As with most entrepreneurial ventures and businesses in general, it has definitely not always been a smooth road. During Sweet Loren’s early days, I navigated the business entirely on my own. My mom passed away the same time I launched Sweet Loren’s into Whole Foods, and I bootstrapped the business at the beginning by doing everything myself, including baking in my tiny NYC studio with a toaster oven, raising my bed to store the bulk ingredients underneath, traveling with a toaster oven on the subway to demo the product in-stores, and being as scrappy as possible. Once we began to expand into additional retailers, I grew my team, and the rest is history.