“Think of it like running a race. If you’re running a race and you’re looking at the lane to your right or your left, you’re gonna trip instead of … focusing forward.” So said Lauren, talking about the sweet empire she built from a passion she had for, well, sweets. Not everyone she met along the way shared her enthusiasm for the idea. “(They) were like, ‘Why are you opening a candy store? What is that? … sell 5 cents of gum?'”