Every day was grueling. I mean physically grueling. It was like I was rolling downhill and all of these magical things kept happening and I've learned since then. I mean, there was a moment in time where I was like, oh yeah, I got this. I got this entrepreneurship thing. I'm good. I do this pretty well.

And I made a couple decisions that were not as intentional or maybe as aligned.

And felt flat on my face and I was like, right, right. Good reminder. Move with intention. Make sure everything is aligned. Purpose driven, grounded in a bigger why. That's what really moves the needle.

I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, you're going to chase down our goals.

To overcome adversity and set you up for better tomorrow.

I'm ready for my close time. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet our guests this week. Candace Nelson is a serial entrepreneur. New York Times bestselling author, Wall Street Journal contributor, angel investor, TV personality executive producer and mom.

Candace worked in investment banking sounds boring and then at an internet startup before shifting gears to follow her passion and attend hastery school.

In 05, she opened the doors to sprinkles. I think you heard of it. The world's first cupcake bakery. Despite the early naysayers, her tiny bakery and Beverly Hills disrupted the legacy bakery industry and ignited a worldwide cupcake phenomenon.

In 2012, sprinkles introduced its cupcake ATM, a cutting edge, contactless cupcake delivery system.

Today, sprinkles has sold more than 200 million cupcakes and has more than 20 stores, 30 cupcake ATMs and a thousand employees. In 2017, Candace co founded pizza.

A fast-growing chain of award-winning neonapolitan pizzerias leading the third wave of pizza in the US.

Pizzeria cemented Los Angeles as a pizza destination and revolutionized pizza takeout with its innovative heat and slice-at-home method.

Pizzeria also shipped frozen pizzas nationwide in 2021. Candace co-created an executive-produced best-in-do, a Hulu show starring Pizzeria executive chef Danielle Udidi.

Through CN2 Ventures, a family office and venture studio, Candace has backed, I'm losing people, has backed a diverse portfolio of startups and specialty food, retail, health, wellness, and early childhood spaces, with a focus on female and underrepresented founders.

Candace is also a beloved global baking personality. On the small screen, she starred in Netflix Sugar Rush and Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

She is also the author of the New York Times best-selling cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book. She lives in LA with her husband and two sons. Candace, thank you so much for being here today.

I am delighted to be here. Thank you for having me.

Oh my gosh, Candace, let's get into it. For those that don't know your story or oftentimes, and you know this, people just see the success on the outside and I hate, hate, hate that because then they can't relate to where they are.

I love that you were fired because I was fired and I love the massive success that you have obtained. Can you take us back to what was going on back when you were investment baking and banking what happened to you?

So I was raised in a very risk-averse family. So there was no inkling that I would ever become an entrepreneur. My dad was a corporate lawyer. We moved around internationally all of our life and the priority was education.

So I went to a very academic boarding school. I went to a great liberal arts college. And then from that, I was recruited into an investment bank in Silicon Valley. Well, actually in San Francisco, but we were working with tech companies in Silicon Valley.

And you know, just figured I would keep marching my way up the pathway to success. But of course, that was the dot-com boom days. And then a few years later was a dot-com bust. And I was out of a job without any prospects.

...