Book by Leo Burns

Buzzing Business

Buzzing Business

Burns

Leo Burns

Buzzing Business

Leo Burns

Dedication To any and all chocolate lovers out there.

Suzanne LaFleur with her cat, Winston

Winston rolling in cat nip

Acknowledgments Thank you to everyone at Freestyle Academy that helped make writing this book possible, including Mr. Greco and Ms. Parkinson. And a big thank you to my mom, Kirsten Burns, who helped me get the interview.

Suzanne breaking a honeycomb in two

Table of Contents 09

11

13

19

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

25

29

31

33

Chapter Three

Conclusion

Works Cited

Author’s Bio

Preface W

hen I first started this project, I had three people that I thought I would have a good story to tell.

However, none of the three were actually interviewed.

Instead, I told my mom about this project and hoe I had trouble choosing someone. She suggested interviewing a couple more people, who seemed like they had much more interesting stories that the people I picked. First, she suggested a friend of hers that works at the fire department. My mom also suggested another friend of hers who has her own business as a confectioner. I thought about these options, and ruled out the fire department option, as the job is pretty busy and it would be hard to contact her, much less find free time before the deadline of the interview. So I settled on the confectioner, who was much easier to reach.

This book is written with content taken from an interview with Suzanne LaFleur, a confectioner whose Stack of honeycombs

interests lie within and beyond making sweet treats. In this interview, Suzanne shared her experience of moving up from making small treats for herself and family to being a small business owner and making treats for anyone who is interested.

As you continue to read, you will learn that Suzanne is not just a talented confectioner, but a human rights activist who helps little by little in shaping a better world for everyone.

This story holds the idea that a small piece of effort can go a long way, and even the smallest action can make the biggest impact. Suzanne is a talented confectioner, who owns a small craft confectionery business, best known for her salted chocolate honeycomb. Raised in a food-loving family, Suzanne’s culinary journey led her from being a pastry chef to starting her own small business.

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10

Outside Suzanne’s kitchen

Introduction n the kitchen, full of bright lights and the buzzing

I

Suzanne is the very talented confectioner and the

sound of the refrigerators, Suzanne LaFleur stands

founder of Petite LaFleur, a mostly on line craft confec-

behind a stainless steel counter. She is dipping small

tions business. She makes a couple different confections,

chunks of a honeycomb into a bowl of warm, melted, dark

including her golden popcorn bark and the salted chocolate

chocolate.

honeycomb, which is her specialty. She also is an activist who stands up for human rights, like LGBTQIA+ lives and

While she works, she listens to her favorite podcasts, other issues in the world. On the side, she enjoys making one of them being “Off Menu” where celebrities talk about

ceramics, mostly pottery and relaxing with her cat, Winston.

their dream menus. She listens to these podcasts in order to keep her busy mind focused. She takes the pieces of honeycomb out of the chocolate and places them on a large sheet of parchment paper on a tin tray. Then she sprinkles a pinch of salt on each piece of the chocolate covered honeycombs as the finishing touch.

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12

Chapter One

F

ood, sweets, and pastries have always been a huge

explaining how whenever she would see pictures of these

part of Suzanne’s life. During an interview, she

creative desserts, her mouth would start to water. Suzanne

recalls, “I was raised in a food family, my parents

has also worked as a production manager at Dandelion

both cooked and took us to restaurants and wanted us to

Chocolate.

try all sorts of things,” Suzanne’s jobs have all been related to food, which has ultimately led her to the career she has today.

Before she got into making and selling her own confections, she was a pastry chef. She learned a lot about being a pastry chef from culinary schools. Kirsten Burns, who works as a web developer at 23andMe, as well as Suzanne’s close friend, recalls, “I know that she started working for a company, I think it was called Square… They make lunch for their employees, and she would do the dessert every day, and she would take pictures of all these really cool desserts,” Winston swatting at a cat toy 13

“I was raised in a food family, my parents both cooked and took us to restaurants and wanted us to try all sorts of things.”

Suzanne LaFleur

Suzanne putting Salted Chocolate Honeycombs away

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18

Previous Page: Salted Chocolate Honeycombs on a tin trey

Chapter Two

S

tarting in May 2021, Suzanne began working on a

what to make. She started with making a whole bunch of

business of her own. At first, she made a variety of

different things, and seeing what people liked best.

different pastries and confections: “I would make

cookies and things like that, just to see how people would

It’s hard starting a small business to begin with, but

like them, if people would purchase them, and I found that

harder being a woman, “Only 6% of the S&P 500 firms

chocolate was sort of my way to go,” she states. She called

have a female CEO, while females earn around 80% of the

her business Petite LaFleur, French for “Little Flower”.

workforce. In male-dominated industries, most of the labor market, support, and possibilities for women’s progress are

However, starting this business was not an easy feat: “Starting a small business is hard work in any environment,

extremely limited,” according to AI Bees’s article, “Gender in Entrepreneurship: Does it Still Matter in 2024?”.

but it’s even more challenging in a tough economy. This is partly because when credit markets are tight, it can be chal-

However, Suzanne claims that she got lucky with

lenging to get financing. That’s why small business owners

the second bit, “I found in my community that lots of other

must hone their business plans.” Suzanne commented that

women are willing to help other women because they know

when she first started with her business, she had no idea

it’s difficult,” she explains.

19

20

Kirsten Burns

“She would do the dessert everyday, and she would take pictures of all these really cool desserts” Kirsten Burns

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24

Previous Page: Close up of Salted Chocolate Honeycombs on a plate

Chapter Three

A

s well as owning a small business, she is a human

transgender rights, fight for non-binary rights, and make

rights activist. She advocates for women’s rights,

sure that everybody is able to feel like themselves and be

but mostly advocates for LGBTQIA+ rights.

themselves in this world” (LaFleur).

Suzanne posts on her Instagram to raise awareness to world issues, and Kirsten mentioned that, “sometimes I don’t always have time to look at news, and then I’d see her post something, and I’m like, ‘Well, if [Suzanne is] posting this, it must be important,’ so then I’ll look at it and I’ll understand what’s going on in the world,” Kirsten explained, “It’s good that she posts this stuff, because … It makes people more aware.”

As a part of the community, and identifying as a lesbian herself, Suzanne believes that, “…it’s important for all of us to accept each other’s differences and fight for Suzanne petting Winston’s tail 25

26

Bag of Salted Chocolate Honeycomb

“I thought it would be a challenge and interesting for me to start my own business and see what would happen.”

Suzanne LaFleur

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28

Suzanne LaFleur

Conclusion

H

aving a woman-owned business is not the only

work, … I struggle with some of that.” She planned to get

hard part of Suzanne’s job. She also has ADHD,

help with accounting a week after the interview, so hopefully

and that can get in the way of her work and what

her job will be a little easier from now on. Suzanne noted

she needs to do to uphold her business.

that, “I thought it would be a challenge and interesting for me to start my own business and see what would happen.”

“Living With ADHD,” an article from The Recovery Village, states that, “ADHD can make it more difficult to focus, meet deadlines, recall important facts and pay attention to others. This can create stress for someone who has ADHD in the workplace and can lead to poorer performance.”

Suzanne says that the toughest part of her job is accounting because, as she puts it, “I tend to not be as patient with [accounting] as I am with the manual things. I can be more patient with that, but when it comes to computer 29

Works Cited Adams, Katie. “Starting a Small Business in Tough Economic Times” Investopedia, 6 Dec, 2022, https://www.investopedia.com Burns, Kirsten. Personal Interview, 10 Mar 2024 Hull, Megan. “Living With ADHD” The Recovery Village, 26 May, 2022, https://www.therecoveryvillage.com LaFleur, Suzanne. Personal Interview, 25 Feb 2024 Mecan, Dara. “How to Support and Champion LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs” Source Link, 8 July, 2021, https://www.joinsourcelink.com Vidadievna, Emilia. “Gender in Entrepreneurship: Does it Still Matter in 2024?” AI Bees, 2020, https://www.ai-bees.io

Winston sitting in his box 31

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Author’s Bio

L

eo Burns is a junior who attends Los Altos High School, and is a Design student at Freestyle Academy in the afternoon. They have been living in Los Altos for about four years, with their parents, younger sister, and pet dog. Leo loves sketching cartoon characters, reading, listening to music, and watching shows. They like watching shows that range from weird and goofy, like The Amazing World of Gumball, to a comedic twist on the Apocalypse, such as Good Omens. Leo also loves cats, wild and domestic alike, and wishes they could adopt one someday. On top of that, Leo really, really, really loves chocolate. A lot.

Leo Burns

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Buzzing Business

Buzzing Business

Burns

Leo Burns