Mercedes George is the owner of Garnished by George and Nonahood resident. Read our interview with her below

Nonahood News: What is your job?

Mercedes George: I’m going back to Corrections full time next week. I temporarily stopped working because I was raising my daughter for the past year and a half. That’s how I came up with the idea for my business [Garnished by George] because I finally had some time, and I wasn’t working. 

NHN: What does your day-to-day schedule look like?

MG: Right now, I usually work on my website and work on orders in the morning. I do deliveries in the afternoon. My daughter is with me the whole time. That’s pretty much how I spend my day. It’s going to change once I go back to work. I’m going to have to work out my hours at my new job. I want my business to flourish. I’m still going to focus primarily on that even if I’m working full time; part of the reason I wanted to go back full time is so I can invest more money into my business.

NHN: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

MG: One of the challenges is being a mom and having to take care of my daughter while running a business full time. Another challenge is not having a background in business and having to learn how to do promotions, marketing and the finance part of a business. I’ve also found that having to create a website, like social media, takes up a lot of my time – even more than making the trays.

NHN: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

MG: The most rewarding thing is knowing that I could do something by myself. I started the business in February of this year (2022). I’ve come really far from when I first started, and it’s grown so much. Another thing is getting to know the community. I’ve networked so much, met so many people, just from starting my business, getting out of the community and taking orders.

NHN: What got you interested in doing your current job in this area?

MG: I’ve always wanted to have a business; I just didn’t know what. I did think about things like throwing parties and entertaining in general, but I felt like that was a saturated market. I wanted something different. I wanted something to do with entertaining, home and food.  I happened to run into this beautiful charcuterie tray on Pinterest and I’m like, “Wow, that’s really pretty.” I looked up the person who created it and I’m like, “There’s something I can do.” And that’s how it started.

NHN: Do you have any interesting hobbies, collections or interests?

MG: I was working at Disney part-time for the past six months. I love going to the parks and anything related to Disney. I take my daughter maybe once a week. My favorite park is Hollywood Studios.

NHN: Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

MG: In five years, since I started this business, I want to have an actual cheese shop. I want to be able to have my own store where we serve charcuterie, but we also sell fine cheeses and wines, we do catering for parties, and charcuterie boxes. That’s my goal. I want to be able to have something that, as far as I know, I don’t think there is in Lake Nona.

NHN: What brought you to Lake Nona and when did you move here?

MG: We bought our house back in 2009, then we moved to Miami for a bit because my husband’s job took us there. We came back in 2018 and we’ve been here since then. We like the area. It’s very family oriented, and it’s perfect for raising kids. You don’t have to go far for any type of great restaurants, parks or stores. Besides that, I feel that it’s also diverse, it’s safe. There are a lot of reasons why I like it. We have no intention of leaving this area.

NHN: Where are you from originally?

MG: I grew up in Kissimmee. I moved there when I was 13 from New York. So, I’ve been in Kissimmee half the time I’ve been here. I also went to UCF. I graduated with my bachelor’s from UCF. I have a really big group of friends in the UCF area. They’re all still living there. I’m also doing two master’s degrees at UCF. 

NHN: What would you say to anyone who is considering moving to Lake Nona?

MG: Do it. It’s a beautiful community that’s very welcoming. I’ve never felt unwelcome, and everybody wants to get together, they want to get to know you. It’s a very welcoming and safe community.

Photos courtesy of Mercedes George & Kossina Creative Photography