Anthony "Tony" Wilson has been on a journey comprised of emotional challenges, and learning over time to love himself enough to build a successful business.

But today he's got much bigger dreams.

Wilson grew up in a modest home in Minneapolis and at age three lived through the trauma of losing his father to murder.

Through his boyhood his male role models were drug dealers, and criminals.

It was not a foundation for success. Nor was his home life.

"Mom is and was a wonderful person, lovely person. But the person she remarried...I mean, I witnessed domestic abuse with him. And I remember that I was five years old on Christmas night. Then he busted the door and did all that. I go hide in the closet. That kind of messed me up a little."

His reaction was to withdraw into his own world.

Uncertainty and self doubt became close companions.

Still, something in his heart pushed him forward. He went on to graduate high school and attend Hamline University in St. Paul Minnesota earning a degree in Sociology. That led to a teaching job and some true personal growth, but the trauma of his early years was still with him. It deepened his sense of empathy, so when Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans he volunteered to help.

Always a writer and with heroes like Tupac he began performing rap and poetry at clubs in New Orleans, learning to share his worldview. His popularity grew and he got some gigs not just locally but even in Europe.

"I would perform poetry or travel the world doing poetry and everything like that. That's actually how I met my wife. So I just performed spoken word. My biggest thing was that I performed on a lot of stages across the world. So my wife and I we put our little money together and we'd go to Paris, we'd go to Amsterdam, we'd go to London and then we'd meet with these people who had big stages and like different cohorts and then they would put us on stage in front of these big audiences and we performed, So I developed a fan base or a support base off of that."

When the pandemic hit, he and his wife and by then a young daughter were living in "a shotgun house" (common in New Orleans, a very narrow long home) and "we were always on top of each other." he said, "We stayed home."

But it was during that period that he would watch cooking shows on Youtube and one day, at the market he grabbed a bunch of peppers and threw them in the cart, to the surprise of his wife. "What are you doing?" she asked. "I don't know" he said but he found himself later that night creating a hot sauce. The first of many.

Wllson did not know why he could not escape his bouts of depression. His habit of withdrawl from painful situations left a residue he could not shake. He wisely turned to therapists and it changed his life.

What did he learn?

"One, just how to love myself again. Like how to discover myself, how to know myself... And they saw in me what I wasn't seeing at the time because my confidence was so shattered not growing up with that model, it really is a big insecurity. You learn by what you see in front of you. So when you're not seeing the proper role model that just messed up my confidence. By working with them, it really just taught me how to face some of those insecurities, face some of those those doubts that I was having about myself, and then start to see the things that I loved about myself. And it was my therapist who literally told me one day when I was talking myself down he said "Stop saying that. You are an entrepreneur and you need to start moving and acting like an entrepreneur."

His hot sauce experiments were put on social media  to his spoken word followers and he got requests to try it. He was on to something.

Within the first month had sold more than 300 bottles.

Early efforts to sell his sauce at farmer's markets in New Orleans meant he was up against some of the biggest names in the world but his positive affirmations and assistance from a life coach kept his spirits high and led to a move to Seattle. Fresh new ground where his fertile ideas could take root.

As chance would have it he got a job in a commissary kitchen on Delridge Way in West Seattle making sauces in bulk. He saw first hand what was required to make the business run. With an eye toward building his own future he sought help from Homestreet Bank, reached out to the West Seattle Junction Association and Chamber of Commerce and got a spot in the West Seattle Farmer's market. 

Today he offers four unique flavors Caribbean Crush, Scorpion's Kiss, Mango Habanero, Ghostly Garlic plus dry rubs, gift boxes and more. 

He recently won an award for the Best Emerging Business from the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and spoke at the awards breakfast saying:

I had to fight a lot of demons my whole life. I battled depression and anxiety from childhood trauma because when you come from a background like mine,There are no safe zones that teach you how to live a healthy, happy life. But I had to learn to create that. Myself and my family. I had to learn about my power and not the power that you use to exert over someone. But the power that you feel inside that can tell you what you're capable of and that you can create the life that you want and you're not a passenger. 

This award, the success of this business would not be possible if I didn't live by certain values. I stand strong on ethics and morals, I work hard to do right by people at all costs, pay people on time. Honor your word. If there's something you can't do, you be upfront and transparent about that. And also supporting business and other cultural programming that will uplift others in the community. Papa Tony's lives by the model Ubuntu, which is an African proverb that says 'I am because we are.'

I cannot be here but what is for the people in this room. For the support of others, for the support that Seattle and West Seattle has given me, and I want to convey that not only my words, but my actions because we feed off of each other. 

It's not just one sailing ship on their own. It's a multitude of sailing ships. Going towards their versions of victory and we achieved by building together and not tearing each other down. I learned to live my life through my creative lens because I love to create, and when I created this sauce, this was something that I just did, I love. 

I never intended that it would have the long lasting effect that it has, but look at it now. 16 weekly farmers markets. 37 stores, including our PCC markets and Whole Foods Trader Joe's, Met Market? I'm coming for you. 

In just the seven months of me going full time, we earned 6 figures and recently we had a milestone of selling 14,000 bottles nationwide. 

This is only the beginning and the support of this Chamber us winning this award is the exact momentum that is going to push us to become the next the regional brand and then a national brand and a household name worldwide."

Papa Tony's just recently established operations at the Distinguished Foods Kitchen Rentals in the West Seattle triangle neighborhood and now has room to produce more product and expand operations. 

He's managed to come to terms with his personal devils and incredibly enough, he's done it with hot sauce. His team practices daily quality control checks and for him he says, "every taste test tastes like victory."

In a callback to his spoken word talents Wilson offered a quick spoken word close for this story.

"Papa Tony's hot sauce. So nice and delicious. Got a citrus blend so it's light on the kisses. Caribbean Crush Scorpion's Kiss, Ghostly Garlic, Mango Habanero with the garlic habanero BAM!".

You can find Papa Tony's on Facebook here 

You can order online here