 Today we're excited to introduce someone who finds joy and inspiration by reimagining the Rice Krispy. Jessica Siskin joins us to talk about switching careers, publishing her book, and how one photo launched her entire business, Mr. Kris. 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 here at GoDaddy, and I live and breathe at the Hustle of Business. Today we're filming from the Hustle of the Dahl at the WeWork Times Square in New York City. Everybody, let's please give Jessica the biggest warmest welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. We're excited to have you. I'm especially excited because I remember my first Rice Krispy treat. To you? I do. It was an elementary school at a sleepover and it's such a nostalgic treat. I want you to think back into your past. What was your first experience with the Rice Krispy treat? Where were you? Who made it for you? What was it? It's so hard to really remember your first Rice Krispy treat looking back. I have to say it was probably my dad who made it. I had a stay-at-home dad and a working mom. So all of the things that people usually do with their parents, I was doing that with my dad. He definitely made Rice Krispy treats when I was growing up and then we used to have them in the little blue package in our lunchbox. But my first conscious Rice Krispy treat experience was actually when I was about 26. It was during a snowstorm and I was at my best friend's apartment and she decided to make them and then I realized just how easy it was. Did you ever help your dad in the kitchen make treats? Not really. I can't say I've ever been helpful in the kitchen even to this day. Well fast forward to now. You certainly are in the kitchen. You own Mr. Krisp and you've published a book with 93 ridiculously fun Krispy treat recipes. Tell us about Mr. Krisp and how it came to be. So Mr. Krisp is a one-woman business. It is both a custom bakery where I make custom Rice Krispy treats for customers in New York City and an Instagram account where I showcase that work and work that I also make as content for social media so the whole world can see it. Well every experience goes into shaping who we become and I know that along the way the Rice Krispy treat resonated with you from your dad making it and you having this moment when you were 26 with your friend. But what other things in your life along your path led you to be where you are today to be the successful business owner? So when I was in college I studied a blend of psychology and art history and I was really focused on the idea of how what we think affects what we see and what we see affects what we think. So these ideas were sort of germinating in my head for a really long time in terms of just what is art? What constitutes art? What amuses us? What feels special? So even though it's a very strange thing to do make Rice Krispy treats as art it actually was part of my natural trajectory. I remember reading that you actually saw a note on the side of the box that talked about adding food coloring. That was actually a recipe that I googled. Okay. So yeah so I used the recipe on the side of the box but yeah so I googled a recipe because my friend had invited me into a potluck dinner. Yeah. And we didn't know what to make and a friend of mine suggested that we make a Rice Krispy treat surfboard. So I googled Rice Krispy treat surfboard because I'm a millennial and the recipe had food coloring online. But you saw something that other people may not have seen. Why do you think that is? So I didn't see anything until I was actually making the recipe. When I put our members the red food coloring. Okay. And when I put the red food coloring in I had this like I call it an Oprah aha moment. I had this immediate impulse to make a Rice Krispy treat cheeseburger and it wasn't my first artistic cheeseburger. Cheeseburgers are so visually dynamic and I had made them in the past out of Play-Doh and I also made one out of colored tauti rolls. So it was just sort of this natural evolution of art for me. Cheeseburgers for some reason were my subject and I felt the need to make a cheeseburger out of Rice Krispy treats at that minute. And was the cheeseburger or the surfboard the one that really set Mr. Krispy. So I consider the cheeseburger to be the first Mr. Krispy. The surfboard I made but that was sort of just you know getting there scaffolding as you might say. So yeah so the cheeseburger is the first Mr. Krispy and I made it on a Sunday night and I posted it on Instagram that night and the rest has been history. And how did you kind of put the name Mr. Krispy? So Mr. Krispy is actually the name of the villain in the movie Sister Act 2 which is one of my favorite movies. It came out in 1993. It has the best musical sequence of all time. It does. I remember that board and hail I think was the best movie. Which she was. Yep. That is so funny but the word Krisp of course resonates with your key ingredients. Exactly. What is the most challenging request that you have ever gotten from a client? Everything's challenging until it's not until you practice enough but I have to say the most challenging thing I ever did was I actually worked with Kellogg's Rice Krispies to make entire holiday window out of Rice Krispy's treats and that was wild. It was super challenging, really fun and really, really cool. Can you describe this window to me? First of all where was it? So it was on 57th Street. This was about three years ago. There were a bunch of toys so teddy bear, a skateboard, a basketball, a doll, just things that you know it was over the holidays so holiday gifts. And what kind of pickup did you see in social? I'm sure people in New York love to take pictures of windows in the holiday time frame. You must have seen a ton of engagement. Yes so that was really cool and it was also something that was press worthy so there was a lot of press around it so I did see a lot of pickup around that time. It was really cool. What is your most proud moment in all that press pickup? Was there any one particular publication that blew you away? In the entire time I've been doing this I think the coolest thing was being on The Today Show when my book came out. That was something that you know I watched my whole life so actually being there was really awesome. That is awesome. Let's talk about your book. 93 ridiculously fun Krispy recipes in there. Exactly so it's one recipe but 93 different projects is how I like to describe it. Oh yeah that makes sense I like that. Do you have a favorite project in the book? I have to say The Cheeseburger. It's the cover of my number one it's my first child. Now what if you were a beginner if I were to get the book I've never made a Rice Krispy treat in my life let alone it's such a beautiful one where would I start? I would start with The Cheeseburger. You would it's like an artist though. No it's not at all I mean it's where I started okay and it's actually just more it's it's building right so you build all the pieces and then you end up with The Cheeseburger which was my experience also the first time I ever made it I actually screamed out loud when I put all the pieces together because I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Where do you get your vision for all of these projects? It comes from all different places I like to travel a lot looking for inspiration but I really am inspired by my customers most of the time people have really cool ideas and they'll message me on Instagram and tell me what they think I should make or I'll just see something happening in pop culture I nothing is off limits to inspire me. I love this conversation. I want now to move into our icebreaker and play a little game that we call Hustle Time cool. In the game Hustle Time we set a timer for 60 seconds and we see how many cards you can get through in that time okay can we get a timer for 60 seconds? Tell me when. New York City tourists help with directions or keep on your own way help with directions if you could have a superpower what would it be? Flying. The best chocolate in the world comes from Hershey's. King size or fun size? King size. Would you rather fly or talk to animals? Talk to animals. Favorite holiday? Don't report. Instagram or Twitter? Instagram. Binge watch or watch weekly? Binge watch. Your go-to outfit? Uh pajamas. Vacation lounge on the beach or an active hike? Beach. Who is the most successful person you know? My mom. Fictional place you'd like to visit? Hogwarts. If you had to eat one thing for breakfast every day for the rest of your life what would it be? Pizza. Ski trip or beach vacation? Beach. Describe yourself in three words. Happy, fun and blonde. Surf's up or cocktail's poolside? Cocktail. Least favorite candy? Oh that's a tough one. Airheads. Worst trend you've ever participated in? Oh my gosh, sweatsuits. First record you bought with your own money? Dave Matthews. Favorite Disney movie? A Little Mermaid. You have to lose access forever? Oh! I think I did pretty well. Okay so now let's see the moment of truth okay. 20. I think that's pretty good. That's really great. Fantastic. Yeah I knew it. That was a lot of fun. It really was. Nice job on hustle time. Thanks. Now we want to move into our entrepreneurial discussion where these next set of questions we ask everybody and it's fun to see how different entrepreneurs answer the same questions. So think short concise answers but not quite as fast as hustle time. Okay just concise and we'll keep it moving there's about 10. Okay let's do this. Favorite part of your day? Going to bed. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? You can't pour from an empty cup so take care of yourself first before you take care of anybody else. Worst piece of advice? Scale. Grow. Without thinking about it. Yeah there's a lot of that like just like grow even though you're not really sure where you're gonna grow to. How do you use your career to inspire others? I really like to do two things. I like to inspire people to do creative work. I like to add some intellectual value to creative work because where I grew up it wasn't really considered that important and I like to be honest about my challenges. Ever felt like walking away? No. One thing you still need to learn. How to delegate? What do you want people to learn from you? I want people to learn that even though things look a certain way on social media running a business is running a business. What's next for you? More of the same to keep doing this. Who inspires you? My mom. Who challenges you? My friends. Yeah. Well we also let everyone in social know that you are coming and I have a question for you from Joala. Joala wants to know what was your favorite sweet treat when you were growing up? That's a great question. I'd have to say so my mom used to travel to Arkansas a lot for work and that's where Walmart was based and she used to bring back on the plane these big coconut cakes and it was always such a treat and I'd eat it just with a fork. You've brought up your mom a few times in the interview and I just find that so fascinating. Is there anything in particular about your mom that you absolutely love and admire? I just have to ask. Yeah so my mom is just a you know a creative business woman so she is someone whose career I really admire. She owns her own company and she manages a lot of employees and she keeps putting out amazing creative work and she really inspires me. We have one last question for you and this comes from Noodle our resident pug at GoDaddy. Here he comes. So Noodle. Yes. Hi Noodle. So Noodle. Noodle is coming up on his one year anniversary at GoDaddy and he wants to throw a killer bash. He wants all of his guests to walk away with some swag so he's thinking about making a doggie bag for everybody to take home. Could you describe for Noodle what makes the perfect takeaway doggie bag and how would the perfect shape of a Mr. Crisp visit it? Well this is a doggie bag for doggies or for people. I feel like that. He will have you amused at this party. Okay well I think you know the biggest crowd pleaser for me in terms of a giveaway is an emoji. Everyone loves emoji treats. Okay. So I think that yeah I think that would make a really nice doggie bag treat. I was just gonna say looking at Noodle's face right now I think we want like the little tongue emoji for sure. Mr. Crisp in this doggie bag and what other what other things would you put in this bag? Anything that goes well with a Mr. Crisp? Any pairings that we should know about? That's a good question. Any pairings? I think they're great on their own. Okay yeah. Well you hear that Noodle? You're well on your way to hosting the best bash ever with the best swag. Can I come? You're catering. I can't wait. Okay this was great and we're just so happy that you could be here. Me too. I'm so I'm glad you've had fun. Yes so much fun. I wanted just to let end on a nice inspiring thought for everybody. So what I'm going to do is read three quotes and we need to listen to the quote and tell me which quote resonates most with you. Okay. The first quote is the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Two if you are positive you'll see opportunities instead of obstacles and three failure is not the opposite of success. It's part of success. Those are all really good but I have to say that number one resonates the most with me. I mean that's how my entire business started. I just started doing it and it became a business. Like if you build it they will come. I hope that everybody enjoyed watching Jessica today and learning about Mr. Crisp. How do we follow you on Instagram or place an order in New York? So it's Mr. Crisp that's M-I-S-T-E-R underscore K-R-I-S-P. So follow Mr. Crisp on Instagram. Follow Go Daddy too because every week we have a fabulous entrepreneur to provide advice and inspiration. We're pushing out School of Hustle on Instagram, TV, YouTube, Facebook, Premiere and teasers of course across Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram. So please follow and stay tuned for more School of Hustle and we will talk to you soon.