Tamara Turner is proof that a dream deferred is not a dream denied. The single mom of four and owner of Silver Spoon Desserts just inked a sweet deal with American Airlines. Her cakes will now be offered on American Airlines flights.
It’s something she didn’t see coming after making the decision to take a step back a few years prior.
She was offered an opportunity in 2017 to bring her cakes onboard for the Chicago to London route but didn’t feel ready at the time.
“We got to the point in the process where we talked about the scaling of the cakes, how to make them halal suitable, and airline ready,” she tells Travel Noire. “They told me it would be about 960 cakes a week and they needed to see my facility. I didn’t have a facility at the time … just a product because I just got started. I told myself, ‘okay, let’s take a step back.'”
Turner was sitting on the couch post-surgery in 2017 and thinking how she wanted something different for her life. She was the manager of a barbecue restaurant at the time and was unhappy.
After praying for a few days, she recalls hearing a voice at 4 a.m.
“That voice told me to start with cakes,” she says.
Little did she know –the cakes passed down from generation to generation, the cakes she would make for her children and family friends and pass out from time to time as a kind gesture would take new heights in the friendly skies five years later.
A Cake To Remember
Four years after her initial meeting with American Airlines, Turner received another call from the airline inquiring about her bundt cakes – again.
“The rep told me that she remembered me and the cakes and told me another opportunity to serve my cakes,” says Turner.
In the words of Nipsey Hussle “dedication, hard work plus patience … the sum of her sacrifice…” Turner was ready this time around.
She was so ready that when she received the address to where to send the cakes, she decided to hop on the plane and deliver them herself.
Now that’s dedication. The dedication allowed her to secure a meeting with the higher-ups the same day and within two months of an incredible second chance, she secured the deal.
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“For me, this [moment] means that I am living in my genius and confirms that this is what God wants me to do with my life,” Turner adds.
From Humble Beginnings To First Class
When you bite into a Silver Spoon Desserts cake, Turner wants you to know that you’re tasting her family history mixed with her passion to make people happy one cake at a time.
You’ll have the chance to taste her cakes on American Airlines flights longer than two hours if you’re in first class.
An e-commerce site will be launched soon for those of you who don’t feel comfortable flying just yet or for those of you who wished you could take the cake home after your flight.
Turner is still in awe of the opportunity presented to her. She tells Travel Noire that while she’s still taking at the moment, it proves that she’s walking in her purpose.
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