Cereal Dreams Come True Saturday For FHS Grad

Right now, Blue Brasher should be settling in at Pepperdine University in Southern California. She'd earned a full scholarship there, having graduated from Fayetteville High School with high honors and a 4.0 GPA. And that would be after she'd spent the summer going to music festivals across Europe working on an Irish family's food truck, of course.

Then the coronavirus changed everything.

"They announced that school would be going online, and I was faced with a choice," Brasher says. "I don't thrive with online school, which I found out when my last month of high school went online. Also, one of the biggest things I was looking forward to for college was the campus experience. So when I found out I wasn't going to get that, I had to reevaluate if I even wanted to go.

"I have had so many creative ideas that I haven't been able to accomplish because of how time consuming it is to be a student, so I decided this was my time to do everything I've ever wanted to do. I deferred my enrollment until next year and set out on starting my own business."

Brasher's "plan B" comes to fruition Saturday, when Killer Cereal opens at the Lake Fayetteville food truck court.

"Ever since I was little, my favorite food was cereal," she says. "I grew up with my health-conscious mom, so the closest thing to sugar cereal I ever got was a box of panda puffs from the Co-op, and even that was a treat! When I would go to my grandma's house, I would get to eat Fruity Pebbles, and I was convinced it was the best thing to ever exist.

"I decided a long time ago that it would be so fun to start a cereal restaurant, so it's pretty crazy that I'm actually fulfilling my 12-year-old dreams," she explains. "There's a certain childhood joy you get when you eat cereal, and I wanted to re-create that with Killer Cereal."

Brasher admits that being an entrepreneur isn't easy.

"I didn't realize how expensive it is to start a business, but luckily I have been able to figure out how to make it work," she says. "I recently released a CD and had a few social distanced CD release parties where I sold my CDs. The money from that has helped a lot. I have also been using my graduation money. Overall, I have just had to stay dedicated to this project to make it work."

Brasher says she obviously hopes to be successful, but "what I'm most excited for is the learning experience. I think I will gain a lot of skills that I can use the rest of my life, whether it be as a student at Pepperdine or maybe when I'm starting another business farther down the line."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

bmartin@nwadg.com