Candace Nelson has lived a lot of lives in the past two decades.
She started a career in finance before leaving it to pursue baking, a passion that led her to open Sprinkles Cupcakes in 2005. As the face of Sprinkles, she had the opportunity to judge television shows like “Cupcake Wars” and “Sugar Rush,” and to author a cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book.
Nelson and her business partner husband, Charles, sold Sprinkles to a private equity firm in 2013 and focused on their own investments through CN2 Ventures. That includes Pizzana, a full-service pizza concept they’ve helped launch alongside chef Daniele Uditi that has grown to seven locations between California and Texas.
Nelson even spent time last year as a guest shark on the hit investing show “Shark Tank.”
That robust career has led Nelson to the main stage at CREATE: The Event for Emerging Restaurateurs, where she will serve as the keynote speaker in conversation with NRN editor-in-chief Sam Oches. To provide a glimpse at that conversation, Nelson joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, discussing her life as an entrepreneur and restaurateur and lessons she’s picked up along the way.
In this conversation, you’ll learn more about why:
- You capture guests’ attention by flying in the face of expectation
- The life of an entrepreneur shows leaders what they’re made of
- You don’t have to fly a rocket to the moon to be a successful entrepreneur
- You should secure proof of concept before you raise capital to grow
- There’s plenty more to learn from Candace at CREATE this October!
Contact Sam Oches at [email protected].
