LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Starting a business from scratch isn't a piece of cake. It is doubly difficult when the business itself literally involves cakes in general and cupcakes in particular.
ABC's 'The Shark Tank' guest shark Candance Nelson knows this better than most others as she holds the distinction of building her 'Sprinkles Cupcakes' empire from the ground up along with her husband Charles Nelson after both investment banking professionals found themselves out of their jobs in the wake of the dot-com bubble burst.
Candace started her career as a diligent investment banker, tied to a typical high-paying, high-stress job after successfully completing school and university with flying colors. While completing her long hours at the finance office, Candace nurtured her entrepreneurial passion which was shelved for a lack of opportunity.
The seeds of her business venture lay dormant as she changed jobs and found herself working at an internet company during the dot-com boom of the early 2000s.
However, opportunity likely came knocking on her door when during the dot-com decline phenomena of 2001 she and her husband were laid out of their jobs after her company went out of business.
Slouching on the couch in front of the television became a daily routine for Candace as she found herself without a job for the first time in her life. Nevertheless, following the lead of many successful businesswomen before her, she was able to turn the tables on her adversities when she rediscovered her love for baking pastries.
Candice was inspired by the Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart shows as they instilled in her the confidence to become an independent businesswoman turning in a profit using the familiar and domestic avenues that she had hitherto considered to be 'regressive'.
She eventually enrolled in pastry school and dived headlong into the budding market.
Candance conceived 'Sprinks', an exclusive cupcake-only bakery with the help of her husband. Within eight months of running her own shop, she and Charles got a life-changing call from Oprah Winfrey, who ordered a large batch for her studio, and the couple hasn't looked back since. The celebrity endorsement went a long way in cementing their position in the market. Presently, the duo's business stretches through fifteen different locations across the country and employs over 600 people.
'The Shark Tank' guest shark Candace Nelson learned to bake while growing up in Indonesia
Candace has her roots in the culinary arts with her grandmother being popular for the same back in the 1930s. Growing up in Indonesia, Candace craved familiar treats like brownies and chocolate chip cookies from back home in the States.
However, as these weren't readily available in the South Asian country, she had to learn ways to bake them herself. Referring to recipes found in an old and tattered copy of the book 'Joy of Cooking', Candance spent several hours baking in the kitchen along with her mother.
Candace has stated that the time she spent baking allowed her to develop a tangible connection with the tastes of her homeland and also led to her developing a soul connection with her mother and her comfort food.
Who is 'The Shark Tank' guest Shark Candace Nelson's husband Charles Nelson?
Candace's husband Charles Nelson is a businessman hailing from his native Oklahoma. He graduated from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and veered into a corporate finance career following the completion of his studies.
It was during his years spent as a corporate finance executive that he gained valuable insights into the startup industry and developed his flair for launching start-up business ventures.
Charles first met Candace during the early 1990s and were drawn to each other despite their busy schedules tackling finance numbers and acquisitions. Their friendship blossomed into love before they decided to tie the knot in 2001 at a ranch in Sonoma County.
Both Charles and Candace found themselves out of their jobs when the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s and made good use of the rupture in their careers to focus on building their baking empire and subsequently conceived their own brand in 2005.
When asked about his reasons behind going into business, Charles revealed feeling the need to give cupcakes the respect they deserved.
Charles has been married to Candace for over two decades now.
'The Shark Tank' guest shark Candace Nelson owns a chain of Neo-Neapolitan pizzerias called Pizzana
Candace is a successful businesswoman with her attention being uniformly distributed across many of her enterprises. She gave birth to her own fast-growing chain of Neo-Neapolitan pizzerias going by the name of Pizzana in 2017.
The chain is famous for its fresh products as well as frozen pizzas which they ship all across the nation. Banking on her success story after the chain was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand award, Candace went on to produce the Hulu show 'Best in Dough'. Additionally, she appeared as a judge on the Netflix show 'Sugar Rush' and on more than 100 episodes of Foot Network's popular show 'Cupcake Wars'.
She and her husband Charles have been the minds behind other ventures such as Willy California and CN2.
Candace frequently contributes to The Wall Street Journal and has been featured on the New York Times Bestsellers list for her book 'The Sprinkles Baking Book'.
How many children goes 'The Shark Tank' guest shark Candace Nelson have?
Candace has been blessed with a blissful domestic life. She is a mother to two sons who are thirteen and ten years old.
Despite being in the limelight as a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur, Candace and her husband Charles try their best to keep their private lives away from public eyes.
'The Shark Tank' season 15 premieres Friday, September 29, 2023, at 8 pm ET on ABC, and the episodes can be streamed the following day on Hulu.
