Today we’d like to introduce you to Aneeqah Ferguson.
Hi Aneeqah, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Okay, thank you. I founded Aunt Neekies! Ginger & Spice, LLC right in the middle of the COVID-19 shutdown in early 2021. It was a time when businesses and bakeries alike were shutting their doors. A lot of people thought it seemed an illogical time for me to open a business that would highlight ginger cookies as my main opening product at that time. I must say that although I am an avid baker who has often been encouraged to go into business, I never set out to enter the cookie business. Yet there was something special about the circumstance we were in as communities that made it all make sense to me. As a former math teacher who enjoys time spent with the elderly and volunteering with youth mentoring, I felt that joy was the one thing that was missing during 2020. News reports of the heartbreaking stories of grandparents indefinitely separated from their families inspired me to look for a way to make a difference. As 2021 opened, I found a way to make a small change. I knew I wanted to share my ginger cookies because of how soothing ginger cookies had always been for me over time. Even now, every time I take a bite of a ginger cookie, the penetrating warmth of the rich ginger spice is like a deep, warm, slow hug from my grandmother. It brings me a sense of what I call ginger cookie joy.
I started Aunt Neekies! Ginger & Spice, LLC to help others savor the warmth of fresh baked ginger cookies, with the hope that our delightful little ginger treats could act as a little haven of happiness. Aunt Neekies! Cookies are an opportunity for connection. Anyone from young children and their grandparents to couples can connect by savoring the warmth of our old-fashioned ginger molasses cookie while in their separate or joined living spaces. In this small way, Aunt Neekies! Cookies helps generate joyous memories in spite of the difficulties of the day. I believe everyone should have an opportunity to experience that kind of ginger cookie joy.
The long-range view of Aunt Neekies! Ginger & Spice, LLC is to open a storefront that will showcase my handmade crafts, that includes the vintage handsewn line of baby dolls my mother designed nearly forty years ago, as well as a variety of dry goods spices and organic spice blends. However, currently, Aunt Neekies! Ginger Cookie Collection is our primary focus. All of our cookies are baked using only the highest quality non-GMO and organic ingredients, as well as locally sourced eggs and hibiscus. We offer fresh baked cookies biweekly at both the Decatur and Serenbe Community Farmers Markets. There, we provide shoppers a variety of dairy-free and nut free ginger cookies, all of which can be special ordered as gluten free, refined sugar-free, vegan cookies. These include our signature Old-Fashioned Original Ginger Molasses Cookie, Ging-O-Colate Chip Cookie, Twisted Lemon-Ginger Cookie, Ginger-Hibiscus Lemon Cookie, and Lemon Cookie.
Most of our sales are direct to customer through our registered cottage kitchen. However, we are on track to begin to commercially produce our cookies for wholesale to markets. We hope to be selling our cookies in summer of 2022 in Nuts N Berries in the city of Decatur, Georgie and the newly opening Leafy Greens Vegan Market in East Point, Georgia. Updates will be available on our Instagram site @AuntNeekuesCookies.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Thankfully the journey to Aunt Neekies! Ginger and Spice has been a very clear road, yet I would not call it smooth. Although I enjoy baking so many types of cookies and baked goods, my focus on ginger cookies clearly stood out as the direction of my business. I am committed to creating ginger cookies and broadening people’s expectations of what a ginger cookie can be. I let that clarity lead the way. That clarity has continued to expand my ginger cookie collection to some very artistic cookie creations that customers really enjoy. These include our Ging-ocolate Chip and Ginger-Hibiscus Lemon Cookies which are some of our most popular ginger cookie flavors.
While the direction of my business has been clear, there has certainly been struggles along the way. In my first year, I wanted to move in many directions at once. I had to learn the expensive lesson that as an entrepreneur, I really need to take things in stages. I realized that taking a gradual approach allowed me the opportunity to savor the journey and learn from my challenges and ultimately gain greater perspective along the way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Over the years I’ve done a lot of work in school and community engagement as well as volunteer work in youth mentoring. During the recent Covid shutdown period reconnected me to
outdoor gardening and the creative and artistic sides of myself. I am most proud of growing my own ginger, accidentally at first and then on purpose the following year. I am by no means able to grow enough ginger for my cookies, but perhaps I will one day. So, I would say what could possibly set me apart from others is that I am not afraid to learn a new skill, to challenge myself to grow in new ways.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
As a little girl I would have been described as someone who enjoyed being outdoors it with friends and family. I even associate ginger cookies with my childhood visits to my grandparent’s home during the holidays when my father would bring home a variety of treats including ginger snaps. My siblings and I would enjoy those tasty little brown cookies as we listened to our grandparents’ stories. Over the years, I have come to learn how important ginger is not only for my family’s ginger cookie memories but also for cooking around the world. Ginger is a key ingredient connected with nutrition and healing for many communities. Because of this, ginger also became a link connecting me with my own family traditions and with others much different than myself. This helped me to develop a comfort with my own individuality while also deepening my appreciation for people of different backgrounds. This is the energy I embrace at Aunt Neekies! Ginger and Spice as we work to serve up ginger cookie joy!
Pricing:
- Two-pack Dairy-Free Old-Fashioned Ginger Molasses Cookies $5 (Serenbe Market Every Other Saturday 9-1)
- Bag Gluten-Free Vegan Dairy-Free Ginger Cookies $10 (Serenbe Market Every Other Saturday 9-1)
- Two-pack Dairy-Free Old-Fashioned Ginger Molasses Cookies $5 (Decatur Community Farmers Market Every Other Wednesday 4-7)
- Bag Gluten-Free Vegan Dairy-Free Ginger Cookies $10 (Decatur Community Farmers Market Every Other Wednesday 4-7pm)
Contact Info:
- Email: AuntNeekies@gmail.com
- Website: www.AuntNeekiesCookies.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auntneekiescookies/
