The New Builders

CHAPTER ONEA New Generation

Danaris Mazara opened the door at Sweet Grace Heavenly Cakes the day after the governor lifted the Covid pandemic lockdown on “nonessential” businesses in late May 2020.

“Thank God,” she said. Her 12‐year‐old bakery, which had been conceived of when she was lying on her couch staring at the ceiling with $37 to her name, was back in business.ⁱ

Eight women were already back at work on Essex Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts, making cakes in the back of the shop. The Sweet Grace bakers turned out cakes, from five silver‐festooned tiers for a wedding to two‐layered dreamy dark and milk chocolate affairs. On any given day, a cake as grand as a two‐foot‐tall Noah's Ark birthday cake, complete with a giraffe peeking over the top, might hold pride of place in the window.

It was a parade of life events, decked out in butter and sugar, for the Dominican community that Sweet Grace served.

Twelve orders came in the day before. But a week usually brought more than 100 orders. Danaris worried whether sales would be strong enough to make the payroll, the mortgage, or payments on the loan she had taken to expand late last year. She recalled what the space looked like before she remodeled it. Its transformation mirrored her own, from bankrupt and nearly out of money to business owner and community leader. The space had been dim and cluttered, with abandoned fixtures and trash left by the hair salon that was its previous occupant. Now it looked like it smelled – soft, ...