Felecia Hatcher is co-founder and “chief popsicle” of Feverish Pops, a gourmet popsicle company based in Miami. Hatcher says she is “obsessed with desserts” and, as proof of that passion, she points out that she was married at a donut shop in Portland, Oregon.
Hatcher began the popsicle company after getting fired from her marketing job with Nintendo.
Her other passion is giving young people the skills to become entrepreneurs and go into tech-related fields. She helped create the local chapter of Black Girls Code, which aims to teach coding to 7-to-17 year-old girls of color. She also started Code Fever, which offers one-day workshops to convert kids, and their parents, from tech consumers to tech creators.
In our 5 Questions series, we asked Hatcher how she got where she is.
What was your first job?
My first job was working at McDonald’s at 16, I had a love-hate relationship with that job: I loved it because many of my classmates worked there too, which made it fun, but I hated smelling like fried food everyday. I swore at the time I would never work in a food business - funny how things change.
What's the best career advice you've ever received?
My best career advice came from my dad who has owned a construction and development company for almost 20 years. He said always take care of your employees, and they will take care of you.
What do you look for when you hire?
I look for pizzazz and passion. Those are things I cannot teach. I can teach them how to make our product, sell it, and work a cash register. But I can't teach you to be passionate about the work that you do, no matter if you are serving our top client or cleaning the bathroom. That's why we don't take applications or resumes. We make people try out for their jobs with us by eating and then attempting to sell a popsicle to us on the spot. It shows us that you can roll with the punches, think creatively on your feet, and have a fun personality and attitude. We adapted that from Ms. Fields who makes applicants sing the happy birthday song.
What's your favorite job interview question to ask and why?
“If you could be any ice cream flavor, what would it be and why?” My second question is “Who are you?”
What's the biggest misconception about the business climate in South Florida?
The pie is not big enough for everyone to get a slice. Yes, South Florida is smaller than other major cities, but it has huge possibility and has so much opportunity for everyone from any and every background to be successful.