September 2024 Amber Grant Awarded to Hazy Fudge

We’re excited to announce the September $10,000 Amber Amber Grant recipient. Congratulations to Carol Fitzgerald, owner of Hazy Fudge. She is the tenth qualifier for the 2024 year-end Amber Grant ($25,000).

Recently, WomensNet Advisory Board member Marcia Layton Turner sat down with Carol for an exclusive interview. You can listen to their conversation and view the transcript below.

Video Transcript

WomensNet: Hi everyone, and welcome to a chat with our September, 2024 grant winners for Women’s Net. Today we’re going to be speaking with Tammie Mattos of NutriPath, who’s our Business Category grant winner, Gabrielle Bosnic of Serene Moms, who’s our StartUp grant winner, and Carol Fitzgerald of Hazy Fudge, who’s our Amber Grant winner. You may have heard if you’ve seen any of the past videos that at the beginning of 2024, WomensNet decided to increase the number of monthly $10,000 grants that we give from one grant to three. So the startup grant, which is new this year, is for entrepreneurs in the idea phase of developing their business or who have started the business but haven’t yet made $10,000 in sales. So really early stage. The Business specific monthly grant is for a company that operates in that month’s category for September. That was Education & Childcare, but it changes every month. And then our Amber Grant is open to all women business owners in the US and Canada. I’m Marsha Layton Turner. I’m one of several WomensNet advisory board members, and I have the great pleasure to learn from all of our winners each month.So, we have just a few questions to learn a little bit about your companies. I know our members are always curious about who are the winners, what do they do, who are they. Carol, how about you tell everybody about Hazy Fudge?

Carol: Hazy Fudge is an alcohol infused fudge and it’s made with locally sourced ingredients. So we have milk from 300 family dairy farms and local wine and bourbon. So we’re providing more resources and local jobs as well as using some of the resources there. And it, it got a real funny start. My son Bobby, was in a band called Whiskey Shivers, and they had the opportunity to be in the movie Pitch Perfect three. And after the movie they were touring all over the US and Europe. And being a mom, I tried to connect with people and say, Hey, can somebody give ’em a couch or a meal? And I was just thrilled with the support that they got from family members and friends. So that year for Christmas, I made a whiskey infused fudge and sent it out to everybody.. and everybody loved it, but I didn’t start it as a business then I just kept it as a gift and a special treat.

Then I learned about the Dairy Runway Program that’s hosted by Cornell Center for Regional Economic Advancement. And in July 2023 I applied. It’s a program for people with innovative ideas of using dairy and cow’s milk, in particular from New York. So I was one of 10 people in the program, and I got to use all of the resources and mentors there to really validate and test out that it was a worthwhile business. I got to use their pilot plant to create the first prototype of the product and scale it up. And then I went into the Food Spark program in Geneva that is part of the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture at Cornell. So I get to learn all the production and regulatory sides of that. So after having that kind of support and boost, there was no choice but to start a business! So at at 66, when I’m thinking about retiring, I’m now not! Tt started a whole new venture that both my adult children and my husband are involved in too.

WomensNet: Wow, that’s so funny that your business started as gifts…because that’s exactly how George Clooney’s tequila brand Casamigos started. He and his business partner were making tequila and giving it out as gifts and just like you, everybody was clamoring for it. Where can I get more of that? And so now it’s like a billion-dollar tequila company. So I hope that happens for you too! So were there any resources that you three found were especially helpful as you were getting started or growing? You know, was there one that you might recommend to other women business owners who are kind of where you are? You mentioned several when you’re talking about your company, but there, are there any that a women business owner might find especially helpful?

Carol: I researched businesses and went and met people. So I went and met people that made chocolate and other food products so that I could hear some of the things that they ran into along the way. And just having an amazing network of women. If you don’t have one, there’s lots of groups to meet out. It can be lonely when you’re starting a business, and frustrating days that you just go, ah, forget it. And being able to call somebody that’s been through it before can help you- it has been tremendous for me.

WomensNet: Excellent. And if any of you are not already in our Women’s Net Facebook group, we have close to 25,000 women business owners that are already in there. So I hope, I hope you’ll join. So I suspect that marketing has played a big role in getting you to where you are now. So were there any specific marketing strategies that you use that you found really useful? Or are there any that you’re testing out now that you’re having some success with and that you might recommend to other women business owners? 

Carol: In the beginning looking at packaging and the recipes. I started going to festivals and events and doing tastings so that I could see people’s reactions and make changes. And especially with the packaging, it changed a lot over the time, but it was so helpful to be able to do that and to be able to get instant feedback from people and pivot on what I was doing. I think that saved me a lot in the long run to be able to test it out before I actually started to sell the product.

WomensNet: Yeah, it’s smart. It’s in-person market research really- while you’re also selling. Excellent. 

WomensNet: Well, this has been fascinating. As I mentioned, we have a great Facebook group, an email list of women business owners who really like supporting other women business owners. How can we support you? What’s, what’s one thing that maybe our members can do to support you? 

Carol: Definitely follow my Instagram, @hazyfudge and also connecting with other mentors as I continue to grow my business. Funding for the next stage is top of mind right now, trying to make some decisions of which way to go, so that would be important.

WomensNet: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with the Women’s Net Community. And congratulations again in being our September grant winner.