FRESNO, Calif. -- Eight-year-old Jalen Bailey was saving some of his money for a KitchenAid mixer.
His mother taught him to save for the "good stuff," and he's running a bakery. But someone recently donated the machine he wanted for mixing cookie dough and cake batter, so he's back to saving up for the rest of the good stuff on his list.
No. 1 on that list: A house for himself and his single mom. They live in a small apartment in central Fresno.
Jalen says he wants a house "so me and my mommy could make more memories in the kitchen, so it could be a bigger kitchen, so I could bake more things."
He has enjoyed baking with his mom, Sharhonda Mahan, for many years, but it has taken on new fervor since July 1, when he founded Jalen's Bakery to help make his dreams come true. Jalen counts the things his money is going toward on one hand: "House, college, puppy and savings."
Then he backtracks a little while looking at his mom, as if not to hurt her feelings in describing what counts as good stuff. He's sitting beside her on the couch, an arm wrapped affectionately around her waist: "I mean, not houses, you don't have to ... " His voice trails off, and he looks down at the floor. He mulls over what he said for a moment, then a burst of energy hits, and he's sitting upright again, bright-eyed: "But -- we want to!"
His mother told him not to worry about the house -- she's working on that, but he's still saving for it. Jalen doesn't just want a house for a bigger kitchen. He wants a golden retriever. Dogs aren't allowed in the apartment.
"It looks beauuuutifuuuullll!" he says of his dream dog.
Jalen also has a GoFundMe donation account online (bit.ly/2bejWvZ), and has an annual back-to-school collection drive for local homeless children.
"My mommy told me about how there are a lot of homeless people in the world," Jalen says. "I didn't want anybody to feel left out, because there are a lot of kids walking home with their backpacks with all their school supplies. Maybe they (homeless children) were watching them. Maybe they wanted those things."
He started collecting supplies for these children when he was 5 years old, and he wants to give them much more.
"If we get enough money, we could buy everything for the little children and they'll be screaming, 'Yeaaaa!' I'm going to try to give everything, everything, everything, everything -- I should stop saying everything," Jalen adds with a giggle.
Mahan says Jalen came up with the collection drive on his own and that she's floored by it because "that's something you can't teach."
Still, there's no doubting the positive influence she has had on her only child. After explaining that she decided to home-school Jalen until last year and make a living working as a nanny from home so she could spend more time with her son, Jalen says this about his mom: "It's not just so sweet, it's very, very, very extraordinaaaary sweet! Because my mommy is the best mom on the planet. She's really great."
Mahan helped plant the seed for Jalen's business aspirations. Mahan majored in business at the University of Phoenix in Fresno, and has been teaching Jalen about the virtues of wise money management and entrepreneurship for some time. She says it's information she wishes someone had taught her as a child, and that she doesn't want Jalen to have to live "paycheck to paycheck." She started educating him early, teaching him his first words as an infant. By the time he was old enough to start school, she says a test showed Jalen was already reading at a second-grade level.
"I have so many big things for him, you know," Mahan says, "and I'm just like, 'I want you to try your best. Just figure out what it is that you like, and whatever it is that you like, I'm going to support you 100 percent.'"
Right now, that means helping Jalen run a bakery from their apartment.
Customers can order Jalen's baked goods -- or a Jalen's Bakery T-shirt -- online at jalensbakery.com, and Jalen will deliver the goods locally. Mahan says the health department approved a number of recipes, including peanut butter, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies; chocolate and vanilla cakes and cupcakes; and banana nut bread. Customers can request other treats, but there's just a process that must occur before Jalen will submit a new recipe for approval.
Jalen explains: "They can order anything, I just have to satisfy it and try it. I mean, try it, and then satisfy it. And then when me, or at least a toddler that comes to our house can say, 'It's good!' and then me, and I say, 'It's good!' And Mommy, then she says, 'It's good!'"
Then -- and only then -- will Jalen sell his creations.
"I have the cookie," Jalen explains, holding an imaginary cookie in one hand. "Matter of fact, I have the oatmeal raisin cookie. I don't even like raisins, and I tried it before, and I was like, 'This is bomb! This is really good!' I don't even like oats or raisins."
And photographer Craig Kohlruss, who got to see and try a real peanut butter cookie made by Jalen (unfortunately, my interview was not during baking hours), shared his review with me later: "It was (insert-word-I-want-to-write-but-we-can't-print) awesome! No joke. Seriously. I had my doubts, but the kid can bake."
When asked about a secret recipe, Jalen at first says "it's top secret" (understandable), but then he warms up to sharing.
"My secret recipe is: Made with love!"
High Profile on 08/28/2016