WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

“I was doing extremely well and I felt untouchable. I had good reviews about my business and was making great money. But, one wrong business move caused me to lose so much money, a lot of customers and respect. I lost nearly everything! I was so embarrassed and fearful of seeing people in public. I didn’t want to come out of the house and I cried every day. Every day!” said Shanta Fasion. 

Shanta’s story is a true testament to how your trials and tribulations will activate your faith. But you must truly surrender and let go and let God. Shanta did just that. “I was just about to get married, my daughter was about to go to college, and then I lost all of my money. I was in a very, very, very low place in my life, and I had to find a way to build myself back up,” said Shanta. “Somehow, I was able to replace my fear with faith, and believed that no weapon formed against me will prosper. Then two years later, my collard greens got state approved. And then everything just took off, and I’ve been doing very well ever since. My dream was to have collard greens in a jar came true,” said the mother of four. 

Shanta Fasion is an executive chef and owner of Twin City Catering Company and has become the ‘Queen of Collard Greens.’ “My husband Cedric is our graphic designer and really the visionary for the name of my famous greens. He said that I need to name my collard greens after my grandma, and I did. So, he got on his computer and created her image and a logo, and that was the beginning of Rosey Bloom Collard Greens. After my setback, I prayed to God and he strengthened my faith and everything took off like a bolt of lightning. What took us to the next level was our appearance at the Triad Minority Business Expo. The founder, Reginald McCaskill, told me that I needed to set up a booth at his expo, and I did. The morning of the Expo, I felt my grandmother’s presence for the first time in years. I started crying and then talking to my grandmother and she told me everything is going to fine,” said Shanta. 

She and her husband of three years arrived at Expo, set up their booth and begin handing out contact sheets. That’s when something amazing took place, Shanta related. “The first two ladies that came to our booth, filled out the sheet, and I looked at one of their names – and it was Rosetta. So, my very first sale was to a Rosetta!” said the executive chef. 

What’s endearing and absolutely breathtaking about that moment is Shanta’s grandmother’s name is Rosetta Bloom. Rosey is her nickname. She said that she cried and bonded with the customer, Rosetta, and that she spoke life into Rosey Bloom Collard Greens. “She said that we were going to be very successful and that my grandmother was watching over me. And we sold out that day! And that was one of the highlights of my career.”

The relationship between Shanta and her grandmother is what inspired her to cook. But the story took a frightening turn before it became a beautiful rose. “As a child, I used to spend every summer with my grandma. It was always just me, her and my granddad. One summer, I think I was about 10 years old, my grandmother and I were home alone and I wanted to visit her next-door neighbor’s house because she had a lot of Barbie dolls. I always visited, but this time my grandmother said no. While she was standing there, I noticed she was getting sick and then started having a heart attack. I called 911 and then I called my whole family. I thought my grandmother had died. When we got her to the hospital, she died like eight times. She spent that entire summer in the hospital, so my family and I spent the whole summer camped out in the waiting room,” said Shanta. 

Although she was sharing a devastating moment, her spirit remained soft and warm. She never stopped smiling. Whenever someone I know personally loses a loved one, I always encourage them that beautiful memories and family togetherness are the best medicine during times of grief. And Shanta was living proof of that. After her grandmother left the hospital and returned home, the bond between them was positively wonderful. She began cooking for Grandma Rosetta and that’s when the magic began. 

“I saved her life and we became partners and best friends. When she first got home, she couldn’t move her legs because they were stuck in a fetal position. But we had a physical therapist coming weekly and helped stretch them out. But she couldn’t cook for herself so I learned to cook all of her favorite meals, because my aunts were working and at Bible study and things like that. I put her food on a tray with a fresh flower, cut up fruit and put it in a champagne glass, and I rolled her silverware in a cloth. I was already catering, but too young to realize it,” she said while laughing. 

Grandma Rosetta began giving Shanta tips on how to cook better and season her food, and the 10-year-old became a phenomenal cook. Unfortunately, nine years later, Rosetta Bloom went on to glory. But what she left with Shanta helped mold her into one of the most sought-after chefs in the Twin City. She went from being a one-woman show at a hotel, sometimes doing ten banquets in one weekend, to launching Rosey Blooms Collard Greens in 2019, and now a partner of a thriving catering company with husband Cedric and her brother Antoine Clinton. 

Her delicious and highly in-demand Rosey Bloom Collard Greens are in over 40 stores from North Carolina to California. One of the actresses from Tyler Perry’s hit TV Show “The Haves and Have Nots” loved the collard greens so much that she talked about it with her millions of YouTube followers. 

Her Twin City Catering Company is still booming as well. They provide their customers with full service and staff to make sure every event is a huge success. The demand is high, so it’s best to schedule your meal so they can have it made and ready to go when you need it. Due to COVID-19, the events she is catering are very small, with 10 guests or less, but still very well organized. 

So, what’s the magic to her success? “Presentation! People eat with their eyes first. If they like what they see, then they’ll give it a try. And I season my food extremely well. Because of the way I season my food, I developed a very big Latino clientele as well.”

But Shanta’s success came with a price, “the guilt of missing my kids. This business keeps you extremely busy! There were nights I’d be so tired I could barely walk upstairs to my room. Working and the success became addictive. It was like a high and when I’m not working, I get depressed,” she said. Then someone came along and changed the game. “When I had my now 4-year son, I slowed down tremendously. He doesn’t know the hustle and always-gone mom. Between him and now COVID-19, I have more time with my other kids as well, and I’m loving it. COVID has also given me time to rebrand our company and so many other positive things. Life has been very good. Even COVID has been a blessing for me.”  

My Phenomenal Person of the Week and Queen of Collard Greens is Shanta Fasion. For more information and to contact Shanta, call 336-971-8267 or visit twincitycateringco.com.