Tennille Ortiz
I've been the CEO of The Cupcake Carriage for 16 years, building this business from the ground up. We started as a boutique custom cake business focused on cake decorating and design, and we scaled very fast - we actually did several celebrity cakes and were really blowing up in that area. But I burnt out and wanted to build a business that I could scale and that didn't really rely on me, so I created the truck and the boutique bakery in North Arlington, New Jersey, with hopes that I can franchise this. I'm the creator behind all of the products and the experiences we sell, and I handle the business end of the responsibility, though for many years I was also a technician in my business. Before opening my own business, I always worked in higher-level management positions - I was an administrator for a multi-physician OBGYN doctor's office for many years and helped build surgical centers. I got a great deal of business education from my old bosses. My real heart and soul is teaching business - I'm in it to learn the business building so that I can coach. I want to teach entrepreneurship to underprivileged kids in underprivileged communities and help other women build their businesses from startup to six figures. I look at this business as a purpose-driven business, and obviously I'm in business to make a profit and to create a legacy for my family, which is very important to me.
• EPI Graduate - Rutgers University
• Some College (not completed)
• EPI Business Course - Rutgers University
• Women in Business of the Year - El Diario Newspaper
• Mentor of the Year - Wonder Girls Organization
• Hispanic Women in Business - Chamber of Commerce
• Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Wonder Girls (Mentor)
• Helping Angels
• Wonder Girls Mentor - empowering younger inner-city children
• Built from Scratch Initiative - teaching entrepreneurship to younger inner-city kids
• Helping Angels - helping women and children
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being driven to complete what my goal is - I'm trying to reach certain levels of success through my business, and I'm just staying focused. I think that ambition has really helped me stay the course. I also attribute my success to my mother, to watching her come out of a space of poverty and better her life through hard work and drive. I think watching her do it has helped me know that this is possible.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Dream big and know your numbers.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice that I would give is to stay the course. If you can get through the hardest times with faith that you are in control of your destiny and able to do the work - and it's hard work - you're guaranteed to win, because you are in control.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
My biggest challenge is building something with nothing. As for opportunities, I look at failure very differently now - I learn a great deal through failure, and I find that to always be an opportunity, because you learn, and you do better, and you know better. Being able to serve women all the time, and meet them, and share their life's most precious events with them, building a community and a network, is also a great opportunity that I've built through the business.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Faith, family, and community are most important to me. Giving back, showing people the way, opening up doors, not gatekeeping - just sharing the knowledge that I learn through failures and through hard work, just teaching what I've learned.
Locations
The Cupcake Carriage
North Arlington, NJ