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Kareem Queeman joins The EntreQueerNeur Show with Asa Leveaux to discuss LGBTQ+ representation in the food industry.

Kareem Queeman, affectionately known as Mr. Bake began his sweet journey in the kitchen alongside his grandmother at 5 years old. Growing up in the historic Sugar Hill neighborhood in Harlem NY, Kareem got a first hand look into family traditions and cultural favorites as he spent weekends enthralled in family events, which almost always involved food & cakes. At the tutelage of his grandmother, family recipes and the delicious restaurants & bakeries in Harlem, Kareem began preparing to further advance himself in both cakes & pastries. He enrolled and graduated in 2009 from Monroe College with a Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts and also successfully completed a Certification in Restaurant Management from the International Culinary Center. With his new education, Kareem took that and excelled while working at famed Harlem bakeries Make My Cake & Carrot Top Bakery and also the praised foodie destinations Sara Beth's and Billy Bakery in Tribeca.

After finding success within the hustle and bustle of NYC, Kareem was handpicked to assist in the operational opening of Fluffy Thoughts Cakes, a new bakery in McLean Virginia and was handpicked again, this time in Washington D.C to assist in the brick & mortar opening of Crumbs Bakery. Cake decorating, wholesale baking, client management, counter and dessert catering were just some of the tools Kareem learned while at the helm of these establishments and in the summer of 2013, Kareem decided to become an entrepreneur with the start of Mr. Bake, LLC.

Located in Washington D.C, with his very own cake & confections company, Kareem is committed to eye catching decorative cakes that push boundaries in both flavor and artistic design for clientele of all ages. Building a business also means building and uplifting a community and Kareem is dedicated to ensuring diversity and inclusivity of transgender, gender queer, and gender non-conforming gay, lesbian, and bisexual POC on major food networks.

From the beginning, the training, knowledge, dedication and craftsmanship Kareem possesses has shown throughout his confections and business. With that, Kareem continues to bake the world a better palace, one cake at a time.

Mr. Bake, LLC, has worked with major companies including:

Disney

BET

21st Century Fox

Universal Pictures

NBC

Fox

Target

Mr. Bake, LLC has been featured and won numerous competitive baking shows including:

“Cake Boss” Bake It Like Buddy shown on Discovery Family

America’s Best Baker

Girl Scout Baking Championship on the Food Network

Beat Bobby Flay on the Food Network

Sugar Rush Christmas season 2 on Netflix.

Incredible achievements include:

A certificate of recognition from the Office of The Mayor in the city of Yonkers.

2020 honoree for Business of Pride, awarded by the Washington Business Journal.

2021 Certificate of Excellence in Culinary Excellence from The National Black Chef’s Association

Passion . Artistry . Inclusivity . Community.

CONNECT WITH KAREEM QUEEMAN:

IG: MrBakesweets

FB: Mrbake

TW: Mrbakesweets

www.mrbakesweets.com

CONNECT WITH ASA LEVEAUX:

www.asaleveaux.com

www.instagram.com/mrasaleveaux

www.twitter.com/mrleveaux

This episode is brought to you by Queer Money Gang! Join the free community at www.queermoneygang.com

CJ Cruz joins The EntreQueerNeur Show with Asa Leveaux to discuss marketing as an entrepreneur.

CJ Cruz is a storyteller with leadership experience and am passionate about marketing: the art of connecting people to solutions that solve their problems. By implementing effective demand generation marketing strategies in the B2B - though he prefers to think of it as B2P(eople) - space, he keeps leads flowing into the pipeline so organizations can crush their revenue goals while sincerely helping educate the market and people they serve. His diverse background in performing arts, economics, data analytics, project management and marketing leadership provides me a unique combination of skillsets to creatively craft and efficiently execute marketing plans that meet and over-achieve growth goals. Here’s how he can help you delight the people you seek to serve and ultimately drive revenue growth: - Go-to-Market Strategy - Persona and Segmentation Research and Development - Competitor Analysis - Buyer Journey Mapping - SEO x Content Strategy - Website and Conversion Optimization - Email Marketing and Nurture Campaigns - Integrated Campaign Management - Webinar and Virtual Events Orchestration - Content Distribution via PESO model - 3rd Party/Vendor Relationship Management - Data Analysis and Reporting - Budget Management - Landing Page Development - Copywriting and Editing - Speech Writing and Public Speaking Beyond his deep love for marketing strategy, his life mission is truly to create joy in the world, especially throughout historically marginalized communities. Because of this, he is passionate about contributing to social innovation and impact initiatives; empowering LGBTQ+, women, ethic and racial minority entrepreneurs; and advancing the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement across corporate America. For fun you can find him hosting events for people and communities I love, traveling across the world (pre-/post-COVID), and spending quality time adventuring with my dog - Chewbacca.

CONNECT WITH CJ CRUZ:

@CJOCRUZ (Everywhere)

CONNECT WITH ASA LEVEAUX:

www.asaleveaux.com

www.instagram.com/mrasaleveaux

www.twitter.com/mrleveaux

This episode is brought to you by Queer Money Gang! Join the free community at www.queermoneygang.com

Danny Wiseman joins The EntreQueerNeur Show with Asa Leveaux to discuss queer centered gifts.

Picture it 2014. Nine babies due in six months. And no shower gift to give specifically from US! As guncles, we often struggled to find creative, but personal gifts for the newest members of the clan. And with very fertile friends, it was definitely a challenge to figure out what to give - particularly since we all went to everyone's baby showers. We sat down and designed the original rompers for the nine, but quickly figured that we'd need to outfit all the older siblings as well, so we ended up making nearly twenty t-shirts and baby bodysuits in the first batch. The reaction from all of our friends was a TOTAL hit and I Heart My Guncles® was born. We have a commitment to children, and take our responsibilities as GUNCLES very seriously! Always bring gifts and be ready to play at the drop of a hat... We also strive for inclusiveness, so no family member is left out. We make gifts for Guncles (both partnered and single), Gaunties (also partnered and single), Mommies, and Daddies.

CONNECT WITH DANNY WISEMAN:

@IHeartMyGuncles (Everywhere)

CONNECT WITH ASA LEVEAUX:

www.asaleveaux.com

www.instagram.com/mrasaleveaux

www.twitter.com/mrleveaux