created the Millionaire Baker Journal to teach bakers how to wake up in the morning, set the tone for their day, say their prayer and affirmations, plan out their day, plan out what they need to bake, and just be organized so they can journal and document everything that they go through as a baker. Whether you're having a good day or a bad day, you could put it in the journal. In the journal, I included affirmations. I included measurements. I included empty pages for them to be able to just document their day-to-day.

If they want to plan a baking schedule, hey, I'll bake on Mondays, I'll decorate on Tuesdays. I want them to be as organized as possible so that we can have happy customers.

You have a huge surprise that you announced, so “gimme” the inside scoop.

A couple of months ago, I applied for a grant from Beyonce's organization the BeyGOOD Foundation. I was exclusively invited to attend the Black Parade Route Luncheon in Atlanta, Georgia. I have the strong potential to be awarded a $10,000 grant for my business. They're giving away 10 grants of $10,000 and I am praying to God that I am in that number. But even if I don't win, I am very excited to be in the room. I'm very excited to be amongst her people. She is pouring into black businesses. I can't say where it will be hosted, or the location, because I had to sign a form saying that I won’t announce the location, but it's in Atlanta, Georgia on August 10th, and I'm super excited. I have been preparing to get ready to represent Gimme Sugar and Memphis. I want to win the grant and bring it back home to Memphis because I'm super inspired by Beyonce right now and what she's doing for black entrepreneurs.

I keep claiming it is mine. I'm happy that I can network and just come up with resources there, maybe meet some people and network with some people so that I can bring something back to Memphis.

How did you come up with the name Gimme Sugar Bakery?

Gimme Sugar Bakery came from my mother. She always says, Gimme Sugar. It was a no-brainer that when I started the bakery it was what I would name it. When she sees me, she says, Gimme Sugar. She even calls me that now. I'm 32 years old and she would call me and be like, hey, Gimme Sugar. It's something that I just coined and just ran with it. I did not think about a bakery name at all. It literally just came to me with it. I was like, okay, this is it.

Is there anything that I did not ask that you want readers to know about you or your brand?

I just want people to know that I am just someone who is going for it. No one gave me a blueprint. I did not go to any bakery school. I'm just a person who has done research and I'm just going for it. None of this is done on my own. I give all of the credit and glory to God. I'm very big on God, very big on my relationship with God. I just let Him guide me into what I need to do. Sometimes I veer off a bit and make my own decisions, but I always return to God. I just want people to know that I'm human and if I can do it, anybody can do it, and that's it.