This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR contributor Renita D. Young speaks with Amy Hilliard, the founder and CEO of The Comfort Cake Company, a Chicago-based major distributor of southern-style pound cakes. Hilliard’s cakes have been distributed nationally through both food-service and retail channels.
Prior to launching The Comfort Cake Company, Hilliard was an accomplished senior marketing executive with companies including Gillette, Pillsbury and L’Oreal. Since the venture was launched, the baked-goods company has served the Chicago Public Schools, United Airlines, Jewel Osco and Nordstrom’s, among other clients.
Today, Hilliard is the first African American ever elected to the board of directors of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The Comfort Cake Company has been featured by numerous media outlets, including The Home Shopping Network and CNN, as well as in magazines including Essence, Fortune and Black Enterprise. Hilliard stops by The Roundtable to share how she transitioned from marketing maven to entrepreneurial success.
Also, UBR Contributor Samantha Pass speaks with Kim Martinez, founder of Creative Kimistry, a customer service training program that helps businesses to deliver exceptional customer service in order to drive business growth.
In addition, in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I share some of the inspirational advice that has guided me in my business and professional career, including from business leaders including Black Enterprise Founder and Chairman Earl Graves Sr. and the late deal maker extraordinaire Reginald F. Lewis. I also invite the listeners of The Urban Business Roundtable to share the advice and words of wisdom that helped them to define their success. I’ll be sharing some of that wisdom on upcoming editions of The Urban Business Roundtable as well as future UBR Spotlight posts. If you have quotes or advice that help to guide your business decisions, feel free to share them below in the comments section of this post.
And finally, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today business correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.
If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.