Paying For College
I just completed the James Beard Leadership - Women Entrepreneurial Leadership program a couple of weeks ago. For our final presentations, we had to prepare slide decks that illustrated an issue in our business that we wanted to work on. I approached the assignment as an opportunity to do some strategic planning for Sugar Hill Creamery. Of the six pillars of work that I had plotted on slide three of my deck, one of them included “Building Brand Awareness” for myself and our business.
When I spoke with Nick about this pillar, I mentioned that I thought I should attend more hospitality-focused conferences. After sharing this thought, I started researching and registering for conferences. I signed up for Cherry Bombe Jubilee, Black Women in Food, and FAB.
I just attended the Cherry Bombe Jubilee conference yesterday and met some lovely, lovely women in food. On the train to and from the midtown venue, I read The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Road Map for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make. My neighbor recently gave it to me in her seasonal purge of items. She is preparing to be an empty nester. Her youngest child was just admitted to Brown University and she was preparing for her departure by ridding herself of any child and parenting items that helped make her daughter’s collegiate acceptance a reality.
Here I am with a fellow ice cream operator Kate of Kate's Ice Cream, a plant based ice cream shop in Portland. We met at our national ice cream convention ConeCon last fall.
In my own preparation for my neighbor’s current season of life, I have calculated the cost of sending our kids to private colleges, public universities, and higher ed institutions outside of this country. I’ve been working on getting citizenship to another country this year. Maybe I'll write about this once everything is done.
If we save nothing else for college, I feel confident that we will probably be able to pay a good portion of a state school tuition. That being said, we currently pay for their private school tuition. So as I count all the dollars that it costs us and will cost us to educate these children today and in the future, it sometimes causes me to quietly rock in a corner because many dollars are and will be spent.
We just launched our plant-based soft serve, which is currently available at our East Harlem store. It's a rice pudding mango creamsicle swirl with toasted Rice Krispies and sweet plantain chips, and I ate two servings after taking this picture.
On my post-conference walk up Lenox Ave, I had my head down reading the college book. Approaching me on my left, were two young Black women probably in their late 20s chatting with each other. They had waffle cones of ice cream in hand. Their banter caused me to break my gaze from the page...They were talking about our ice cream. That’s what their conversation was about.
One woman said between licks, “Hmm, this ice cream…is good.” The other replied, “It is, right?” They continued the conversation with silent gratifying bites.
My spirit was calmed by this deep satisfaction for what Nick and I have built over the last seven years. I thought to stop and introduce myself but I also didn’t want to disturb their moment. Plus, I needed to get home anyway.
They were deeply enjoying themselves and I got to witness it. And then my spirit got a little calmer about the future of paying for school.
If you can build something that people truly enjoy and manage your costs in the process, you will be ok.
Petrushka
Your Local Ice Cream Lady & Life/Business Coach
P.S. Our next Sugar Hill New Mom's Group starts on May 9th! Share this link with an expecting mom.