{ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MARCH 23RD, 2017}
I've never been one to put myself out there as I have usually felt like my product speaks for itself (plus the fact that I am not a huge fan of selfies or self promotion).
However, after 4+ years of doing what I love and being my own #girlboss, I have decided to share a bit more and show you guys who is behind all the sparkle lollipop madness. First off, thank you to all our followers, supporters, buyers, wholesale customers and all of my family and friends who have followed me on this journey. I am so fortunate to have you all in my life!
My name is Andrea Caroline. But you can call me Caroline.
Also known as Sweet Caroline and The Lollipop Lady (you can find me on twitter @thelollipoplady!)
I was born in sunny Miami, FL to 2 wonderful parents of #Honduran background. At the age of 7, I moved to Honduras and had the most amazing and fun childhood. I was definitely a party girl during my teenage years and I remember going out every T,F,S,S with my best friend @favi_ohoh even if it was only the 2 of us. Such fun times!
After graduating high school in 2005, I moved back to Miami with my family and got a degree in business management (my yearbook picture literally says "In 10 years, I will be my own boss" I kid you not...).
I also worked in the private banking sector for over 6 years.
I will not lie: even though I learned alot about the banking industry and met some great people (and had the best coworkers in the world), I hated what I did for a living. I knew there was more to life and putting up with Miami traffic, 4 inch heels, paperwork, and my nightmare-of-a boss was not it.
I discovered jewelry making and loved the intricate work I could do with my hands. It was so therapeutic and I did that as a side job for about 2 years. My house was a hot MESS and there were semi precious beads EVERYWHERE! My specialty was wire wrapping and I loved working with gold and silver. My love for colors and metallic accents was born during this time and I have even been told that my lollipops resemble jewelry and precious stones.
THEN: candy making came knocking on my door in October of 2012. For those of you who have not heard this story, I made lollipops to give away at a Halloween show.
No one paid attention to my jewelry.
It was all about them sparkly 'pops.
The following day I left the jewelry behind and started focusing on lollipop making. I have never been one to take another person's work and "given it my own touch" because I do not feel that that is correct or ethical. I have always respected other artist's creative ideas and knew I had to do something unique that had NEVER been done before. I did EXTENSIVE research and made sure that what I was about to start was not something that I was taking from someone else and taking credit for it.
Not a single soul with an internet presence was using sugar crystals or edible glitter in hard candy. With our beloved world wide web and social media, you know who is doing what all over the world.
I found no one, so I knew that my idea had potential. No one had pushed those boundaries yet.
I started experimenting with sugar crystals, sprinkles, edible glitter and anything that sparkled, which is funny, because as a child I disliked glitter and the color pink. Oh how things have changed!
I created and designed anything that would pop into my head. And now instead of beads, we had glitter. EVERYWHERE.
My life was so chaotic. I would go to work by day and come home to a sugary mess by night. Sleeping was very rare and I was nearly a walking zombie with a constant overdose of Cuban coffee coursing through my veins (if you have not tried this yet, I very much recommend it!).
Around July 2013, I quit my banking job and knew that my business was growing enough for me to give it 100%.
My other half Martin and I moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in February 2014 for his job relocation. It was there that I was finally able to put up shop. It was me and a small team and it was just perfect.
October 2015, we moved to gorgeous Denver, Colorado.
The snow! (Do you want to build a snowman?!)
The mountains! (cue "the hills are alive"...)
Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is surrounded by them. So even though I was born and grew up in Miami (and Honduras, yes, I know it is kind of confusing, sorry!) the mountains certainly have my heart.
The weather is also perfection, as I am not a huge fan of hot humid stickiness unless you are bikini-clad on the beach with a nice cold one (beer drinker here!)
We now work out of a 1000 sq ft. commercial kitchen which is about 15 minutes from my house. The drive there is straight towards the snow-capped mountains with eagles flying right above my panoramic sunroof.
This state is surely a dream! (no wonder everyone in the US is trying to move here)
I think one of the best parts of living here is very little humidity (so our lollipops last MUCH longer than they did in Miami and Corpus). And of course, the hikes and skiing are amazing as well!
Recognition:
Throughout these years, we have worked with such incredible people. Nearly 6000 individual customers on Etsy, wedding/party industry and business professionals, photographers, fellow creatives, magazine editors, celebrities (thank you Lebron James and Darcy Miller!) and of course, tons of talented+detailed-oriented event planners which we love and appreciate so much <3
We have worked with more people than we can name and somehow I can always remember what we made for each and every customer.
I am truly passionate for what I do. I intend to grow my business even further into the smallest corners of the globe, opening small boutique lollipop shops in major cities in the US, Europe and Asia, and finding distributer's that will help us expand even more.
Many thanks to those who took the time to read this long-overdue post!
You will know more about me and my daily adventures in the upcoming months (years, and decades!) as I intend to grow my presence in the industry as the innovator who introduced this sparkle lollipop concept back in 2012. Stay tuned for more videos, personal posts and even some tutorials!
We cannot wait to see what this new phase in our business will bring us.
We are truly excited!
Good times never seemed so good!
Special thank you
to my other half and best friend M&M. To my fierce mother who is also my business partner. To my family near and far. To my childhood friends who always offer me wise words of encouragement through messages and social media. To my new friends who I have met through this unique line of work.
To those dreamers and believers and fellow entrepreneurs who took that leap of faith into the unknown. Never let anyone tell you that what you are doing is wrong. Keep creating and discovering.
Keep rocking and do what you do. Much love!
