Bremen Alumni Taryn Harmon Opens Tee's Cakes and Confections

Cookies and Cakes and Pies, oh my!

We can not resist the sweet desserts that accompany all great parties. Taryn Harmon has made a career out of this fact. She just opened her storefront location for her Tee's Cakes and Confections specialty event dessert catering business, 16150 S. Cicero, Unit 8, in Oak Forest. This 25-year-old is an alumna from Bremen High School and is a long time-resident of Markham. She started her own business at the young age of 18, just out of high school where she took every culinary class that Bremen High School offered, including food sciences. She fell in love with baking way before her high school education though. Her love of baking comes from spending countless hours baking along side her beloved grandmother, Rosetta Jackson.

Taryn decided to take her love of all things culinary a step further when she was accepted into the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago to continue her education. While she was a full-time student, she was employed at several bakeries to gain valuable experience because she always knew, her dream was to open her own place. Friends and family would hire her for specialty cakes and desserts for parties and she took these opportunities seriously. She found that word of mouth was very powerful and soon she was running a small side business while still attending college.

Full-time student, part-time business owner is not easy, but Taryn credits her mother and father, Natalie and Roosevelt, for giving her the essentials to pursue her dream. They taught her that hard work and determination will pay off in the end. She was a full-time student while fulfilling order for her catering business part time. She had a nice following and would come home on the weekends to fulfill orders. Once her education was finished, her next step was to create a full-time catering business and that is just what she did.

Tee's Cakes & Confections is having its grand opening on August 3rd and August 4th. The heart and soul of her business is catering desserts for specialty events. She loves to prepare goodies for parties and she has the experience of catering and setting up gorgeous sweet tables. Her specialty is custom cookies which are very popular for specialty events like weddings, proms, birthday parties and baby showers. She can literally do anything with a cookie.

So what is next for this super business woman and fantastic baker? The sky is the limit. She has a fantastic support team around her and credits much of her success to her family and friends. Her long-time boyfriend, Delmon Brame pushes her along the way. "There are times you doubt yourself, and Delmon is my voice of reason," she said.

Her best friend and fashion designer Jelisa Brown has been by her side, encouraging her since they were toddlers. Jelisa is also an entrepreneur so they bounce ideas off each other which can be invaluable. You add in her parents who boost her up and always give her a soft place to fall, and Taryn is unstoppable. Her advice to anyone who is pursuing a seemingly unreachable goal is "Don't stop. There will be many who tell you No, but don't let a No stop you."

She is excited and busy preparing for her grand opening on August 3 and August 4th from Noon until 6:00pm. So if you love all things sweet, stop by and try some of her goodies. If you have a party coming up and would love some custom confections, give her a call at (708) 465-1206. For more information, go to her website at Tee's Cakes & Confections or her Facebook page.