Athlene Brown: power woman dabbles in pretzels

You don’t quite know where to begin when talking to Athlene Brown as this Chinese-Jamaican is so many things at once. It’s easy to become intimidated as you realise that her talent is endless, that she’s quite ambitious and a go-getter – one of those women we all want to be like when we grow up.

And all that can be quite daunting. But, after you’ve gotten past the extensive resume and the wealth of talent, you’ll find a warm, energetic woman whose enthusiasm is contagious.

So who is Athlene Cheryl Ann Brown? She’s a mother first to her 16 and 12-year-old boys, then she’s a trained insurance executive at Spectrum Insurance, a job she does four days a week and has been doing for 23 years. In between career and motherhood she does custom-made drapery, a skill at which she is self-taught. She is also interior decorator and dressmaker, model and most recently, entrepreneur of soft pretzels.

It’s the Pretzels that are her latest fascination. Dubbed the ideal healthy snack, pretzels are baked and ordinarily twisted into a knot and usually made from wheat flour with yeast.

Brown makes, at Cheryl Ann’s Soft Pretzels and More at the Marketplace, freshly baked pretzels in nine different flavours – six savoury and three sweet – served with dips.

There is original flavour, cini-sugar, garlic, parmesan, raisin glaze, jalapeno pepper, honey crunch and boneless codfish. These last two are marketed to the nightclubs and the codfish, to her knowledge is not sold anywhere else in the world.

“Men love the jalapeno,” she said, adding that pretzels have less than five grams of fat.

Brown, who maintains a healthy salt-free, sugar-free diet herself, started the business in October last year at the food court in Mall Plaza where she said her pretzel dogs sold “like hot bread”. She also does a lot of offsite baking for birthdays, office parties and the like, and was most recenty at Fun in the Son and the Jazz Festival where she said she baked on the spot for three consecutive nights.

But why pretzels? “It’s one of my favourite snacks and when I go abroad I always go to the mall for soft pretzels,” she said. “It’s easy to make and it’s ideal with your coffee or tea or as a mid-morning snack or light lunch.”

Brown has travelled extensively and with the help of her mentor, brother Omar, she said that she has made the contacts and imports the pretzel mix from the States. To this she adds her special secret ingredient.

Being in the kitchen is no strange thing for Brown, who has been cooking the family dinner since she was nine years old.

Her mother, she said, is a very good cook and her father is in the fast-food industry in Canada. As a child when none of the helpers could cook, she had to teach them how.

“I had to take the initiative, I was cooking a full meal for the family from age nine on my own,” she said. She added: “My mom used to do a lot of entertaining so by routine I learned how to help.” And occasionally she’ll cook for friends in fact she said that one Christmas she did 17 different dishes all by herself.

Her other talents she says keep her calm, and it is from pottering around with design and decorating that she gets her fulfilment.

“As a child I would alter my own clothes and make my dolls’ clothes,” she said. “My mom had a machine and I could make anything for my dolls. I made the dress I wore to my husband’s graduation.”

She said that she cuts freehand as she doesn’t know how to use a pattern and also does custom- made drapery for clients. And she makes decorative baskets, decorates bathrooms and kitchens and has designed her office space.

“It’s a natural gift, I was not taught, it just came out naturally,” she said. “I believe that when God blesses you with creative gifts you should use them.”

Her creativiry also comes out in her love for fashion and she was guest model at ICWI Road Angels awards function and has modelled at tea parties and other events. She was also second runner-up in Miss Glenmuir in 1979.

Since last year she says she has been making time for her family and taking time to relax, and so doesn’t work on Fridays full-time anymore.

For now she says she wants to focus more on offsite baking and parties while still being involved full- time in insurace. She also wants to franchise out her business this year and plans for stores in Liguanea, Manor Park and New Kingston.

“I’m very organised, very meticulous, I believe that planning is important,” she said. “If you have a skill to do more than one thing do it. I have zero tolerance for laziness, I know how to balance work and play and have fun.”