Rising Stars: Meet Autumn Parker of Charlotte/Eastside

Today we’d like to introduce you to Autumn Parker.

Hi Autumn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Explaining how I’ve gotten to the point where I am today feels like telling a very pretentious coming of age story. I’d been baking on the side since I was 18. It started by baking my way through college heartbreaks until I realized that there was money to be made. I left school in my junior year for my mental health and until 2021 I was building my resume with useless occupations. I’d had enough by December of 2020. I started researching what I could do with my limited resources to get Stoopid Sweet up and running in a legitimate capacity.

I quit my job in March 2021 and Stoopid Sweet’s first official day open was April 18th of this year. One day before my younger sister’s birthday.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I certainly would not describe it as a smooth road. I’ve been very lucky with the people I’ve met, opportunities that have been presented to me, and the spaces I’ve been invited into. But with that being said; eventually kindness and community don’t necessarily keep bills paid. Additionally, waking up every day and fighting for capital makes it easy to forget about taking care of yourself. Something I can’t afford while living with mental and chronic illness.

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to secure major funding and we’ve exhausted all of our resources as far as federal or private loans go. We also aren’t yet able to qualify for any SBA grants. Knowing the resources are there and not having access to them is very frustrating.

So we hit the pavement, we push, plug and advertise and we’re stilling open and keeping it pushing. It’s not smooth, but it’s worth it.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m always an artist first. No sister, partner, daughter – an artist, then spirit, then all those other things. Ever since I was a child I’ve seen things as their parts; broken down into shapes and colors. Not a leaf, a light green teardrop shape; a dark green one. Married by pale green veins woven throughout down into the stem. I’m not sure when I started trying to memorize objects by shape and color but I couldn’t stop now if I wanted to.

As a child and into high school it manifested as an obsession with realism and copying objects to paper. Later in my early 20s I released myself of trying to duplicate reality as others see it. Since about spring 2019 I’ve been expressing myself through abstract figures and distorted body parts with loud colors and vibrant themes. I think I’ve found a style that feels true. I’m no where near the only artist in my field but I do believe that my artistic ability has helped me develop a keen eye for visuals and graphics. I try to take full advantage of having the opportunity to express myself in this way.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
HA! I’m a risk-taker for sure. Possibly to a reckless degree. If I’m being totally honest I pride myself on my ability to jump into things head-first. I have generalized anxiety disorder and I combat intrusive thoughts in a very succinct way. But that being said there’s an ADHD diagnosis in flux also. I’m laughing as I write this but I know it’s not funny. I’m taking it seriously and disrupting bad habits along the way but I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t think my suffering was funny.

That being said it’s good to take risks! It’s also good to be logical, think ahead, and be thoughtful in all respects. A good life takes risks.

Pricing:

• half a dozen cookies is $19.95
• full dozen $35.95
• whoopie pie trio $14.95

Contact Info:

• Email: stoopidsweet@gmail.com
• Website: stoopidsweet.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/stoopidsweetbakery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stoopidsweetbakery/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stoopid_sweet

Image Credits
I took all of these photos myself.