We had the good fortune of connecting with Tiya Trent and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiya, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process behind starting my own business was, “Oh shit, I don’t have a job or money to pay my bills!” I was working at CU Boulder in the TRiO Student Support Services when I decided (after four years) that I needed a change for my mental health. I started looking for a job before I left my position as a Coordinator, and everything was going great, but then…my new job fell through, and I was left jobless, with no savings and no way to pay my bills. I kept thinking to myself, what can I do quickly to get money, and it came to me. I should open my own baking business. Everyone who knows me knows that I love to cook, bake, and feed people. It’s one of my favorite languages, and I can actually cook and bake.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Everlasting Essential Element. I am Everlasting, an Essential Element that will never die and who will commit to you, each and every time. Everlasting is who I be, Essential to your well-being and an Element that will never die and who will commit to you each and every time.

Next, I wanted to say that part of the Mission of Patty Bakes is to work with youth that have been in the foster care system, lived in a group home setting, have experienced homelessness and youth that have spent time in a mental health facility or experienced mental health issues. The reason why I picked this community of youth to work with is because for a little over four years I worked at a treatment facility and I learned that the majority of them dealt with food insecurities, and once I started cooking and baking with and for them my cottage on the campus was the best behaved. Why? Because the girls were learning new things in the kitchen, their food was being seasoned and made with love. It has been over ten years since I worked at the treatment facility and I am still in touch with a few of the youth there and they constantly remind me of how I helped shape and develop their lives.
Another part of Patty Bakes mission is to make the community a better place for Black, Brown and Indigenous folk. Which is why I have been blessed to be a part of the political community that furthers Black folks and puts us in City Council positions and RTD positions, and CU Regent positions. I have been able to support non-profits in the Denver Metro area and most of all I have been able to give back to my community with Black youth at my side.
Working with youth, acting and baking are all great passions of mine and in my current position as a Program Manager at Project VOYCE I am able to combine all of my loves!!! I love that all that I do makes an impact on my community.
I have achieved more than most would have expected seeing that I was a “statistic” growing up and I survived the odds. I graduated from a PWI (predominately white institute) while raising two Black sons. I was on the committee board that started the March for Black Women, Denver. I led the March for Women, alongside some powerful Black women. I have performed on the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance stage on more than one occasion. I serve on the Advisory Board for Community Bucketlist. I have served on panels as an expert on numerous occasions. I have walked in runway shows for some bad ass African women designer’s. I spread my light and joy everywhere I go, which seems to end me up in places I would have never imagined and I am just getting started. I am going to start telling folks, Google me!!! Just joking.

I am also an actor and a model. What I love about my acting is that it is for social justice and makes folk think about how they perform their jobs when it comes to Black folks and the medical field. I am what they call a “Specialized Patient.” In other words, I go to the Anschutz Medical campus and work with the folks in the CAPE Center: The Center for Advancing Professional Excellence. The Center’s job is to educate folks in the medical field so that patients, particularly Black patients, are treated with dignity and feel safe while getting health care. In addition, I act for theater companies, as well as Stage Management and Direct plays. I am proud to say that my sons even performed with me in a college play. I have loved modeling since I was a teenager and have participated in pageants, runway shows, and other modeling gigs. One of my most memorable modeling moments was a photoshoot with my Goddaughters. I love that I can act, model, and bring awareness while doing what I enjoy.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend were in town, we would eat lots of delicious food!!! My favorite food spots are Genna Rae’s (until Welton Street Cafe re-opens) and Tocabe’s, a Native American restaurant. We would also get some Mexican food. They have never been to Meow Wolf, so it would be a great place to take them for fun. Right now, the Museum for Black Girls is open, so that would be a spot we would visit. Since we both love pictures, we would go to the Selfie Museum. I love to dance and listen to music, so we hit Bear Creek Distillery on Sunday for Sunset Sundays with DJ Kimani. Depending on what is going on that week, too, if there is a special event, we would hit that event up.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many folks who have been imperative to the success that I have now and that I will continue to have. First, I would say my mommy, Patricia Richardson. She passed in 2014 from pancreatic cancer. My mom was my best friend, and when I thought of her, I didn’t always want to be sad, so I named my baking business after her, Patty Bakes.

I had my first son, O’Shea Alai Smith-Trent, the day before my 16th birthday and my second son, Sikkim My-Sun Allah Smith-Trent, when I was 18, so we grew up together. They are my life, and I do everything I do with them in mind. They make me a better person and make me go hard every single day. We are a whole vibe.

From the eighth grade, until I graduated high school, my basketball coach was Jerry Austin. To this day I can still count on this man if I need anything!!!! When I was growing up and needed support in so many ways, he stepped up and gave me the support that I needed and that my mommy couldn’t provide.

Of course, my brothers and sisters they know who they are!!! I love ya’ll. We are so aligned it doesn’t even make sense!!!!

My intellectual mentor and brother, Dr. Reiland Rabaka. I love him dearly and have learned so much from him. I wouldn’t be the academic I am today without his guidance and love.

My Auntie Karen is like my second mommy, and I wouldn’t know what to do without her unsolicited advice!!! This also goes for my Auntie Iris!!! They have had my back forever!!!!

I would also have to shout out the group of Black women I have come to know, grow with, and love and who continuously support me in ways they may not know or understand.

While so many other folks and organizations have played a pivotal role in my life and success, I will end with this organization. Project VOYCE has been my professional home for over three years, and I have found so much joy and love in the youth with whom I am blessed to work. I have worked with youth for over twenty years, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. PV has shown me how to use my voice to empower our Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth of color in ways that I didn’t even imagine.

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Image Credits
Ryan Landell

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