{"id":180760,"date":"2026-03-31T12:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180760\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:33:46","slug":"why-a-brooklyn-bakery-owner-said-it-wasnt-about-the-money-after-viral-moment-kept-her-business-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180760\/","title":{"rendered":"Why A Brooklyn Bakery Owner Said \u2018It Wasn\u2019t About The Money\u2019 After Viral Moment Kept Her Business Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jatee Kearsley, owner of Je T\u2019aime Patisserie in Brooklyn, admitted to never wanting to go viral again, claiming it saved her business<\/a> but at the expense of her mental health, Business Insider reports.<\/p>\n

She reminisced about a time in April 2024 when she didn\u2019t know how her bakery, offering a \u201cBlack girl twist\u201d on French pastries in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood, was going to survive with only $2,000 left in her bank account. After making the admission to members of her bible study group, things changed shortly after. Her bakery went viral after being featured on a social media platform called Righteous Eats that celebrates New York City-based restaurants.<\/p>\n

With over 600,000 views and likes, her bank account looked completely different afterwards. But Kearsley said she doesn\u2019t want to experience that again<\/a>. \u201cGoing viral was a blessing. I will never pretend it wasn\u2019t. It changed the trajectory of my business. However, I don\u2019t think people talk enough about what going viral does to your mental health,\u201d the small business owner said.<\/p>\n

Data from The DO, the effect of social media users hiding behind a screen<\/a> in an effort to \u201ctroll\u201d or harass others has been labeled as a new level of cyberbullying. The trend has led to significant implications for mental health, leading to depression, anxiety, and in some cases, suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, mentally, I don\u2019t want to go viral again. That might sound ungrateful, but it\u2019s honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

She touched on how going viral didn\u2019t make the work any easier and instead brought higher expectations. Kearsley remembered her team of four would make an average of 200 croissants a week. After becoming a viral sensation<\/a>, the demand increased to roughly 200 croissants every other day. Then, with the demand came overly demanding service and alleged judgmental tones.<\/p>\n

One of the things that sets Je T\u2019aime Patisserie apart from other bakeries is that it accepts Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT). During the 2025 government shutdown, Kearsley started offering a free breakfast to anyone who presented their EBT card between 7:30 and 10 a.m., as she understood what it meant<\/a> for working people to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. \u201cI just have family members who are also suffering, so I just want to help in a small way,\u201d the bakery owner told The New York Daily News back in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really isn\u2019t any benefit from me giving away free food, but I just know the struggles that my friends and family are dealing with. So I just want to make sure that I help them and other people in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

While new customers tried to push her to move her business to Manhattan\u2019s expensive sector, with her offerings including chocolate, almond, ham-and-cheese, blueberry cheesecake, and more types of croissants made from scratch, Kearsley stood her ground, saying her business is never about the money. \u201cI opened in Bed-Stuy on purpose. People told me my bakery \u201cbelonged\u201d in Manhattan. I disagreed. I wanted someone who has never tried a fresh croissant or a quiche to walk into my shop and feel like they deserve it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancially, EBT makes up a small percentage of my revenue. But the support and gratitude from those customers mean more to me than the dollar amount ever could.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED CONTENT: Award-Winning Black-Owned Bakery Launches First-Ever Dessert Truck<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jatee Kearsley, owner of Je T\u2019aime Patisserie in Brooklyn, admitted to never wanting to go viral again, claiming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[12655,98,100,99,72973,72974,2190,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-180760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bank-account","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-jatee-kearsley","tag-je-taime-patisserie","tag-mental-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}