Jennifer Carson: A Sweet Journey of Resilience
Originally published on GoDaddy Resource Library
By: Mark McCaffrey, GoDaddy CFO
In May, I enjoyed sitting down with Jennifer Carson, the inspiring owner of Sonoma Cake Creations and Sonoma Sauces. Jennifer has turned her passion into not one but two flourishing businesses. Her story is one of resilience, family, creativity, and dedication. I’m excited to share highlights from our discussion.
A special thank you to Adam Housley for letting us meet with Jennifer in his wine-tasting room, Housley Napa Valley. Adam is a small business owner and, like Jennifer, is another GoDaddy customer who supports local businesses. (Adam sells Sonoma Sauces in his shop.)
Jennifer has been running her dessert company, Sonoma Cake Creations, for nearly 25 years, a journey that started unexpectedly. Initially, she enjoyed working on cars, but her path took a dramatic turn when she baked a cake for a relative’s wedding.
This wasn’t just any cake; it was for a wedding in San Francisco with 400 guests!
Despite having no formal culinary training (she had taken one four-week class on wedding cake making to meet the credits to keep her scholarship), the success of the cake sparked an idea: If she could do this for free, why not make money from it?
Her foray into sauces began almost by accident. At the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, she entered her dark cherry zinfandel sauce into the pantry category. To her surprise, it won Double Gold and Best of Show.
Encouraged by this success and advice from a renowned local chef, she decided to pursue sauce-making more seriously and Sonoma Sauces was born. Her subsequent creations, like the blackberry merlot and mango pinot grigio sauces, have all won Double Gold, proving her exceptional talent.
Her philosophy is simple yet profound: less is more. She refuses to use preservatives and focuses on a few high-quality products. Her sauces are unique and unmatched in the market and her dedication to quality and innovation is evident in every jar.
Her journey hasn’t been without challenges. The 2017 Tubbs Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in United States history that burned more than 36,000 acres in northern California, devastated her business, destroying years of contacts, financial records and supplies (including her sauces) stored at her business and at her mother’s home.
The pandemic added another layer of difficulty as she balanced working over 30 hours a week at a hospital with her side hustles. Eventually, an injury forced her to leave the hospital, allowing her to focus entirely on her business.
Exciting developments are on the horizon for Sonoma Cake Creations and Sonoma Sauces. Jennifer, with the support of her family, dreams of opening a brick-and-mortar store in Sonoma, expanding her cheesecake line to ship across the U.S., and would love to introduce a line of wine-based ice creams.
My tasting session confirmed the exceptional quality of her products, and I believe they have the potential to become a well-known brand.
Jennifer has used GoDaddy products for more than 20 years, I shared with her our new advancements with GoDaddy Airo™, our intelligent experience that proactively helps anyone build and grow their business with the power of AI. We discussed how it will soon allow for seamless integration with her GoDaddy site, enhancing her online presence.
Her children, for whom she has already bought domains, are also excited to try out GoDaddy Airo to create websites for their businesses. Because Jennifer sells at a lot of events, having a payment system that seamlessly integrates is also important, and she’s excited to learn more about GoDaddy’s payment offerings.
My chat with Jennifer was an inspiring journey through a story of passion, resilience and innovation. We are excited to support her as she takes her business to new heights, and I am eager to see her dreams become a reality.
At GoDaddy, we love our customers, and I’m thrilled to continue to share these inspiring stories. Until next time!
Cheers,
Mark
