Leaders at the West Virginia Hive Network proudly recognize Erica Bowden and her growing business–Auntie E’s Custom Order Bakery in MacArthur, WV–as a shining example, exemplifying resilience, growth and staying power and embodying the spirit of a survivor bee thriving against all odds.
Bowden’s entrepreneurial journey is marked by profound personal challenges. In 2007, she endured the auctioning of her family home and the loss of her mother, who passed away from ALS just days before Christmas.
The WV Hive’s 2024 Survivor Bee Award recipient says this was a time of reckoning, and she is proud she beat adversity and is now embarking on a journey to find herself and her true worth.
This mindset carried her through professional roles where she consistently exceeded expectations, earning top performance honors and advancing to management in the retail industry. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, drastically reducing her work hours. Instead of retreating, Bowden embraced the opportunity to turn her passion for baking into a business.
Auntie E’s was born in September 2020 as a creative fundraiser for Bowden’s nephew’s travel baseball team. Despite the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, she sold 720 cake truffles in her first fundraiser. By February 2021, Auntie E’s was officially registered, marking the beginning of a thriving small business.
A CO.STARTERS Core graduate, from the WV Hive, Bowden has embraced the entrepreneurial principles of starting small, understanding her numbers and listening to her customers. She engages in regular customer conversations, using their feedback to refine her products and meet their needs.
“The $50 I spent to take the 10-week CO.STARTERS program was the best investment I have made to this day,” Bowden says.
Sales have doubled every year since the inception of Auntie E’s and, in January 2023, Bowden took a bold step: leaving her 15-year career to focus on Auntie E’s full-time. By May 2023, she had built a commercial kitchen in her home, setting the stage for future expansion, including new product offerings like hot foods and bake-at-home cookies.
“I initially started in my home kitchen in 2020. Soon, my thriving business took over my home kitchen and dining room,” Bowden says. “As our orders increased, we then took over the kitchen, dining room and formal living room. That was when I had to get out of my home living area and remodel part of our downstairs into my commercial kitchen. This gave me the ability to move from just desserts to offering a wider range of sweet treats and hot foods. By picking up hot foods, though, we are quickly outgrowing that space and looking for a storefront to move Auntie E’s to the next level.”
In 2023, Bowden became a client of the West Virginia Hive Network, the entrepreneurial program of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority that offers hands-on mentoring and services to small businesses in a 13-county region of southern West Virginia.
“My history with the WV Hive started when I took the CO.STARTERS CORE course,” Bowden says. “This gave me so much insight on starting and running a successful business. Some of the biggest challenges the Hive has helped me through include learning how to balance and grow, whether it was what supplier to use or how to price your items. Thankfully, WV Hive advisors have been there every step of the way to navigate through these struggles.”
Bowden says she is now in the process of utilizing web design services provided through technical assistance from the WV Hive.
“The WV Hive has helped me to find confidence in myself and my business,” she says. “As an entrepreneur starting from the ground up with no college background, I sometimes felt like I had imposter syndrome. The WV Hive has helped me to explore and use multiple services such as accounting, legal and others I needed but was sometimes unaware of.”
“Erica Bowden is the kind of entrepreneur every advisor hopes to work with—passionate, responsive and truly inspiring,” Devon Fitzgerald, WV Hive’s business advisor working with Auntie E’s, says. “Her clear vision, coupled with the remarkable growth of Auntie E’s, is a testament to her dedication, creativity and drive to build something lasting and meaningful.”
Bowden says her family’s support and investment has been a major factor in her business success.
“My husband, Dad and stepmom have been major positive influences,” she says. “I am grateful to my husband for believing in me as I walked away from a 15-year career. Also, to my husband, father and stepmom for working long hours, assisting with events and investing in me and Auntie E’s. Each of them expected little to nothing in return. My success and growth were the only return they ever want to see.”
The biggest surprise to Bowden was her rapid and continuing growth.
“A really big surprise was how quickly Auntie E’s would grow,” she says. “This started out as a side hustle that turned into a business very quickly. One day I was a home baker that was in demand, and suddenly it grew into a genuine business venture. I would have never thought that was possible. I had a high school education and worked in retail. How could I now be running my own business?”
When asked what keeps her up at night about the future of Auntie E’s, Bowden replied, “I am expanding and growing faster than I can keep up. This makes me nervous because I have outgrown all my spaces so quickly that now I need to expand outside my home commercial kitchen. This is a good problem to have but it is still a concern. I also worry about staying relevant but that is the easier side of the worry.”
Bowden has gained invaluable insights through her entrepreneurial journey and strongly encourages those just starting out to connect with a knowledgeable business advisor, or better yet, a comprehensive support program like the WV Hive. She emphasizes that business owners don’t have to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship alone—there’s a dedicated team ready to help them thrive. Now that Bowden has found her footing, she wants to share her entrepreneurial story.
“No matter where you are in life, you can always reach higher and do better,” she says. “I just needed a hand up, not a handout. I received that and now I make it a goal to do the same for others. I would also say that is what the WV Hive does: they give you a hand-up in business and not handouts. The handouts you get are like business seeds. While they are given to you, it is essential to water and nurture them for your business seeds to grow. I am thankful my business garden is flourishing because of resources the WV Hive has provided me and my business.”
Auntie E’s Custom Order Bakery is located at 300 Bethel Road, MacArthur, WV. For more information, check out Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Auntie-Es-100063698284718/
