Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Ramirez.
Hi Carolyn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
This past April, I came across clear isomalt lollipops on TikTok and decided to try making them with my daughter. I had no idea at the time that it was going to turn into a business. I just became completely obsessed with all the possibilities.
I’ve always been the person who wants to make something a little over the top. If I’m bringing something to a potluck or making something for someone, I love when it’s unexpected and gets that “Oh my God, you made this?” reaction. These lollipops gave me a medium where I could do that over and over again.
Before this, I spent more than 10 years working in laboratory operations before deciding to stay home with my kids. What surprised me was how much of that part of my brain came with me into this. I love experimenting, troubleshooting, developing new products and creating systems that make what I’m doing better and more efficient.
One thing I’ve done very differently with Glass Petal Confections is let myself say yes before I feel completely ready. I’ve always struggled with perfectionism, and with other ideas I’ve had, it was easy to spend so much time preparing that I never really got started. This time, when I was offered my first market, I said yes even though I didn’t have a market setup, signage or even displays yet. I figured it out. I made the displays myself, showed up, learned what worked and improved from there.
The first version of my glowing lollipops is probably my favorite example of this. I had the idea for them before a toddler rave I was vending at, but I hadn’t figured out the hardware yet. The first working version literally used wire nuts from the hardware store to hold the lights in place. They weren’t what I ultimately envisioned, but they worked, so I brought them anyway, and they sold out in 2 hours. Instead of waiting until I had engineered the perfect solution, I got to see that people loved the idea and then keep improving it. Those wire nuts eventually became a lighting module that I now design and 3D print myself and have started making available to other candy makers.
I’ve gotten much more comfortable taking the opportunity first and trusting myself to figure out the next step.
Since then, what started with simple clear floral lollipops has grown into custom designs, edible images, monograms, glowing lollipops, 3D-printed displays and now a lighting module I designed that other candy makers can use. Every time I solve one problem, it seems to give me three more ideas.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest challenge has definitely been time. I’m a mom of two young kids and their full-time caretaker. My oldest is in school now, but most of the growth of Glass Petal Confections happened over the summer when I had both kids home with me every day.
I’ve basically learned to build the business in the cracks of time that are available. I might work while they’re playing, after bedtime, or whenever I can squeeze something in, while still making sure I’m actually present with them. I don’t want building a business to mean that we stop going to the park or doing fun things together. Fortunately, they love being involved too. They’re excellent little taste testers, and they get very excited about whatever crazy thing Mommy is making next.
Another challenge has been social media. I think a lot of small business owners can relate to this: I don’t particularly want to be an influencer. I want to make lollipops! But today, sharing what you’re doing is such a big part of growing a small business, so I’ve had to push myself outside of my comfort zone there too.
I’m really grateful for the people who have followed along, shared my work and watched this business grow. The more I’ve shared, the more comfortable I’ve become. I never thought I’d be someone regularly putting myself on camera, but apparently now I make videos of myself in my husband’s Deadpool hoodie experimenting with ridiculous lollipop ideas for the internet.
None of it has been especially smooth or perfectly planned, but I’m getting much better at working with the time and resources I actually have instead of waiting for ideal circumstances.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I make cool lollipops! But my real goal is to surprise people and spark joy. One of my favorite things is watching someone walk past my booth and then calling out, “Hey, those are actually lollipops. You can eat them!” They’ll stop and come back because they thought they were glass or resin. People tell me all the time, “Oh, too bad you can’t eat those,” and I get to say, “No, they’re actually candy!” I live for that reaction.
I specialize in customization. I love when someone comes to me with an invitation, a Pinterest board, a theme or even just an idea and says, “What can you do with this?” I’ll create a mockup of what I think I can make and then challenge myself to recreate it in candy. Every project teaches me something, and every time I do it, I get a little better.
Experimentation is a huge part of what sets my work apart. I don’t like assuming something won’t work. I’d rather try it and find out. Sometimes it fails completely, but sometimes two completely unrelated experiments collide and give me something I never would have thought of otherwise.
That’s actually how one of my favorite developments happened. I was working on edible wedding monograms at the same time I was developing glowing lollipops for a toddler rave. By complete accident, I discovered that the icing-sheet technique I was using for the monograms created this incredible neon-sign-like effect when illuminated through a clear acrylic stick. Suddenly the design inside the candy itself became the focus of the glow rather than just having a light underneath a lollipop. That discovery completely changed the direction of the product, and I’ve continued developing the design and hardware ever since.
I’m also proud of how willing I’ve become to learn whatever I need to make an idea happen. When I started this business, I didn’t know how to use a Cricut. I bought one for $40 on Facebook Marketplace and taught myself. I didn’t know anything about 3D printing either. I bought a used printer for $100, learned how to use it, and eventually started designing and printing my own displays and the lighting modules I use for my glowing lollipops. I’m still learning all of it.
More recently, I’ve also become really interested in teaching other people how to work with isomalt and make their own lollipops. I didn’t even know this medium existed until a few months ago, and now I can’t stop thinking about all the things you can do with it. There are incredibly talented candy makers who have been working with isomalt for years, but I think there are so many creative people who simply haven’t been introduced to it yet.
I want to make it feel approachable for someone who wants to try it as a hobby, learn a new craft or even turn it into a side hustle of their own. That’s also part of why I’ve started sharing tutorials and making some of the tools I’ve developed available to other makers. I don’t want to gatekeep what I’ve learned. If somebody sees something I made and thinks, “I want to learn how to do that,” I want to help them do it.
Ultimately, I love helping someone create that one detail at their event that people haven’t seen before. When you’re throwing a wedding, birthday party or other celebration, you want your guests to feel like you thought of everything. I love taking someone’s idea and figuring out how to turn it into something edible that makes people stop and say, “Wait…what is that?”
Giving back is also something I want to build into Glass Petal Confections as it grows. Through November 8, I’m committing 10% of all sales to Blood Cancer United’s Light The Night campaign. Blood cancer has affected my family personally, so this is a cause that means a great deal to me. Beyond this campaign, I want giving to continue being part of what Glass Petal Confections is about by supporting organizations doing meaningful work in our community and beyond.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Before social media made it easy to share everything, I used to print out jokes I found online, make copies and bring them to school to give to my friends. This started around sixth grade and continued in different forms through high school. I would also burn CDs with funny songs, Monty Python clips or whatever weird thing I had discovered that I thought my friends needed to hear.
Looking back, I guess it was our version of sharing memes before we could just send someone a link. I loved finding something funny or unexpected and getting to be the person who introduced someone else to it. There was something about watching somebody laugh or seeing their reaction to something I had found that made me really happy.
I still really love that feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://GlassPetalConfections.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/GlassPetalConfections
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/GlassPetalConfections
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@GlassPetalConfections
- Other: https://TikTok.com/@GlassPetalConfections
