Young Entrepreneur of the Year:
The Acceptance Speech I didn't Get to Give

Wow all I can say is wow.

It is truly an honor to be standing up here accepting this award on behalf of Voyageurs Bakehouse. This award is truly earned by both myself and my husband Ben Cadman who is my business partner, and partner in all.

I’ll never forget our grand opening day of The Bakehouse on March 10, 2020.

It had been a long 14 hour day prior to opening - finishing all the things we needed to prepare to open the next day. There were 4 of us when we opened. So we were all wearing multiple hats.

On Tuesday, we opened the doors at 8AM, and everything had sold out by 10 AM.

It was the first moment I realized, "Oh WOW... We have to make all of that again to have anything to sell tomorrow!"

I had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. Had I realized just what it meant to build a business based on a freshly baked product everyday, we may not have gone through with it. 

Entrepreneurship is anything but a straight path. And opening one week before a global pandemic showed us that right away. It has built our resilience and strength, and helped us lean into why we wanted to even open a bakery in the first place. 

And our WHY was to create an outstandingly high quality product that brings the community together around the table. And here we are, celebrating our community, around tables. 

And I'll get off the mic shortly, but there are 4 big Thank-you's I need to share: 

First, I want to thank this community.

There are the people who have shown up week after week to purchase sourdough from us. And without them, we wouldn’t have a reason to make anything. Green Bay welcomed us with open arms. You've accepted us and have learned with us along the way. This truly is an amazing place to start a business and I hope that this is just the start of what we will build here. Thank you.

Second, our team.

This group of incredible humans are really the people who make it all happen every single day. Our team is our family and there’s been many people who have impacted and helped move Voyagers forward to where it is today.

Third, our families and friends.

For the last 4 years, our families have continued to cheer us on, ask us questions and have always been ready with an open ear to hear the latest in the Voyageurs news. No one ever questioned our abilities and wild dreams and that is a great gift. They helped us not to doubt ourselves. 

And lastly, and maybe most importantly... Ben. 

Thank you for following my crazy idea to move back to Green Bay. And I’m glad I followed your super crazy idea to start a Bakehouse! What an incredible journey we’ve had together and I know there's a lot more to come. I'm insanely grateful to get to do all of this with you.