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Endeavor Entrepreneur Ginny Simon exports healthy living across the country

Ginny Simon pulls out some of her famous cookies.

The recipe for the successful and popular Ginnybakes is fairly simple, according to founder and CEO Ginny Simon. The sweet treats her company produces are organic, gluten-free, certified kosher and, in some cases, vegan. And the most important feature, she says, is that “they are outrageously delicious.”

Simple, maybe, but with her trademark cookies, cake mixes, health-food bars and crumbles, Simon has created a sophisticated company with products that are now found nationwide. That’s the reason why Simon is a Miami Endeavor Entrepreneur. Endeavor is a global nonprofit program that aims to promote and facilitate businesses that will have high impact on both the specific field in which they operate and the broader community. In 2013, Endeavor opened up its first U.S.  affiliate in Miami, with a $2 million grant from Knight Foundation. Its mentorship model connects promising entrepreneurs with people and companies that can help the businesses scale, as well as provide leadership guidance, with the ultimate mission of driving new innovations and job growth.

The selection of an Endeavor Entrepreneur includes a long process of scrutiny involving an international panel, which almost necessitates that the candidates have a personal, deep-seated connection to their enterprises. Many of them end up being true labors of love. Such is the case with Simon.

The Miami native says she always loved making special, home-cooked foods for her four sons–meals and desserts that were tasty and healthy. “I was a home chef, a home baker [with] nutrition [being] a central aspect,” Simon says, nothing that this was something that was a full-time job.

But she started looking ahead to an empty nest reality. “My sons were getting older, so I decided to go back to school,” with the idea of expanding that home kitchen table to a broader audience. She enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City, and emerged with a certificate as a holistic nutritionist. As that label suggests, Simon wasn’t interested in just baking. After graduating, she founded a company called Mindful Organics. “I am interested in food and health, in promoting making the right choices, and putting it all together,” she says.

She was being asked to teach classes about all-natural cooking, and by individuals to bake for them. As she looked around, she realized there was a real void in bake mixes that fit with her philosophy of healthful, nutritional ingredients. In 2009, Simon decided to combine her love of food and holistic living, and in 2010 launched Ginnybakes, which provides products that are healthy but also fun and indulgent in the best possible way. And members of her old kitchen table were soon incorporated–Simon’s husband and one of her sons joined the company.

Ginnybakes treats can be found in natural food markets throughout the country.

Simon says that Apple a Day market on Miami Beach was one of the first to pick up her products, and then other outlets started requesting her ready-made cookies. In 2011, Ginnybakes opened a warehouse near the Miami airport, baking those cookies (from chocolate chip to oatmeal) but also producing boxed mixes. Then, they started promoting Ginnybakes far beyond South Florida boundaries.

Today, the gluten-free, organic kosher treats can be found from New Mexico and Texas, to Missouri, Illinois and Minnesota, in Whole Foods stores and other natural grocer outlets. According to Simon, they’ve almost saturated the Midwest regions and are now looking to move in on the East and West coasts.

The Endeavor connection has been invaluable, she says. “The mentors, the resources, the brain power” from across the globe that she has been exposed to have been more than an edifying experience; she says that some recent important hires came directly from the Endeavor process and interactions. She, along with other Miami Endeavor entrepreneurs, will be honored Wednesday at the Endeavor Miami gala on Miami Beach.

While Simon is determined to continue to grow Ginnybakes throughout the country, she is equally determined to keep it close to her heart. Simon’s outreach through her company is not just about “delicious treats,” but also about promoting healthy, balanced lifestyles. And that means keeping it true to its origins. “It’s a family-based company. We want to keep it centered, keep it strong” and connected to its roots.

Endeavor Miami will honor selected entrepreneurs at the Endeavor Miami gala on Nov. 18 at the New World Center, Miami Beach.

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