This week Emily chats with Rabia Kamara, the owner of Ruby Scoops, an ice cream/dessert shop in Richmond, Virginia. Rabia was bit by the baking bug early on when she got her first cookbook around the age of nine. Headed to law school, she changed her mind and instead wanted to do something she was passionate about: culinary school. Her parents were unsure of her decision at first, but warmed after seeing Rabia in her element at school and in her jobs.
After culinary school and jobs in savory food, she decided to switch to pastries in 2013 and has had a career in desserts ever since. As the only Black woman in the restaurant she worked in, she noticed that she didn’t receive the same amount of respect and treatment as some of her coworkers. This pushed her to go out on her own and start selling her ice cream at farmers markets and other events that slowly began growing her brand. Ruby Scoops opened up a storefront in November 2020 and recently WON a Food Network show you might have recently seen, Clash of the Cones with Ben & Jerry’s!
Rabia and Emily chat through her journey to ice cream and what it was like to build her business on the East coast. They dive into her Food Network experience and what it was like to have Kevin Bacon and Ludacris taste her ice cream flavors.
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