 Today, we are excited to welcome someone who isn't afraid of change and who has mastered some of our favorite desserts. Day Nepala is here to talk about multitasking and how she established one of the fastest growing businesses in the country. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hierarch Go Daddy, and I live and breathe the hustle of business. Today, we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Times Square in New York City. Thank you so much for the big warm welcome. Thank you for having me. It's so great to have you here to be here. Thank you. Before we get into this beautiful presentation over here, I want to actually just have you tell all of us about why Dana's Bakery is so unique because you are not a typical bakery. We are not your ordinary bakery. You are correct. I think what really sets us apart is we like to think outside the box. We take a traditional dessert and put a fun American spin on it from the macaroons we just started with to our new product lines, cookies, muckies, black and white cookies. Nothing is done the norm. It all has our fun little spin on it. And I think that's really what sets us apart from everybody else. What's a muckie? A muckie is a macaroon baked inside a cookie. So it's a cookie with an M. Okay, so I want to talk to you about the macaroon. Is that a macaroon? Macaroon. The macaroon my mom used to make at Christmas time were these big coconut clusters with like a half green and a half cherry out of a frog little plastic can. Or the coconut macaroon at Passover. Yeah. Right, sometimes dipped in chocolate. Totally different. Okay. I don't speak French. I'm from Jersey. So I say macaroon, not macaroon. Okay. But you spell it with one O. And it's basically two shells made out of almond flour and confectionary sugar. And it makes the macaroon. And then we mix it with filling in the middle. And so now the muckie has one of these baked inside. Right. Like a double cookie. A double cookie. So you are putting a very unique spin on these classic desserts. Absolutely. Would it be okay if I tried one? Of course. These are absolutely beautiful. I would think it would be weird if you didn't. Because I deserve first. I try all of them to be honest. Even before dinner I do deserve first. It's always been my thing. This is a good key lime pie. Thank you. And they taste just like what they're supposed to taste like. So I think that that's something that you think is going to happen, but it doesn't always happen. So I'm really proud of that. I'm going to take the birthday cake one. What goes into creating a recipe? I know that when you want people to walk in and see something that is colorful and beautiful, how do you conceptualize all of this? So we're primarily an online bakery. I started online before having a storefront. So for me, being a photo editor, I used to be a photo editor, it was all about aesthetic. So I think that it needs to look good in order to get people to buy it. And it tastes good, then they'll come back, they'll buy more, they'll get it for their friends, and that's how the word spreads. So I went back to something you said a second ago. You were a photo editor. Right. And so I imagine you have this skill and this gift around visual beauty. Right. And so when you talk about the beauty of that macaroon and wanting to create that, I see that kind of in your background. And that makes sense, but the jump from photo editor to baking is such a wide step. And I'm wondering if you might tell us a little bit about how you got there and why. Sure. I'm definitely not parallel, but I always say that you can always apply what you learned in the past or your past job or your past experience. Yeah. And you can help yourself with what you're applying it to today. I always loved baking. I would always bake to relieve stress, or I would bake for people. I loved to entertain it. It had always been a passion of mine, but I had really never thought about doing it for a living. And then that's when my light bulb went off and I said, what if I turn this into something? And I didn't know what it was going to be, but I knew that if I was going to quit my job at 30 and switch careers, I should probably get formal training in something that I'm passionate about. So all within two weeks time, quit my job, enrolled in ICE, Institute of Culinary Education, and their baking and pastry arts program. And I started school not too long after. With all of this going on, you have a family at home. I do. And I want to hear about how you maintain that balance between running a successful bakery that you have 35 to 40 employees, right? It is a lot, but I love what I do and you have to be passionate. So I think that that definitely helps. But I think that being a mother now with another one on the way. Congratulations. Thank you. But being a mother has actually helped me in business, because before I didn't necessarily feel the urge to make the most of my time. I always wanted to make the most of my time, but I didn't really realize what that meant until I had my daughter, and time became so much more valuable. So I think that it's really helped me be a lean and mean business machine. I guess you would say. So how do people go about really getting your product and tell me about like if you have dietary concerns as your product even appropriate? So we are one of the first online bakeries. We started Dana's Bakery. We were online only. So we ship nationwide from our website, and we also have a location on the Upper East Side inside Dylan's Candy Bar. Their flagship location. So you can get it online. We ship everywhere. You can get it in New York City or our headquarters in New Jersey where we make everything. If you have dietary restrictions, you know, we are gluten free, 100% gluten free, and we are kosher. So it took me two years to develop the cookie recipe for gluten free. Macaroons by nature are gluten free, but we decided to use gluten free products when developing our different flavor profiles. I want to play a game with you. Okay. Called Hustle Time. I love the hustle. I'm ready. I know that you're a competitor, and I know that you're going to want to get through as many cards as possible. Yeah. Go ahead and give them a shuffle. Okay. Feel the cards. What we're going to do is set a timer for 60 seconds. I'm going to read fast, and we're going to see how many cards you can get through in 60 seconds. Okay. Say the first thing that comes to mind. Don't overthink it. Okay. Just have fun. Okay. I'm ready. It's going to be great. Okay. Okay. So, team, may I please have 60 seconds on the clock? Okay. What's that? Okay. Tell me when. Dream dinner guest. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. I'm going to have to say Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden. Best place you've traveled. This is so boring. L.A. I love L.A. Favorite New York City tourist attraction? Central Park. What's the first app you open in the morning? Instagram. Would you rather never be able to teach or mentor or never be able to learn? Oh, I would always want to learn. How would your mother describe you? Amazing. Number one guilty pleasure? Smutty romance novels. One word you wish you could take away from the English language? Oh, God. Pass. Favorite workout? I do SLC in the mornings. Boozy brunch or morning workout? Boozy brunch. What is your favorite word? The F word. Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp? Oh, Gene Wilder. Biggest splurge? Mmm, shopping. Sour candy or sweet candy? Sour. Karaoke is about talent or commitment. But what is it? First of all, I live for karaoke and it's about commitment. Yay! That one. I am counting that one. Well, if I give you the karaoke commitment at the buzzer, you got 15. You got 14 before the buzzer. That's pretty great. What is your favorite song to sing when you do karaoke? I like Leta Ford Kiss Me Deadly. I'm not going to do it for you. But I like that song. This part is fun. We ask everybody the same set of questions. Okay. Favorite part of your day? Favorite part of my day, coming home and seeing my fam. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? This is going to sound cliche, but you have to trust your gut. You have to trust your gut because if you don't, it will always go the wrong way. How do you use your career to inspire others? So I use my career to inspire others by showing people that they can do it. I didn't go to business school. Or baking school at the start, right? Right, right. So I have a lot of people that were against what I was doing and thought I was crazy. So I find a lot of people have a passion, but they're too scared to go out and do what they want to do. And I say just do it because worst case, if it doesn't work, at least you try. You never know. And you know you try. Right. Exactly. Girl, seriously. I love that. Have you ever felt like walking away? Yes. Whenever something goes wrong, you want to walk away. You're the boss. No one else is going to fix those problems for you. But when you stay and you figure it out, it makes you that much stronger and then you have another notch in your belly. You feel like you can handle anything. One thing you still need to learn. Balance. And taking good care of myself, getting sleep. That's so important and I don't do enough of it. What do you want people to learn from you? I want people to learn from me that dedication, hard work, and the hustle really do pay off. What's next for you? Lots of things. It's under wraps, but I promise you you'll find out soon. Will you follow up with me? I will, I promise. I love that. Who inspires you? I'm inspired by anyone who thinks outside the box and puts their own spin on things because it is such the foundation that I built my business on. So anyone that's really getting after it and doing what they love and making it theirs, I'm really inspired by. It's really easy to do what everyone else is doing, but it's really unique to make it your own. Who challenges you? Myself. Myself and my employees. My employees sometimes. Which I love. You know, it takes teamwork to make the dream work and I have a lot of really great employees, but I would say that that's been one of the most challenging things for me is learning how to be a good leader and a good boss, being fair, but also getting the job done the right way. So that's been one of my biggest learning lessons and challenges and usually the most rewarding. We let everybody know you were coming and we got a lot of great questions coming in from social. I picked three. Okay. This comes from somebody who I think you know. It's living that lush life. Yes, I know very well. She sent us really cute candles. I love that. So here is a question. Best advice for starting small business owners and how to grab social media attention? Yep. So social media really helps grow our business and it's a free platform. So I always say make your photos stand out, separate yourself from everyone else and use the free tools that you have to help you grow. I engage in chat with everyone. I love it. So that would be my... So great content. Great content. But listen and engage and build that relationship. Yeah. It's all about the relationship. Fantastic. Megan asks, how did you fund your startup? How did you get investors if you had any to see your vision? I actually do not have any investors or partners. I started with my small little nest egg that I saved from being a photo editor and everything I was just really frugal and I bootstrapped and everything that I made I put back into the business to grow. We have one last question. It comes from a very, very important GoDaddy employee named Noodle. Right. Love, Noodle. Big fan. Here he is. Big fan of Noodle. Do you want him? Can I put him in your bag? I want him. Here you go. Hi, Noodle. So Noodle, you know, has a birthday coming up around the corner and he wants to have a nice big birthday celebration with friends. And what I'm wondering is, of course, can Noodle... Can Noodle even able to eat your cookies? And I'm also wondering, what is the best way for Noodle to celebrate his birthday with friends? What is the best dessert to put on the table? How does he make that birthday really special? Okay. Well, I think that any birthday of Noodle's is going to be special number one. Totally. Yeah. So I would say you just have to put stuff out that you know you're going to like. So for me, that's pizza and that's dessert. So we have to get Noodle some birthday cake, maybe some pizza for his friends. And I have a special treat for Noodle today. I have a peanut butter and jelly macaroon for Noodle. And Noodle, if you like it, maybe I'll send some for you and your friends at your birthday party. So this is pet friendly. So there's no chocolate in the one that I'm giving Noodle. The macarons are just made from almond flour. So you can squeeze out a little peanut butter and let's see if Noodle likes it. Noodle approves. Noodle approves. Well, there you go, Noodle. You are on your way to having the best birthday ever. Okay, this next piece, kind of for me, is like the fortune cookie of the interview. Where you know when you break up a fortune cookie, there's like a message that leads you with that thought. That's the best part of the book. Yes, exactly. So I want us to leave with a final thought. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read three quotes to you. And I want you to tell me which of the quotes resonates most with you. Okay, ready? One, hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. Two, success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. And three, it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Oh, man. I would say two and three because they all have so much to do with that entrepreneurial spirit and not giving up and really just, you know, to keep on chalking to your end destination, which by the way, there's never an end destination. There's not. You ask anybody who owns their own business and they always say, you know, what's next? I wake up thinking what's next, but you want to keep on the journey. So two and three. Can I pick two? You can pick two. Okay, two and three. I really enjoyed talking to you today. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here. I'm really, really happy that I met you and that we all get to share your story with everybody. And I hope everybody enjoyed this as much as I did. We bring School of Hustle out every Wednesday. Full episodes on Instagram, TV, YouTube, Facebook premiere. We're sharing teasers on LinkedIn and Twitter and Instagram. There's more to be had. So check out Dana's Bakery. Follow Go Daddy across social so you don't miss out on fabulous inspiration like this. And we'll see you all soon.