The inspiring story of Antwoin Gutierrez, an ex-convict baking for America celebrities
Taking responsibility as an ex-convict is not something common as they prepare for life after being set free. It’s a trauma many do not recover from while some just die of depression. An exemplary exception to this norm is Antwoin Gutierrez, who took responsibility for his freedom after coming out of prison.
Gutierrez began selling drugs at just age 16 in Peekskill, NY, a line of hustle that pitched him against the law.
And after landing in prison three times, two for drug dealing and the other for a robbery which earned him 32 months jail term, Gutierrez is on track to a great reform.
Currently, Antwoin is now a successful entrepreneur. According to a New York Post, he operates his own bakery shop called “Fresh Taste Bakery”, an online bakery.
“If I could tell the teenager that you would be baking the dopest cupcakes, I would reply ‘you’re crazy’”. The 33-year-old ex-felony told The Post. “But I still have that hustler spirit inside me.”
Upon Gutierrez being released from prison in 2011, he joined the Doe Fund, a nonprofit organization created in 1985 with the aim of transforming the lives of tens of thousands of people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, poverty, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS.
Gutierrez “joined hoping he would earn his commercial driver’s license. Instead, the food-services head took Gutierrez under his wing and taught him how to bake, a skill similar to one he already had,” the Post reports.
Fortunately for him, he launched his own bakery in 2016 and now sells about 500 treats a day, including his carrot-cake cookies and alcohol-infused cupcakes, The Post further reported.
The ex-con has been patronized by different American celebrities such as DJ Khaled, “America’s Next Top Model” winner Eva Marcille and the cast of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
“He did not just give me a recipe,” he said referring to the food services’ head at Doe Fund. “He showed me how to make all, and it was similar to what I was doing when cooking crack. It just about mixing things and the different reactions you get with chemistry. Something just clicked.”
Gutierrez was so good at what he did that he got offers from both hotels and restaurants.
Throughout Gutierrez’s rehabilitation journey his mother Lasagna Mignotte has been standing beside him. “She had me young and used to throw away my drugs. She hated me being held behind bars,” he said. “She told me that she can die happy. She doesn’t have to worry about me.”
