A Family Affair is an ongoing series where we feature women who are in business with their families.
Name: Adrienne Connolly
City, State: Springfield, MA
Title and/or specialty: Co-Founder/Creative Director
Company/Organization Name: StinkyCakes.com
History: Stinky Cakes was founded in 2009. After having our second son we wanted and needed diapers. Some of our family and friends chose to give us flowers, fruit baskets and other baby items. Our sons are seventeen months apart, and we had so many things unused from the first pregnancy that some of these gifts were not practical for us and the flowers and fruit just withered away. Being entrepreneurial we saw an opportunity to creatively make diaper giving fun. We went from that silly idea to shipping our baby gifts nationally.
What you do: I create the majority of our diaper arrangements. I work hand in hand with my husband to create some of the craziest “cakes”. We’ve done things from a three foot tall Dr. Suess theme cake to a Japanese theme cake complete with Diaper Sushi.
The dynamic of a family: Working with family comes with its pros and cons. The difficult thing is “turning it off”. One time we were on a family trip and around hour two of the trip I looked at Myke and said,”Let’s leave Stinky Cakes back in Springfield for the next few days”. (That lasted for about 45 minutes). The best part about it is I get to work with my husband on something we came up with together. It’s still heartwarming to read an email, Facebook or twitter post from a satisfied customer and think back to the “if we build it they will come” days when we first started our business.
Making your mark: Family is the most important thing me. Maintaining a healthy family/business life balance was always my number one goal. I feel empowered because, even though difficult, while running the business I’ve been able to be a wife, mother and business woman.
My direction: Stinky Cakes is a cool and a very fun family-oriented business to be involved in and I want to see it grow and be as successful as we’ve imagined. That success can be in the form of franchising or selling it to a larger company that can take it to another level. My number one passion is helping foster children and seeing them live happy lives, in happy homes. In preparation of future endeavors I’m currently taking classes at Elms College to acquire my Bachelors Degree in social work. I have plans on using my entrepreneurial skills to better the lives of children in foster care.
Are you a woman in business with her family? Send us an email.
This article originally appeared in Lioness, May 2012
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