This 8-Year-Old Entrepreneur Knows the Key to Sweet Success

How a young girl successfully founded an award-winning, charity-supporting confectionery company.

Taylor Moxey is an eight-year-old who is busy with school, chores and dance class. She also happens to be the head chef of her own booming baking business, Taylor’s Cookies and Cupcakes.

It all began one day when Taylor found herself wanting to buy a toy. Taylor’s father, Vernon Moxey, although currently an etiquette consultant, was once homeless, and thus feels it is important to teach his daughter self-sufficiency. He encouraged her to find a way to pay for the toy on her own.

She decided she wanted to sell cookies.

Using a napkin, they wrote out an agreement stating the terms of the $40 loan Taylor’s father would provide to allow her to purchase her ingredients. “Honestly, I didn’t think she would make $40 back,” said Vernon.

Taylor sold her brownies and cookies at their church that following Sunday after the service, and ended up making $175 - enough both to cover her loan and the cost of the toy. However, she also came out of the project with a booming new business.

Individuals from the church began calling Taylor and requesting that she bring more baked goods to church. Following this success, she decided to enter herself into the KISS Country Midtown Miami Cornbread Competition. Although competing against adults, Taylor ended up winning first place, along with a $250 prize, her own billboard and a growing reputation as one of the top bakers in the area.

“Everything went bonkers,” her father said. “Suddenly I’m taking orders for Taylor’s Cookies and Cupcakes.” Today, she has made nearly $10,000, and donated 30% of her profits to raising dyslexia awareness - the learning disorder possessed by her father. Her clients include big names such as HGTV designer Bobby Berk and former Miami Heat player Joel Anthony.

The business is booming, and Taylor’s parents make every effort to ensure that its success does not overshadow her childhood. They monitor the orders being placed and keep the business under control. “I don’t want to take away her childhood. Every decision is cleared by us, but we allow her to make the decision,” Vernon said.

However, the fame has not appeared to change Taylor. For her, the business still seems to be more fun than hard work. She hopes to host a party this summer that will include cupcakes with palm trees on the frosting. She says: “I think baking is mostly my passion. You get to take your recipe and different people’s recipes and add different things to them.” Martha Stewart has been named as one of her inspirations.

One of the unique touches she adds to her baked goods is the creation of a custom box for each customer, which she creates with stickers, markers and handmade decorations. Her father says, “It’s almost nostalgic. She takes time to colour it, put stickers on it. People say they made them feel like a kid again.”

Looking to satisfy your sweet tooth? Contact our bakery today!