What I Should Have Said Last Night

Last night, I was presented with the 2025 Small Business Leadership Award from the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce at Revel Run. Along with it came a City of Chelsea Proclamation signed by Mayor Kate Henson, two State of Michigan Special Tributes signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and conversation time with State Representative Kathy Schmaltz, State Senator Sue Shink, and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell.

First I want to say congratulations to all of this year's Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce award recipients — it was an honor to share the evening with you. I never expected to be in such amazing company!

Second, I had a speech all prepared. I stood up, opened my mouth while trying to keep the flood of emotions from overtaking me, mumbled something that probably made exactly zero sense, and sat back down. Of course that's when I remembered I had a speech that I was supposed to read thanking everyone. Since my brain staged a quiet revolt last night, I thought I'd take a minute and share my speech with everyone, not just the crowd last night.

So here is what I meant to say..... I keep seeing Sally Field in my head right now. "You like me. You really like me."

I make bread and pies and cookies for a living. I genuinely did not see this coming.

I'm not great at accepting compliments. Ask Jilly. She'll tell you. I'm much more comfortable at 4am with flour or chocolate on my hands than I am standing in front of a room full of people (community leaders no less) being told I did something right.

So I'll just say this: thank you. Sincerely. This means more than I'm going to adequately express right now.

There's a woman who isn't here tonight — my Granny. She's the reason any of this exists. She took me into the kitchen with her when I was small and showed me that food made from scratch, made with care, made for the people you love — that food made like that means something. I've never forgotten that. I never will.

From the very beginning, this community showed up for us. Before we knew what we were doing, before we had it figured out (we still don't have it all figured out really) — Chelsea believed in us anyway. That kind of support doesn't just help a business survive. It shapes who you become.

What I've built — what WE've built — isn't mine alone. Matt shows up every day and makes bread that I'm honestly a little jealous of. Jess, Courtney and Kayla bring more energy and craft to that kitchen than I deserve. And Ruth — who runs our back office from Kenya — keeps me from completely losing my mind. They're the reason this works. I've always believed that the best leaders serve first — that the job isn't to be in charge, it's to take care of the people in your charge. I try to live that every day, even when I fail at it.

And Jilly. Who shares a home with a man who fills every surface with bakery stuff , has WAY too many cookbooks and considers 4am a reasonable wake-up time. She does it with patience, grace and love and I don't know what I did to deserve that, but I'm not asking questions.

You chose us — over and over again — and that's the only reason we're still here.

So this award — I'm going to accept it on behalf of all of them. The team. Jilly. Granny. And every single one of you who ever walked through our door.

Thank you, Chelsea. I really, really like you too.

— Keegan