PARCHMENT, Mich. — Local business owner, Toya Williams, uses dessert to spread love, but she says her life wasn’t always this sweet.
“Baking started out of grieving the loss of my mother. I'm an only child on my father and mother's side. Losing my mother was devastating. I just felt like my world was about to end,” Williams said.
When her mother died in 2015, Williams slipped into a dark space. While battling depression and dealing with severe health issues, she contemplated suicide.
“I'm just gonna, just take pills and go peacefully because I didn't want my husband or my kids to come home and see that. And instead of doing that, I remember kneeling down and just asking God just to help me,” she recalled.
Williams said that instead of opening the drawer with her pills, she opened a drawer that had her mother’s robe in it. At that moment, the color pink, the feeling of silk and her mother’s handwriting saved her life.
“I just started going through my drawer for some reason, I don't even know. But however, I had placed some of her recipes in my drawer,” Williams told FOX 17.
With her mother’s handwritten recipes, she began her baking journey.
As someone who spent more than 20 years in and out of Bronson Hospital with severe health issues, Williams says she made a lot of treats for the staff as a token of appreciation. Eventually, they encouraged her to launch her own business.
Now, her desserts can be found at Bronson, Hardings, Park Street Market, Midtown Fresh and a host of other stores.
“When I'm in the kitchen baking, I don't necessarily do it for me anymore. I get more of a joy, a kick out of the smiles that I bring to people,” Williams said that’s something she learned from her mother.
Aunt Nay's Cookies & Treats is more than just a local business. For Williams, it's a way to keep her mother’s legacy alive and spread love one banana pudding at a time.
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If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, help is available. Call or text the National Suicide Prevention and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for 24/7 free, confidential help.
You can also connect with people you trust by copying one of these pre-written messages from the International Association for Suicide Prevention and send it to a loved one:
- When you get a chance can you contact me? I feel really alone and suicidal and could use some support.
- I don’t want to die, but I don’t know how to live. Talking with you may help me feel safe. Are you free to talk?
- This is really hard for me to say but I’m having painful thoughts and it might help to talk. Are you free?
