When Auzerais Bellamy was growing up in Oakland, CA.,she was surrounded by eight aunts and cousins working in the BBQ restaurant her grandmother founded: Everett and Jones. So it’s no surprise to learn that she knew she always wanted to own a business, she just wasn’t sure it was going to be a food business.
Her first experience with baking began with cupcakes she made for the family during holidays. The rave reviews she gets now weren’t flowing in from family members during those early cupcake days. She decided she needed to sharpen her skills and attended Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI for baking and pastry arts and food service entrepreneurship.
After a transformative three month internship in France at Alain Ducasse’s Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie in Yssingeaux, she returned to California and started her fine dining career at Bouchon Bakery in Yountville where she was captivated by the attention to detail and high-quality ingredients.
It was a 6.0 earthquake in August of 2014 in the San Francisco Bay Area that destroyed her apartment and caused her to reassess her career and relocate. Fortunately, there was a job opening at the Bouchon Bakery in Rockefeller Center. She sold her car and belongings and moved to Brooklyn, beginning her New York chapter.
Three years later, knowing her family was missing the holiday blondies she had concocted (a far cry from the failed cupcakes) with her French pastry chef skills, she figured a way to ship batches to family across the country.
Shortly after that she launched a website and within two weeks had fulfilled 500 orders. It was 2017 and that was the beginning of her Blondery business, based in Brooklyn.
A blondie is similar to a brownie, except instead of starting with a chocolate base, brown sugar butterscotch forms the base (imagine a merger between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie). They have a core collection of eight different flavors, plus seasonal varieties that rotate throughout the year. And there is a waiting list of more than 10,000 people who get notified when new flavors drop.
Blondies are delectable bite size treats.
Blondies are their speciality, but they make a lot of other things, too. The 11 layer cakes (layers of blondie, devil’s food cake, vanilla and chocolate buttercream, and caramel ganache) and cake jars (smaller, individual portions of the aforementioned cake) are very popular. They also bake doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and six different kinds of cookies.
The blondery uses social media to announce when products are available. This spring weekend it’s strawberry glazed doughnuts.
Another natural disaster was the impetus for a move. In September 2021 flooding in her Brooklyn facility caused her to pack up and move and she landed in Peekskill where she now has a retail component to her bakery that produces handmade, high quality concoctions. The 922 location on Main Street is the central hub for baking, packing and nationwide distribution.
Bellamy, who is not yet 40, credits two books she read while in her 20’s with guiding her. “Ego is the Enemy” helped her realize that “yes, I’m the person leading the team, but we work as a team and hold each other accountable. I expect that from them and they expect that of me.”
In speaking at the recent Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce panel Celebrating Women in Business, Bellamy told of what she learned from that book. “It’s about letting go of the blame and asking yourself if you’ve done all you can do? Have you practiced your elevator pitch? Are you just blaming the system? If you can push past that, it’s magic.”
Auzerais is at the far left of the panel at the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Women in Business event last Saturday..
“Secrets of the Six Figure Woman” influenced her to ask for what she wants and to be assertive and that “I can be that way and win in my life.”
In her six years in business for herself, Bellamy and Blondery have been featured on CBS Morning with Gayle King and in publications such as the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and Eater. She includes Netflix, Spotify, and Viacom among her corporate clients. The high profile publicity has given Bellamy an opportunity to advocate for shining a light on those who experience food insecurity.
Last June she traveled to Washington DC for Hill Day as part of Chefs on Capitol Hill, an advocacy event organized by No Kid Hungry. All the chefs that were lobbying had one thing in common: their infectious passion for the power of food and their compassion for those in their communities who need support and resources. That’s one of the reasons why Bellamy donates her delicious concoctions to Feeding Westchester and groups fighting food insecurity.
Auzerais at the far left joined other chefs from across the country to give testimony to Congress on food insecurity. (Photo from No Kid Hungry.)
She’s familiar with having to stand up for what she believes in because of coming from the fine dining world of pastry chefs where gender and racial barriers exist. “It’s crucial for women to voice their passions and convictions because each voice adds to the collective narrative of empowerment and progress. As a woman in the baking industry, standing up for what I care about has not only shaped Blondery’s values, but has also contributed to breaking barriers and inspiring other women to pursue their ambitions fearlessly.”
As a pastry chef in the world of fine dining, there was no work life balance she told the room of women gathered for the Chamber event. “It doesn’t happen easily either as a business owner either, but getting a puppy two years ago has helped.”
While at a market selling Blondery products in Irvington in late 2022, a Cavapoo (Cavalier Poodle mix) caught her eye and she began thinking about getting a dog. “He was so cute and I was wishing I had a dog,” She got the number of the breeder and next thing she knew she was in Pennsylvania picking up her dog she named Caviar – after the tradition she and her dad have of eating caviar at New Year’s.
“Dogs are good for work life balance. He doesn’t care that I’m working on a slide deck, he needs to go out for a walk,” she said with a smile. “They can help you manage your life.”
Bellamy hired a student placed by Peekskill’s Youth Bureau last summer and plans on doing that again this summer. She currently employs five people, including a baker, a customer support person for online orders, a dishwasher and someone to fulfill orders for the ecommerce side of the business. A retail clerk who is a local high school student rounds out the team.
“As an entrepreneur, I want people to know that Blondery is not just a business; it’s a journey fueled by passion, resilience, and a commitment to quality.” Blondery is not your average bakery. “My approach involves continuous learning, innovation, and a dedication to making Blondery a positive force in the baking industry. One of my favorite quotes is: “If you want to take the island you have to burn the boats.”
