Meet Alyssa Zimmerman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa Zimmerman.

Hi Alyssa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
For as long as I can remember, the two things I loved to do more than anything were doodle and bake. After a particularly stressful ten-month period where seven loved ones passed away, my soul ached. Family and friends distanced themselves, as they didn’t know what to say in those difficult times. But one thing was clear: My heart longed to create again. I left my job as an editor and started Heart Speak Creative Studio in 2018 with the mission to connect and encourage loved ones through passion, creativity, and empathy.

I designed cards and art prints for anyone finding themselves in the thick messes of life— loved ones fighting anything from cancer to memory loss, infertility to invisible illnesses— with messages to meet people where they are. The messages resonated with family and friends, and my business grew as I expanded sales to local craft fairs and across the country on Etsy.

In the spring of 2021, family and friends remarked that even if they were having a bad day in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, something sweet would always lift their spirits. What better way to make someone’s day than to send them a card AND some cookies?!

I worked with the Kansas Small Business Development Center and established Suzy Belle’s Sweets LLC to become a home baker operating under the cottage food laws of Kansas. Orders have come in from family and friends, and word of mouth has helped the business spread to others in the Kansas City area and to several other states. Suzy Belle’s Sweets LLC will be selling plenty of delicious sweet treats at local vendor events in the coming months and is always accepting individual orders.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. In early 2019, just a few months after starting my Etsy shop for Heart Speak Creative Studio, I found out that I was pregnant and we would need to upgrade from our one-bedroom apartment. As my husband has a full-time corporate job, I had to take time away from my small business to house hunt, move, settle in, and give birth to and care for our precious baby.

Then, a few short months after our little one was born, the COVID-19 pandemic raged around us. Vendor events were canceled and sales fell flat. I worked to re-design cards and create new items for my shop, but I could hear crickets chirping instead of a cash register chiming.

Suzy Belle’s Sweets LLC has faced some struggles in its early days. Perfecting recipes is a fun, sometimes tasty, challenge. However, once those recipes are ready to roll, it can be difficult to find vendor events to sell at, even with more events back on the calendar after the first wave of COVID-19. While I am insured, many local farmer’s markets still require that baked goods be made in a commercial kitchen (which, as a home baker, I do not have easy access to and often is another cost added to production).

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At Heart Speak Creative Studio, I hand letter cards and art prints that are designed to encourage others. I am known for and am most proud of the empathic energy that is put into my cards. I don’t rely on pre-created fonts or a Cricut to do the work for me— everything I make is 100% my own design and printed at a local printer.

Suzy Belle’s Sweets LLC makes THE BEST cookies you’ll ever eat. I am known for my palpitation cookies— scintillatingly sweet brown butter snickerdoodles with gooey bits of caramel and topped with sea salt— and my variety of Oreo truffles. The most popular Oreo truffles are banana cream followed closely by crunchy peanut butter. I am most proud of the cookies that I created for each of our major local sports teams. For Sporting KC, a blue hell lemonade cookie (blue raspberry gooey butter cookie with lemon glaze). For the Royals, a blue velvet white chocolate chip cookie. And for the Chiefs, a strawberry shortcake gooey butter cookie. My cookies aren’t ones you’ll find at the store or at any other local bakery.

What matters most to you? Why?
My family is what matters most to me because they are the ones who shaped me into the dedicated, creative, passionate woman I am today. They encouraged me to start my businesses and without them, I would probably still be working in a corporate job that didn’t fuel the fire in my soul. My parents and sister allowed me to be free-spirited and follow my dreams as a youngster, and my husband and son bring clarity to my dreams and help them to become a reality.

Pricing:

• Cards: $4/$4.50
• Prints: $3.50
• Cookies start at $12/dozen
• Oreo truffles: $15/dozen

Contact Info:

• Email: Alyssa@heartspeakcreativestudio.com / Suzy.Belles.Sweets@gmail.com
• Website: HeartSpeakCreativeStudio.com
• Instagram: @HeartSpeakCS / @SuzyBellesSweets
• Facebook: @HeartSpeakCS / @SuzyBellesSweets
• Other: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScW8ngmd_kdrLppHaw5z7jcnMlXmYdp-6QSBPWuagK-YG3o8A/viewform