Meet Megan Shonka, and her Happy Mango Bakery located in LaVista, Nebraska. Megan is a person with wide ranging passions and talents. She started working for her family’s business when she was just eight years old. Her family ran a family entertainment center dating back to the early 1990s in the Omaha metro. By age 13, she became a regular employee learning about business, human resources, and work ethics. She has a strong work ethic and is learning first-hand both the joys and challenges of being an entrepreneur. During her early years Megan studied psychology at college, then pivoting to arts and finally landing in theater as her final focus. Megan readily admits this is “in her blood.” She is driven, committed, and is seeking to realize more than just money, but build community in her corner of Nebraska.
Megan’s early experiences, formal and informal education all provided solid foundations for being an entrepreneur and business owner. She loves teaching, coaching, and mentoring others. As an artist Megan is powered by her passions and experiences in the fine arts, creative writing, and theater. Leading up to her home-based business, Megan used Mangelsen’s TM (https://www.mangelsens.com/) training space to teach and test her ideas. Megan is a continuous learner, and during the Pandemic and while raising children, she spent lots of hours on YouTube TM (https://www.youtube.com/) exploring ideas and fueling her creative energies.
The origins of the Happy Mango Bakery, like so many other small businesses, began at home. In January of 2020, Megan gave birth to her last child. With the emerging Pandemic, her side gig managing an Airbnb TM (https://www.airbnb.com/) became unfeasible. She began baking out of her home kitchen satisfying both her need for income and creativity. When asked her rationale for moving from her home to a store front, Megan shared a lot of the reasons why so many early-stage entrepreneurs make this big step, including… a must needed commercial kitchen with more space, room to enable workshops and trainings, and space for events such as birthdays and summer baking camps with kids. In summer of 2024 the bakery opened. Her new store front shop will not only provide much needed kitchen and customer space, but a “baking library.” She is thinking about community building, where baking library members can check out mixers, other baking equipment, and books. The Happy Mango Bakery will be closed two days per week to provide Megan and her family time. Entrepreneurs… life balance is foundational. She is planning to rent out the space to others needing access to a commercial kitchen and gathering space.
The Happy Mango Bakery does not do breads, but a quick check of its website features… cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets. While the bakery is a business that must pay its way and make money, Megan is enabling a network of bakers throughout this part of America. The bakers Facebook TM page has 500 plus members creating a bakers’ ecosystem. Ecosystems encourage and supports others. As Megan now focuses on her new shop, others in this network are stepping to foster this niche community. Check out https://www.facebook.com/HappyMangoBakery/ for more information
When asked who and what has helped her in her entrepreneurial journey, Megan responded “it is a list a mile long.” She knows while so much depends on her, she is not alone. During the busy period of getting the shop open, friends and customers stepped up helping with evening meals for her and her family so she could focus on the bakery launch. She commented, beginning as an entrepreneur “really does take a village.” Notables that have supported her in her business journey include her family and their business, Mangelsen’s, YouTube, her staff, friends, the bakers’ Facebook family. Funding from the Nebraska Small Business Assistance Act Program is providing critical funding for building out of her new shop and commercial kitchen equipment.
In our conversation with Megan, we explored advice she would give to other startup entrepreneurs. She counseled the following…
- Be open to asking for help.
- Be prepared for the hard work and challenges in starting up a new business.
- Swallow one’s pride and seek help!
- Be willing to give up some control so one can receive help from others.
- Train staff so well so they can step up, do their jobs, and take some pressure off the owner.
We wish Megan and the Happy Mango Bakery our best. We look forward to hearing more about Megan the entrepreneurs and this new shop in metro Omaha. Check out Megan’s website to place orders, find her location at 9635 Giles Road in La Vista, and learn more about her and her business at… https://www.mapquest.com/us/nebraska/happy-mango-bakery-653480863