Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Crystal and Celeste Ceres, founders of Sacraspice, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.

What's your organization, and who are your members?

We’re Sacraspice, a charity based out of Toronto, Canada. We teach youth how to cook their favourite meals from scratch through hands-on, intergenerational, and culturally-diverse workshops. We believe teaching youth cooking skills is essential in decreasing the reliance on processed food and in turn, decreasing the risk of diet-related illnesses. We believe you are what you eat, and we want the next generation of youth to be healthy and strong!

Tell us about yourself

Our late grandmother lived a full life of almost 100 years, and one of the main reasons was her love for food. Even in her old age, she taught us cooking and gardening skills. It was her passion for home-cooking and growing food that impacted us. She helped us to understand how much cooking is a communal experience and how what we eat has long-term bodily effects.

During school, we observed that many of our peers consistently depended on take-out food for lunch, so we questioned them and realized some of them simply didn’t have their parents or guardians around to cook for them or teach them cooking skills. We saw a need for intergenerational food education that focuses on using cooking to promote healthy long-term eating habits.

Our goal is for youth to understand the long-term effects of diet on their physical and mental health and to become self-sufficient by cooking for themselves and others. Giving back to our community is a huge part of what we do. After all, Sacraspice is a combination of the words “Sacrifice” and “Spice.” We hope that through Sacraspice, other young people are encouraged to embark on their own journey of living a balanced and healthy life while giving back to those in need in the process.

What's your biggest accomplishment as an organization leader?

For us, knowing the fact that we’re not just providing a service, but making a difference in people’s lives, is very satisfying. We love being able to inspire students and increase their confidence not only in the kitchen but overall as a person. Some of the students we teach have social anxiety, and cooking is an experience that takes them away from the performance-based nature of school to focus on having fun and making something delicious! We also place a huge emphasis on cooking culturally-diverse foods to represent the many different backgrounds of the students we work with. For students, seeing facilitators who look like them and who have faced similar challenges and, at the same time, are excelling as leaders are inspiring to them because it helps them remember that their ambitions can too be realized.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being an organization leader?

The biggest challenge of being an entrepreneur is finding a good work-life balance. In addition to running our business, we also work and freelance on the side. It’s definitely challenging at times to balance both. We believe it’s really important to take care of your body and mind because you can’t run a business with no fuel. I think as entrepreneurs, the ‘24/7 grind’ mentality is glorified. We’re learning to take it easy and listen to our bodies.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow an organization today?

  1. Know your product, industry, and audience. Whether a non-profit or a for-profit organization, we suggest using models to strategize, such as the lean canvas model and logic model. These will help you find your unique value proposition and really understand your customers and the market you're in. Being educated on what's out there and what your target audience really needs is key.
  2. Network - Join Facebook / LinkedIn groups, go to meetups, go to industry conferences and events and meet people. Not only talk about your offering but ask people questions and see how you can help them. They will remember. A lot of opportunities that we've had have been through word-of-mouth and people hearing about us through others.
  3. Be resilient - Starting a business, you're going to get a lot of no's, you will make mistakes, you will have a lack of support, but through it all, you have to stay strong and be resilient if you really believe in yourself and your product/service.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Our motto is ‘if you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll be waiting forever. Do it now. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, starting your own business could be very daunting, but waiting until it feels right could mean waiting a lifetime. Of course, do your research, test your product/service, and interview your audience. But, don’t stay in a state of second-guessing yourself and wondering whether or not you should go through with your idea. You’ll never know if you don’t try, and you’ll never have everything perfectly prepared. One of the biggest things about entrepreneurship is that you learn along the way. In the process, you’ll be refining your product/service, building your customer base, and making amazing connections!

Where can people find you and your organization?

Website: https://www.sacraspice.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sacraspice/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacraspice/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sacraspice
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sacraspice-community-services/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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