Guys, shh, I am at Ellen.
We are here today to surprise Melanie.
She's worked here for, like, 10 years.
But we're going to do something special.
Come on, let's go.
Hey, how you doing?
I'm the new intern.
Nice to meet you.
It's happening.
Hey, Melanie!
Oh, my God!
Are you kidding me?
How are you?
I'm so good now!
Ayesha Curry here.
I'm a wife, mom of three, and an entrepreneur.
In building my business, I've learned a lot along the way.
So now I'm paying it forward to help
encourage, mentor, and motivate other deserving women
to take their own companies to the next level.
This is Fempire.
Meet Melanie.
Everything's going to be OK.
She's a little emotional right now.
I think we definitely shocked her.
She works on "The Ellen Show," but her side hustle is even
sweeter, Melanie's Bakeshop.
Let's look at our website.
Oh, wait-- she doesn't have a website.
We've definitely got to fix that,
because her cookies are insanely delicious.
The world needs to taste these.
The problem is, she's baking out of her house.
So how does she scale and grow?
Mel is working night and day for her family,
but is at a bit of a standstill.
So we're here to help take Melanie's Bakeshop
to the next level.
I've tasted your cookies, and they are the bomb.
What made you start Melanie's Bakeshop?
My grandma was a baker.
Wow.
And I just always loved it, and I had a knack for it.
I just feel at home.
Like, just go in the kitchen, make some cookies,
and I just feel like myself, I guess.
So tell me about an average day, two kids.
I have a 14-month-old daughter.
I have an 11-year-old son.
Usually, like, three to four nights a week, I'm baking.
How are you doing all of this?
Yeah, I know.
And so I'm up until--
That's ridiculous.
--midnight or 1:00, and then do it all over again.
And then I try to catch up on weekends if I can.
But it's hard sometimes.
Yeah, I get it.
As a mom, it's crazy how much we go through
and can get done in a day.
It's wild.
How are you taking orders right now?
So right now I have a Notes App on my phone.
That's kind of where it all started.
No way.
Well, and that's the thing.
So I just have the Instagram right
now because that's all I can handle right now.
OK.
My biggest fear is--
I obviously want to go bigger.
Why don't you have a website though?
Because once I have a website, and I
get the marketing out there, orders will start rolling in.
And I don't feel like I feasibly can take those orders.
I still have this drive in me that I know
this is what I'm meant to do.
And so I've got to figure it out somehow.
So hence the late nights, early mornings.
You know, you get to a point where sometimes you don't
think you can keep doing it?
But you came into my office--
You're so sweet.
No and I swear to God, like--
That's so sweet.
We need to show the people your skills.
So let's do some baking.
OK.
Let's do it.
All right.
Feed me.
God, I love a chocolate chip cookie.
So good.
The longest eight minutes of my life.
Yum.
Voila.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
See, you're doing great.
I mean-- oh, yeah.
This one's a little stiff.
That's what she said.
It's going to taste good.
Facts.
Perfectly imperfect.
But I could not sell this one.
You could definitely sell that one.
Oh, good, yay.
Ha-Ha.
All right, Mel-- so part of scaling your business
is understanding the market.
So I want you to meet a fellow entrepreneur, who
happens to be a mom, and she has a food business.
So her name is Lorissa, of Lorissa's Kitchen.
Hi, Mel.
Hi, Lorissa.
I'm Lorissa.
It's so great to meet you.
Oh, my God.
You're so nice.
And she comes bearing gifts.
This is Lorissa's Kitchen protein snacks.
I'm a busy mom.
And I love Lorissa's Kitchen.
I love your meat snacks because--
Thank you so much.
--one, it's made by you, another mom.
And it's super nourishing and delicious-- so tender.
Oh, that's so good.
So, Mel, when you're starting your business,
always think about what's going to set you apart
from your competitors.
Think about what kind of edge you might have on the market.
For me, the jerky category was very male-dominated.
It was marketed to men, by men.
Lorissa's Kitchen is breaking through and talking to moms,
letting them know-- hey, this is a snack
that can work for you and your family.
Creating a new brand is a promise.
Make sure that you stick with that promise.
As you scale, don't make any compromises,
because quality is key.
Well, that's great advice.
Thank you so much for coming.
Enjoy the journey.
Thank you.
Have a blast.
You're going to be great.
Thank you so much.
Yes.
And feel free to leave that so that we can eat them--
Yes, please.
--after these cameras stop rolling.
All right, Melanie, we have a few surprises for you.
First, this is my bakeware.
But it's not just this.
I want you to be able to go onto the site and order whatever
it is you need to be able to scale your business.
This is just a representation of it.
Oh, my God.
I love the color.
So whatever you need, please let me know.
Oh, my God.
Are you sure?
Thank you.
Yes, yes.
This is amazing.
But it doesn't stop there.
We're going to help you secure your food handling
license, which means that you can sell to cafes, restaurants.
Oh, my God.
Yes.
We're going big.
But obviously, to be able to do that,
you need to be working out of a commercial kitchen.
We are gifting you 100 hours at a commercial kitchen
near your house.
Don't cry yet.
This is amazing.
I'm so happy that you're excited about this
because there's more.
OK.
We've set you up with five meetings
with Brick and Mortars--
local shops that are interested in selling
Melanie's Bakeshop goods.
Are you kidding me?
Yes.
That website we've been talking about,
we're going to get you set up with that website.
Oh, my God!
This is amazing.
So you can start taking orders online, scaling it out.
Oh, my God.
Yep.
But there's one more thing.
You're the face of your brand.
You are Melanie, of Melanie's Bakeshop.
Yeah, I am.
And I feel like you need photos and branding.
And so we're going to do it, actually, right now.
Oh, yes ma'am.
This is happening.
Get game face on.
Oh, my God.
OK.
All right.
I need you to go get changed, come back.
This way.
OK.
No, wait.
This way.
Ahh, you look so beautiful.
Look at you.
I love it.
I love the color.
Let's do this.
And as one final surprise, we had to bring in her family.
Ayesha, you have literally changed my life today.
This is the momentum and the steps
that I needed to really take it to the next level.
And I'm going to make you proud, I promise.
Aw, thank you.
Go, Momma.
I literally got every tool here that I
need to get from where I am now to where I want to be.
A huge shout-out to all of my friends and family
at The Ellen Degeneres Show for giving me this opportunity,
because it means the world to me.
I am so excited for her to be able to have her very
own fempire.
Go, Melanie!