Catarah Hampshire

Baking hasn’t always been my forte’, however it was always a fascination of mine. Watching my grandmothers and aunts prepare cakes and pies for the holiday was like watching the Oscars for me! The art and science of baking amazed me and to see women who looked like me and who loved me create such mouthwatering treats warmed my little heart! My love affair with the kitchen started as soon as I could reach the stove! Out of all the chores I was assigned as a child, preparing dinner was my favorite! I am the oldest of five children and with two working parents; it was many times my responsibility to get dinner started and I didn’t mind.

As I got older, I understood the significance of food, especially desserts and how they were the highlight of every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Family Reunion and other meaningful gatherings. But it wasn’t until I founded Southern Girl Desserts in 2007, that I discovered why my passion for baking was so strong. Little did I know that my family’s blood line in culinary and entrepreneurship even existed? My great-grandmother “Madear” owned a soul food restaurant and club, my grandfather Billie, owned the one of the most popular BBQ Pitts in the area and my grandmother Martha, made and sold homemade jam. It hit me that it was no accident that my calling was to be an entrepreneur and it wasn’t a coincidence that the field of choice was desserts.

My childhood memories are flooded with memories about food! I recall my grandmother Lillie preparing banana pudding each time my uncle Kevin returned home from the military, he was expecting it and so were we. We’d sit around the kitchen table and watch him eat it! To see the pure joy on his face spoke volumes, he was home! Encounters with desserts always made everyone happy! There isn’t a home in the south that doesn’t have a dessert table and in many cases a separate room filled with pecan pie, pound cake, sweet potato pie, ambrosia and the list goes on during special holidays and gatherings.

At the end of the day; desserts taught me two important life lessons, Happiness + Hospitality. My love affair with desserts always made me and those around me happy. Just thinking of those times makes me smile. In my small town of Green Cove Springs, Florida, everyone knows your name and when they invite you into their home, they will ask you if you’d like something to eat, this mannerism was taught at an early age and is a southern norm. These two lessons are what I wanted to bring to the forefront of Southern Girl Desserts. We want our customers to leave happy and experience hospitality at its best!