Creative Session with B's Brig + Dessert Giveaway

Halloween is just around the corner so I thought it would be the perfect time to have my friends at B's Brig for a Creative Session!

I met B and her husband at a wedding planner event and it was one of those instantaneous click. They were so friendly and we just ended up spending the day getting our hair done at the braid bar, lettering at my station and rolling chocolate at theirs! I had honestly never heard of brigadeiro before but I'm so glad that I did. I wanted some of my followers to get a little taste so we'll be having a giveaway on Instagram AND my Floral Watercolor workshop attendees will be able to have a treat as well! You can sign up [here]

Continue reading to know more about B and how she makes brigadeiro!

1. Where does the name B's Brigs come from and how did you get started?

Our company name came naturally. My name is B, and we serve traditional Brazilian Brigadeiro... but who can say "brigadeiro" three times fast?!?! So we named our tiny treats brigs for short, creating B's Brigs. I have always been obsessed with this Brazilian delicacy, as brigs have been at the heart of my favorite memories. Growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, my grandma and mother would make these treats for ALL occasions... or just because. When I met my husband over 12 years ago, brigs were something that I immediately shared with him as a staple symbol of my culture. So, at our wedding, we wanted to be as traditional as possible and serve brigadiero to our guests. In Brazil, we have the luxury of hiring someone to make hundreds of brigadeiros, but that is not the case in California. Therefore, my 88 year old grandmother flew from Rio to Los Angeles a few months early and with the family made over 1500 brigadeiros for our big day... and nine cakes! Soon after our wedding, friends and family asked us to make brigs for them, and they became our first customers. Also, we have been grateful to have our mentor David Meltzer help us from the beginning to define our personal and professional goals, including how we will actually achieve them.

2. How did you create your recipe?

During WWII, my grandfather's good friend, Eduardo Gomez, was running for President in Brazil, so my grandmother and her friends joined the campaign to help him get elected. They had a catchy slogan, "Vote for the Brigadier, who is tall dark and handsome." Due to the war, basic food ingredients were no longer available, so as a substitute, my grandmother and her friends created a fun treat to pass out during the campaign. These tiny treats were soon named brigadeiro (brigadier in Portuguese) after Gomez. This delicacy grew in popularity over the decades and has evolved into dozens of flavors and manners of preparation. While we have seen a recent trend in premium and gourmet brigadeiro shops, B's Brigs has stayed true to the home style brigadeiro, and use the same exact recipe from the Gomez campaign invented by my grandmother and her friends.

3. What is it like doing business with your spouse? What does your day look like?

Working with my best friend and better half, Mr. F, is a dream come true. We met at 15, and instantly knew that we wanted to cultivate and manifest ideas together. We genuinely enjoy every second of each other's company, so "working" never feels like labor. Whether we are in the kitchen before the sun is up, or preparing for someone's event the night before, we are doing this together and find the fun in the chaos.

Each day at B's Brigs is never the same - and we LOVE that! We both start our day the same way... a little mindful meditation. From there, we are energized and focused on our daily goals, which range from meeting potential or existing clients, baking in the kitchen, being on the phone with partners, or attending events. We also have full time jobs that are very accommodating to our custom schedules. Our days usually end with a Brigstorm session, where we review our progress and discuss the next steps.

4. We saw that you were sponsors of a recent Tedx conference. How did you get connected and what was the experience like?

While we were at a Mission Meeting event with David Meltzer, we had the pleasure of sharing our treats presented in favor boxes. In attendance that morning was Stephanie Paul, who was organizing TEDx Mission Viejo. She very much wanted TEDx cupcakes for this event, and since our brigs are so versatile, we happily brought her vision to life and topped mini cupcakes with our brigadiero in the form of icing.

It was a wonderful experience. The theme for this event was Perception, which deeply resonated with us because we love changing the way people celebrate! We encourage celebrating even the tiniest of moments with a brig, or two, or three :) We kept the theme going by changing the perception of how you eat your brigadiero by icing cupcakes with our brigs. Also, listening to the speakers' talks about powerful life experiences and the beautiful changes that followed were inspiring, and encouraged us to challenge our views of local, state, national, and international communities.

5. What do you love most about running your business? Any cons?

What I love most about running B's Brigs, is running B's Brigs! I love that this company is a reflection of us and the joy we find in all of life's moments. I love that our business thrives on the notion of us being EXTRAordinarily us. We are free to be extremely creative, as clients share a vision and trust us to bring their ideas to life. We are dream makers.

The cons for me personally stem from thinking that my undergraduate business degree would prepare me to start a company. I quickly discovered how little I was taught to manage the day to day operations, and know about important regulations, permits, taxes, etc. When B's Brigs was still just an idea, our mentor David Meltzer told us that the best way to learn about business is to BE in business. We might start our business as a red circle, but it could end up as a purple square... and that is OK! So, we learned early on to keep an open mind, ask for help, and when we fail (and everyone does), to fail forward learning from that experience.

6. What's next for B's Brigs?

For the last year and half, we have really enjoyed working one on one with clients for their special events, creating elaborate dessert tables and interactive brig rolling stations. For our next chapter, we are focused on increasing the availability of brigs through effective partnerships and innovative advertising vehicles such as the Aggregated Marketing Platform by Sports 1 Marketing. Many event attendees who try our brigs want to purchase individual boxes, and we want to make this as easy as walking into physical locations to grab brigs on the go.

Current favorites-

Instagram: I am currently obsessing over this awesome Mom, Mallory of @tiny.paper.cuts. She is a fellow unicorn and her color game is STRONG! She looks like the type of mom that I aspire to be one day soon, and her feed makes me wanna meet her and throw a party!

Dessert: current and always favorite dessert is brigadeiro of course!!! This has been true since I was a little kid licking the remains off the wooden spoon. Although, if we are speaking seasonally... I am currently bingeing on the Jack Skellington Marshmallow Wands at Disneyland before they go away in November.

Shop: Hands down @shopbando! I not only like all their super fun accessories and bags but ADORE their creator Jen Gotch. These ladies are all about the fun in life and it's reflected in their products.