Blondery with Auzerais Bellamy
Blondery with Auzerais Bellamy
Seven years ago, I had an idea for a business that took me on the wildest journey filled with my highest highs and my lowest lows. From the second I became an entrepreneur, though, I felt a kinship with other founders, especially female founders. This summer, when it seemed like the world was blowing up and we were trying to decide how to respond as a business to the world around us, my gut told me that supporting Black female founders was the path that we should take. As a result, The Financial Gym partnered with iFundWomen to identify five Black, female-founded businesses to receive a scholarship from us, as well as business coaching and any other resources The Gym could provide, to help these women create even more successful businesses.
We started with the plan to help five women, but it became six, because of an impromptu conversation I had with today’s guest, Auzerais Bellamy, founder of Blondery. I was so blown away by this woman and her vision, that I knew we had to help. Joining me today is Auzerais to share her story about the challenges of being a Black woman pastry chef in the world of fine dining. I hope you’re as motivated by her journey as I am.
What are we drinking?
Auzerais - Detox Tea
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Shannon met Auzerais during Summer 2020, when The Gym was looking to support black female founders. Auzerais was tagged on social media and she reached out to Shannon for a conversation.
The scholarships had already been determined by the time Auzerais reached out, but Shannon was moved by her story and helped her with other resources.
Auzerais’s family owns the restaurant Everett and Jones BBQ in California, and there are currently three locations. She grew up watching her family run the restaurants and her mom managed one of them. At one point they had 12 locations. Her mother also had a law business right next door.
Auzerais was the only one in the family that baked. Every holiday since she was four, she made boxed cupcakes. As she got older, she got more creative and added more things to the mix.
Auzerais graduated from high school in a class of 80, and during her senior year, a culinary school visited and said they offered a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship. She went to culinary school at Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island. Her associate’s is in baking and pastry arts and her bachelor’s is in food service entrepreneurship.
The first half of her schooling included lab classes in the morning for chocolates, cakes, biscuits, and scones. In the afternoon, she would have curriculum classes like food costing and regular literature classes. Each class was six weeks long.
The second half of her degree was about building a business plan and marketing and regular classes you would take for a degree, but they had culinary spin on them. She was one of two black women in her level.
She wanted to open her own bakery, so she sought out the best baker she could find. She first worked for Aramark, because she could make $50,000 a year, but she hated it. She was making big batches of lemon grass chicken and no pastries. She didn’t last long.
Auzerais landed a job at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Yountville, California, for three and a half years. She stayed with a family friend for the first four months, because she made $13 an hour and couldn’t afford her own place. She worked hard and was promoted to sous-chef and moved to Napa.
She wanted to work at The French Laundry, but there wasn’t a sous-chef position available for at least a year. She took a different position with a pay cut to work there. There were standards she wanted to emulate in her own bakery, so the experience was worth it.
After an earthquake, she had to move out of her place and there was a position open in Rockefeller Center at the same time, so she moved to NYC. The standards and volume of business were different and she was unhappy, because she wasn’t challenged.
She tried to get a job at Thomas Keller’s restaurant, per se, but they said she needed management experience. She left the Thomas Keller company after she was told to train someone to get them ready to work at per se.
At per se, she noticed there were no people of color in the kitchen, unless they were washing dishes, and there were no women. Senior management was all white men.
There is not enough space in this industry for women to be who they are. They need to be a certain way. The industry doesn’t make it comfortable for women to be there.
That experience was a stepping stone and she left to work for other pastry chefs. She was challenged at first and then didn’t like what she was doing. After being fired twice, and she finally decided to work for herself full time. At the time, Blondery was a side hustle.
Auzerais recently hired her first employee. Diverse applicants are drawn to her, because she is a black woman. She wants her employees to have an entrepreneurial mentality.
Blondery is named after the products, blonde brownies, not after Auzerais.
Auzerais is going to France for two months this year. Between February and May, she is not that busy, so she is going to France to get inspiration. She doesn’t know what is in store for Blondery for 2021. She has some ideas, but she thinks she will know more after the trip.
Her ultimate goal is to go into the ready-to-bake space, creating products like croissants, pie dough, and biscuits, that you could buy at a grocery store, but at a higher level. The consumer is getting more advanced in gastronomic experiences. She may scale back the blonde brownie.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is to not be afraid of the forks in the road that are presented to you. As entrepreneurs, we call them pivots, and where it means a change in direction from where you started, pivots are a necessary part of any entrepreneur’s journey and will lead to a better end result.
Random Three Questions
What was your favorite bingeing experience in 2020?
What do you do to relax?
If this was your last meal on earth, what would you eat?
Connect with Auzerais
Instagram: @blondery
Website: blondery.com
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
If you’d like to talk to my team at the Financial Gym to help you manage your finances, if you have a business or you’re thinking about starting one, we’re offering a number of great deals now. Our team is more than happy to help you make your plan and take money stress of your plate. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get set up today.