Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Ray Goodson.
Every person has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My Great Uncle Ray is famous in Southeast Texas. He has been for over 30 years. That’s how long he’s been perfecting his peanut brittle and charming just about everyone West of the Mississippi. We became friends after my Grandma’s passing (his sister) and I felt an urge to learn more about him. That was the beginning of many morning coffee visits and the best conversation of peanut brittle.
After college, I felt inspired to join the Peace Corps and was stationed as a volunteer in the South Pacific Islands helping a small Hindu organization. There was a cleaning woman making $2 a week where I volunteered at, and they wanted me to train her on how to become an office manager. She was poor and had only gone to the school through the 4th grade, but I knew she was smart and had passion.
We quickly became friends, sisters from another mister, and over the course of two years teaching her about computers, email, and Google (that was a big day) – the most important thing we talked about was her desire to own small business. She wanted more and I understood the feeling.
After returning, I used Uncle Ray’s Peanut Brittle to do a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for her to be able to start her own business – and it worked. It wasn’t easy, but she went from living in a tiny tin house in a squatters area to owning her very own home and piece of land. If you’ve ever truly changed someone’s life, it’s the greatest feeling of all.
It’s a feeling that I know will last forever, it still makes me cry to this day. Believing in someone is the most powerful gift.
Then, after watching her, and doing some soul searching – a kind and brilliant mentor believed in me and helped me believe in myself. I wanted more too, I realized I was a creative, an entrepreneur and it was time I committed to that. I brought him some of the brittle (randomly) and the rest is history.
It’s been the most challenging job I have ever had, I’m still super ‘in it’ and sometimes I don’t know if this is going to work out the way I would love for it to – but what I do know is that for the first time, I’m authentically living to who I am. And THAT feels amazing and totally worth it all!
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
We specialize in making gourmet brittles with the intent to spread love and community baked into every bite. A LOT of brittle out there being sold is sub-par and my Great Uncle Ray’s recipe is truly spectacular. I’ve used the sauce recipe to create a handful of other flavors, and bring life to an old-timey Southern treat.
I’m still mostly a one-woman show, but I’m finally bringing on some part-time people so I can focus on higher level areas in the business. I have a background in marketing and really enjoy sharing the brittle, doing outreach, and growing the business.
My Great Uncle Ray spent 35 years perfecting the recipe, so, fortunately, I only had to spend a year getting things ready to scale and making the recipes slightly healthier. 😉
Two of my favorite things about the brand:
1. I’m most proud of the intention behind the brand – on the back of every bag there’s a short story, and my favorite part of it is this:
‘Peanut brittle isn’t just a candy or a sweet treat to be savored. It’s to be shared over conversations that make you reflect on life. It’s a symbol of love’s potential—that sweet kind of love—the unconditional kind you find in your heart for friends, family, and the quirky strangers you meet along the way.
Please enjoy Uncle Ray’s Peanut Brittle and let it open you to new people, places, and ideas.
In Love, I Hope You Trust, Courtney Ray.
2. As a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, service means a lot to me. After returning, people would always say ‘I wish I could go and do that and help people’ like that. But I realized, there are so many people in need in the US, that people could help people and do what I did, except here. They wouldn’t have to learn another language or learn a new culture to do that. As an American living in America – you know exactly how to go help someone that very same minute. And that’s what I believe – Doing Good right where you are. I mean this even in your job or what you do.
Do you have any advice for other women? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
I only wish I’d committed to being a creative earlier on in my life. Not saying I regret anything, because I do see a purpose in the corporate America path I was initially on and how I gained skills from it. However, I still wish I would have stopped dancing around the idea of being a creative, an entrepreneur, and just did it sooner!
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Uncle Ray’s Peanut Brittle is in all 9 Central Market stores in Texas.
All of the flavors can also be found online at www.unclerayspeanutbrittle.com.
We welcome any followers on IG, FB, & Twitter – @TheBrittleBabe
Contact Info:
- Website: www.unclerayspeanutbrittle.com
- Phone: 832-776-5370
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebrittlebabe
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebrittlebabe
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/thebrittlebabe
Image Credit:
Jessica Arroyo Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
