Meet Sierra Horsey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sierra Horsey.

Hi Sierra, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Starting a business was never on my radar, I just liked baking. I started by making all sorts of baked goods for fun, but making my first layer cake as an adult was so empowering. I didn’t have any fancy tools but I was so proud of that 2 layer cake filled with jam and frosted with yellow and white buttercream. In a couple of years, I was making a cake or two every month and sharing the with my friends and co-workers.

Eventually, someone asked if I would make them a cake and I agreed. It took about 6 months of making cakes for other people for me to realize that I had an accidental business and either needed to turn it into a legitimate business or stop baking…I guess it’s easy to see which decision I chose.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The biggest struggle I have is the transition from baking because I want to and baking because I have to. Everyone always says “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” and that’s simply not true. I LOVE baking but having a baking business is work — exhausting work. It’s staying up until 3 am because you have orders to fill. It’s forcing yourself to stay on your feet, even when they ache.

It’s a never-ending cycle of emails and creating content. It’s looking at a mountain of dishes and convincing yourself to do them now instead of waiting until tomorrow. It’s putting yourself out there and generating sales because you need customers so you can pay your bills. That doesn’t mean there isn’t immense joy when I achieve something or complete a cake that I love, but at the moment, the struggles overshadow those moments.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Technically, I am just a cake, cupcake, and cookie maker but I like to think I’m more than that. I make edible art that brings people together. I continue to create joy during happy occasions and bring comfort during sad moments. I help people express their emotions and connect parents and grandparents with their children while they study away from college. But I am also someone who uses baking to promote human rights. Globally, the average farmers make less than $2 a day, and women farmers are additionally disadvantaged with less access to resources like land and credit. I pledge to buy ingredients from small farm co-ops or farms that participate in Fairtrade.

Fairtrade sets price minimums so farmers are paid competitive and living wages for their labor and crops; part of their price premium is also given back to the communities to build community assets like medical centers or schools.

They also increase access to training, safety equipment, and legal contracts to ensure farmers and laborers are protected and can live the dignified life everyone deserves. Right now I use fairly traded sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate, coffee, and vanilla beans, and I plan to increase my fairly traded ingredients in the future.

We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I am currently retraining myself on how I view success. When I was growing up, success was defined as getting a college degree and having 6 figure job in a lucrative field like engineering or veterinary medicine. I have my college degree but obviously didn’t continue on to have a career in my intended field– so it’s hard to see my small business as a success at the moment because my goals have drastically changed since 2017.

And I think that’s okay. I’m surviving the craziness that is American society, providing a decent life for my two cats, and I’m operating and managing a small business and I think that’s really impressive. I know when I see others following similar paths as me, I am so impressed with their ambition and view their life as a success, so hopefully one day I view myself as successful too.

Contact Info:

• Website: shop.castiron.me/song-and-sugar-sweets
• Instagram: instagram.com/Songandsugarsweets
• Facebook: facebook.com/songandsugarsweets
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/song-and-sugar-sweets-tucson-2