ASHEVILLE, NC — Entrepreneurship is not a linear path. It’s often full of unexpected circumstances, and for some entrepreneurs, it takes an unforeseen turn of events to bare the next opportunity. For Laura Shafferman, co-founder of Asheville, NC-based Legally Addictive, the story of her cracker cookie brand and entrepreneurial journey began bound in legal tape.
Shafferman worked in real-estate development marketing in New York City for more than a decade until she was laid off in 2015, a situation that triggered a non-compete agreement that locked her out of the industry for a year.
“Losing my job to no fault of my own and being held to this non-compete — that they would not let me out of — I was like ‘What am I going to do with my life?’” Shafferman said. “After over ten years in an industry, I’m just supposed to all of a sudden change industries? It’s not very easy to do that.”
During that time, an opportunity opened the door to an industry she had not initially sought out: food. A friend who ran Etsy’s holiday markets in New York City — multi-day events in Chelsea and Williamsburg featuring handmade goods — encouraged Shafferman to sell the cracker cookies she often brought to parties. Shafferman agreed to try selling them at the event, and the first domino fell for her new venture.
“The holiday market was a huge success,” Shafferman said. “The cookies sold out the first and second day. Now that I’ve been in business for a little over six years, I know that’s not necessarily proof of concept. But it was enough to give me the confidence to go out and try to make this into a business.”