Cassandra Williams owns Love by the Slice, a Tacoma-based baking and catering company that seeks to make our community sweeter every day. Love by the Slice was inspired by a church fundraiser, which needed to generate $700. “I said you know we got this great pound cake recipe why don’t we have a cake sale and raise the money,” said Cassandra.
As a young girl growing up in Tacoma, Cassandra remembers it being a safe place and fun place. “I remember going to the K Street Bakery as I was envisioning this business it just made sense to be right here at home so that I can give back what my community gave to me,” said Cassandra.
Cassandra is building on the legacy of the neighborhood and using cake, pies and cookies, and chips to do it. “I’m standing on the shoulders of people who had great vision in a place that has been a safe and wonderful community for me and now it’s my opportunity to continue that spirit of community for this next generation. It has come full circle, and I am home.”
To help her small business survive and continue to thrive, Cassandra applied for a $10,000 grant from the Comcast RISE Investment Fund and won. “I got an e-mail saying congratulations and I yelled yeah! This is great! Now I’m able to expand our product offering and it allows me to offset the cost of payroll.”
Last Winter, Comcast awarded $1 million in total grants to 100 small businesses in King and Pierce Counties. That is when Cassandra joined the group of 13,000 small businesses owned by women and people of color – including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian Americans, among others who have received over $110 million in grants, marketing, and technology services through Comcast RISE since 2020.
“There’s no reason not to apply for the Comcast RISE dollars,” said Cassandra. “And the fact that those dollars are being pushed into communities for people of color I think is phenomenal. After all, we have been through it’s a great opportunity and to be positioned to take advantage of that is quite a blessing.”