About me

My name is Jessica Spaulding and I've been an entrepreneur my entire life. I used to spray paint pine cones to sell as ornaments, and my favorite part of Girl Scouts was selling cookies. I have always had a side hustle, but in my family and greater society, side hustles are things to be done on the side of your full-time job. It's a framework that kept me trapped and made me feel crazy. The job market wasn't working out, and my side hustle was screaming for attention.

So, in 2014, I jumped out the window and put all my thought power into building Harlem Chocolate Factory. But the doubt crept in. Business is for business people, and I was a side hustler, so I took every business class available. I've done accelerators, lectures, and boot camps, and while they have all helped immensely, there is so much they don't/can't cover. I have scaled my business from my living room to seven figures, but I've also faced shutdowns and a lack of funding while trying to keep it together. We often sugarcoat this building process or tell our stories as a highlight reel of our wins. I refuse; around here, the truth will set us all free.