Arwyn: Sales people...
Teresa: They walk into the shop, and they'll be like,
"Is the owner around?"
Arwyn: Can you leave a message... both: "For him."
Teresa: You know... Arwyn: We had a pink ceiling.
Teresa: Right?
I just thinking being a boss as a woman is different.
But I'm changing that. Arwyn: Yep.
[laughs] Yeah.
[upbeat percussive music]
Teresa: I'm Teresa. Arwyn: And I'm Arwyn.
Teresa: And we own Glam Doll Donuts in Minneapolis.
We met when we were ten years old.
Arwyn: And we've been best friends ever since.
Before Glam Doll, we were waitresses for the most part.
Teresa: We were those girls that never quite knew what we wanted.
And there's that moment in your life where you realize,
like, "Do I want to be doing this forever?"
Arwyn: It seemed bleak. Teresa: Yeah.
Arwyn: Teresa and I basically worked to travel.
And we took this trip to the Pacific Northwest.
Teresa: Donut shops were everywhere.
And there was always a line out the door.
And we get back to Minneapolis. We had zero donut shops at the time.
So it was like, "Wait, what if we, like, made these amazing donuts?"
And we could make it art. We could make it delicious.
We're like, this is our time. Arwyn: This is it.
Teresa: Like, this is our idea.
It seemed so ridiculous to everyone who had ever known us.
Arwyn: [laughs] "Okay." Teresa: "You're opening a donut shop?"
"You guys?" Arwyn: Like, the career waitresses,
that strive to have no obligations.
[laughs] You know, like? Teresa: Like, it was just...
Arwyn: "You're gonna open up a business?" Like, all right.
[upbeat rock music]
Teresa: I learned to make donuts through YouTube.
I watched all of these tutorials.
Isn't that how everyone does it? [laughs]
I spent a year in my kitchen just making donuts.
Arwyn: She was running up and down the stairs like,
"What do we think about this for our raspberry?"
Teresa: Hey, like, this filling...
Arwyn: "What do you think about this for the peanut butter?"
Teresa: If we're taking ourselves seriously, we need a business plan,
and we're like, "Okay, well, 'how do you write a business plan?'"
We saved every penny over the next year
to open up our own business.
[upbeat percussive music]
We opened the doors and had seven employees.
One of us had to be at the shop constantly.
Arwyn and I didn't sleep. We would work 22 hours a day.
Arwyn: We thought we knew sore feet -- we didn't.
Teresa: Yeah, no, I knew nothing.
Arwyn: That first year, it was just a learning process.
Teresa: Yeah, you're not just learning how to make donuts and run a business,
I mean, we're truly having to manage people for the first time.
We're all business now though.
Arwyn: All business now.
[funky musical flourish]
Teresa: Our first location is in Eat Street.
It's miles of restaurants.
We're all small, independent business owners.
So it's camaraderie. Arwyn: Yes.
Teresa: Like, we're all there trying to bring people to the neighborhood.
Online reviews are so important to our business,
because a lot of other donut shops have popped up.
And if I have more reviews or better reviews,
then you're going to come see me, so that's cool.
[smooth upbeat music]
Arwyn: We opened our second location a year and a half ago.
Teresa: And we're figuring out how to
run those successfully at the same time, and still grow.
We have 50 employees today.
We're like family. Arwyn: It's the Glam fam.
[all cheering]
Teresa: We work with hes, shes, theys, thems,
like, you get to be yourself.
Arwyn: Glam Doll is every experience
that has ever resonated in our hearts, really.
From the first trip to a vintage store that we took
to the first trip to a record store that we took.
[men cheering]
To the first time that we experienced
mind-blowing awesome food.
You see it all there.
Teresa: And rainbow sprinkles. Arwyn: And rainbow sprinkles--[laughs]