Today we’d like to introduce you to Candra Williams.
Candra, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in East Texas (Marshall and Longview) raised by my mother and grandmother for the most part. I was influenced heavily by these women; I literally grew up in a house full of so much creative energy – my grandmother kept me in the most beautiful custom made dresses as a little girl, and she helped plan and decorate so many weddings within the Marshall community. My mom was the same; always crafting, and I fondly remember all the little hand painted shirts and shorts that she created for myself and my friends. I would definitely attribute this affinity for creation to these women, major influences. Aside from the creativity, I would say that I have always been industrious, beginning in elementary school, when I would go with some of my best friends to pick blackberries so that we could sell them to our neighbor’s door to door for some extra cash. As I got older, high school, I would say is when it hit me that I wanted to be a “businesswoman.” In my mind, I thought of the women from Sex in The City – life in Manhattan, working for a top company, stilettos, and business suits. It became a goal and apart of accomplishing that goal was attending and graduating college.
Off to UT Arlington, I went, even after discovering that I was pregnant over the summer and against the advice of many family members and friends who quite frankly thought that my life was headed nowhere… just another statistic. Honestly, the doubt fueled me, I would show them and I would show myself that I would be the exception. Well, 2nd semester came and my beautiful daughter was born and boy did life get real. 18 years old trying to juggle school and motherhood, it was difficult and I had to make some adjustments. A lot of prayer and trust in God helped me make it through years of working multiple jobs, walking to work and even overcoming a period of homelessness where I literally relied on friends and family for somewhere to lay my head. Through it all, my faith in God kept getting deeper; though these situations were difficult to endure, I was not defeated. In these struggles I found strength. Over the years, I never gave up on my goal to become a businesswoman and so I continued to take classes when I could and towards the end I was working full-time in the day and going to school full-time in the night. After ten years, I was able to graduate from UT Dallas with a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting and a year later, I was able to graduate with my Masters of Science in Accounting with a job secured at a top Dallas semiconductor company as an accountant. It’s not Manhattan, and I definitely fancy flats over stilettos but hey you make adjustments but nevertheless, a businesswoman (check).
In the journey to accomplish the goal of becoming a businesswoman, a dream manifested-entrepreneurship. I have a friend that once told me he wanted to own seven businesses and as I thought about it, I went hmm, I would like something similar. I wanted to offer a full-service event planning business; planning, decorating, catering, make up the whole shebang but I didn’t know how to get started or where to begin. For years, it was only a dream, something that I talked about often but that I never really made any plans around; just lots of ideas floating out there with no action. Two years ago, in February 2017, a family member asked me to help decorate and make a cake for a birthday party. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube and went for it and discovered a new medium of art that I never really considered-Cake design, which was a gateway for cookie design, cake pops, dipped treats and the push that I needed to finally get started towards making my dream a reality. Within months of posting pictures on my Facebook and receiving tons of positive feedback from family and friends, I filed articles of formation for Candi K. Creations, LLC, where I specialize in event and dessert design. So far, business ownership has been challenging and rewarding. I’m grateful for where God has brought me and the journey that I had to walk to get to where I am today; I’m enjoying a rewarding career as an accountant as well as basking in the pride of business ownership.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The roads were quite bumpy for me – motherhood as young women, working multiple jobs, navigating DFW with no car, as well as some periods where I didn’t have a place to call home. All of these challenges gave me some major life lessons that pushed me to be very driven and resilient but most of all it brought me closer to God, which is where my faith rest, because of him, I conquered every challenge.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Candi K. Creations is an event and dessert design company, and we specialize in custom party decorating as well as custom treats. We are mostly known for our yummy and beautiful buttercream cakes, cupcakes and cookies but we are striving to make sure that everyone knows all the wonderful event services that we have to offer. As a company, we are really proud of the positive feedback that we have received from our clients and being able to be an important component of making memories special! Candi K. Creations is an extension of me, Candra, I am the event designer, event planner, and the dessert artist; when clients interact with me, they get specialized attention and designs customized just for them! Candi K. Creations is set apart because it’s truly operated from a place of passion and desire to make sure that our client’s look back on their special occasions with fond memories.
What were you like growing up?
The thing I remember most growing up was my imagination. I played outside often and truly experienced so many adventures right in my backyard, whether I was making mud pies, or saving the world as a super hero with my friends. As I mentioned before, I was very industrious and organization focused and sometimes the two collided for some of the greatest collaborations; I loved to read and thus was inspired to make my very own Babysitter’s Club within our neighborhood, it was a great way to make some extra money as well as a fun way to group together with my friends. In middle school, I started a singing group “Teenage Angels” with some friends, we wrote some really good songs and made a lot of funny memories. Throughout middle school and high school, I developed a love for volleyball, track and art through some class electives that have stayed with me all the way into adulthood. I could truly go on an on about my interest as a child but I will wrap up by saying that my curious, imaginative, and creative nature helped mold me into who I am today, a freespirited, business minded, independent thinker and creative visionary striving to make my mark on this world.
Contact Info:
- Website: CandiKCreations.com
- Phone: 972-836-6292
- Email: CandikCreations@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/ckc_sweets_studio
- Facebook: Facebook.com/CandiKCreations
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