On West 145th Street near St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, a petite, Black-owned vegan bakery sits snugly between an African & Caribbean Market and an apartment complex.
The space, once known by many names, is now called Nyla’s Petite Bakery and is owned by 17-year-old high school student Nyla Reese Clayton, who has made a name for herself uptown with her very own vegan baked mini donuts.
Clayton started Nyla’s Petite Bakery at home during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was just 12 years old.
At the time, her mother was diagnosed with Graves Disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid gland. After her diagnosis, Clayton’s mother adopted a vegan lifestyle and Clayton and her younger sister followed along in solidarity.
Along with switching to vegan, Clayton also picked up a new hobby at the time, baking.
“I had a mini donut machine that my mom’s friend gifted to me when I was like 10-years-old,” Clayton told AMNY. “I started making blueberry muffins and then it progressed to mini donuts.”
During the process, Clayton said that she initially tried to make gluten-free donuts, but this didn’t work out. Once she started making regular donuts, things began to turn around.
She began doing regular pop-ups in Brooklyn and Harlem, which she says taught her a lot about herself.
“I’m grateful that I did pop-ups because now that I’m doing this week to week, even when I don’t feel like baking or trying out a new flavor, I can just throw stuff down,” Clayton said.
Since Clayton is a high school senior, Nyla’s Petite Bakery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends only, every week.
A box of strawberry donuts from Nyla’s Petite Bakery.Photo by Karizma Jernigan
Some of the popular menu items the bakery offers include strawberry kisses donuts, cookies and cream donuts and banana pudding flavored donuts that can be ordered online and picked up in store, or ordered in person.
“This used to be a barbershop, then it was an art shop,” Clayton told AMNY. “It has been so many things, and we were like, this would be a perfect space for the bakery.”
Clayton acquired the space in February 2025 and opened up shop in March that same year. She said that she lives in the area and that she and her mother had been eyeing the space for a while and noticed when it had become vacant right away.
“I would love this to expand,” Clayton said. “That way, I can actually have an industrial kitchen and I don’t have to run from place to place.”
The space, like its namesake, is small, so there is no commercial kitchen that can be used to make Clayton’s famed mini donuts onsite. Clayton wakes up at 5 a.m. every Saturday and makes all of her inventory from scratch. She then transports the fresh, baked goods to her shop.
Though Clayton works hard, she does not do it alone. Clayton says that her entire family is full of entrepreneurs. Her mother, or momager, used to own a spa on 57th and Fifth Ave. called Bar Beauté and has taught and helped her with the finances. Clayton’s father has helped her with the creative side of the business and all the branding and logo designing. Her younger sister, who is in the sixth grade, is her “PR” and taste tester and Clayton has two schoolmates that are also seniors at her high school working at the bakery. All of this, she says, is her support system.
“In April, I’m going to turn 18 and this whole thing is going to be all on me,” Clayton said, referring to Nyla’s Petite Bakery, which will fully belong to her next month.
Clayton and her bakery were most recently featured on Teen Vogue’s video series “The Lead Up,” which follows young people preparing for a major event in their lives.
In the vlog-style interview, Clayton spoke about her story and the launch of two new flavors in honor of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX performance and her Puerto Rican heritage.
The bakery was also featured in a brief entertainment segment on NBC News in January 2026, as well as on Secret NYC’s Tiktok page in July 2025.
“Throughout these experiences of me getting interviewed, I feel like my confidence has definitely grown with speaking to new people and just getting comfortable with speaking. I feel like people want to see more personality rather than a brand or a robot,” Clayton said.
Clayton shared her plans of taking a gap year after graduation and thoughts of studying psychology or theater in college.
For people interested in starting their own businesses, Clayton offered some advice.
“One of the biggest things that I’ve learned overall is the importance of confidence in your brand and confidence in yourself,” Clayton emphasized. “Once you build your own brand, you find a problem, and our problem here was there’s no vegan treats around here.”
Clayton added that once the problem was addressed with her bakery, confidence is what led her to pitch herself and her business for TV segments, magazines and social media.
Photo by Karizma Jernigan
Clayton also shared advice for those who are looking to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
“Start with a small goal,” she said. “Dabble in the water, get a vegan treat here and there, a vegan restaurant, just try it. You’ll know when you’re ready to take the leap.”
Clayton said that Mark Levine, the former Manhattan Borough President at the time and now New York City Comptroller, stopped by the bakery for a visit and shared that she would love it if NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani stopped by the bakery as well.
In addition to elected officials, Clayton mentioned social media influencer and model Alex Consani, as well as rapper A$AP Rocky as guests she’d love to stop by as well.
“When I first started, Billie Eilish was vegan,” Clayton said. “I’ve been trying to hit up her mom. In terms of the vegan world, Tabitha Brown and Billie Eilish‘s mom are like really big vegan advocates.”
As Nyla’s Petite Bakery approaches its one-year anniversary during Women’s History Month on March 29, Clayton reflected on her success and the support that she received during Black History Month and talked about supporting Black-owned businesses year-round.
“I appreciate all the support that I’ve gotten [during Black History Month] for a fact,” Clayton said. “I think you have to realize when they say support Black businesses, that it’s not just this month, it’s every single month.”
“We need that kind of fuel back again,” Clayton said regarding people only supporting Black-owned businesses in February. “That’s not how it works. Supporting Black businesses doesn’t just mean for the month of February, it means all the time.”