Everyone needs a ray of sunshine every so often, and Suzy Sukalski serves a little bit of that in every tasty snack of corn nibblets sold under the Sunshine Suzy label.

Sukalski, 31, started creating these roasted and seasoned corn kernel snacks in 2015, with Sunshine Suzy LLC starting two years later.

“We wanted Suzy to have something of her own,” Diane Sukalski says of her and husband Lawrence’s youngest daughter, who has Down syndrome. “Have a feeling of pride, ownership being the boss and ultimate decision-maker.”

Suzy graduated from Fairmont High School in 2012 and started working at the Hampton Inn Hotel in Fairmont, Minn., as a breakfast hostess. She still works at the hotel three to four times a week.

Starting small, the corn snacks were sold directly to consumers as a cottage business. Then Suzy brought samples of the snacks to work, and the Hampton Inn manager liked them. Diane says the manager wanted to offer a local snack option in the Hilton Honors box of snacks for eligible guests.

To be able to offer those snacks, Sunshine Suzy would need to up her game and become licensed for national sales — and that meant the need to work out of a commercial kitchen, rather than the Sukalski family kitchen south of Fairmont.

Suzy’s management at Hampton Inn stepped up again, offering the hotel’s kitchen for her use, because it only gets used for breakfasts for hotel guests.

As the corn nibblet business grew, the operations were moved back to the Sukalski farm, above the family’s garage, “because we can’t do it in our house,” Diane says.

Sea salt was the first flavor, and four others have since been added to the lineup: kettle corn, ranch, barbecue and spicy buffalo ranch. “My favorite is kettle corn,” Suzy says, “because it’s sweet.”

FOR EVERY TASTE: Sunshine Suzy offers five different flavors of corn nibblets, and each package has a photo of the company’s namesake — Suzy Sukalski — as well as words of inspiration, including her mission: “Nourish the Soul. Celebrate Abilities. Inspire Possibilities.”

At sunshine-suzy.com, consumers may purchase their favorite flavors in a variety of sizes and assortments. Sunshine Suzy corn nibblets can be found in a handful of stores in the Fairmont area.

Sunshine Suzy corn nibblets have been shipped to almost every state, and some samples made the trip with Gov. Tim Walz’s trade mission to Australia, as well as being shipped to troops in Afghanistan.

During the visit for this interview, Diane and Suzy were packaging 20 boxes each with 250 1-ounce bags to be shipped to the North Dakota Corn Utilization Council.

The raw product is waxy corn grown in Illinois. It is processed at another location before the processed and seasoned kernels are shipped to rural Martin County, Minn., for packaging and shipping.

Just like the Sukalski family farm, the entire family gets involved helping Suzy achieve her dream. Brother Michael, an engineer, designed the packaging machine. Sister Kristina helped design and print the packaging. Brothers Jacob and Andrew also help wherever needed.

Inspiration beyond the label

The mission statement of Sunshine Suzy, clearly printed on each package and in Suzy’s handwriting, reads: “Nourish the Soul. Celebrate Abilities. Inspire Possibilities.”

Suzy is taking that message beyond printing on paper, as she has become a motivational speaker. She has given about 50 presentations to groups big and small mainly, in Minnesota and Iowa, such as church groups, elementary and high school students, and businesspeople.

“I love speaking, giving speeches and getting to meet people,” Suzy says.

She is preparing for a presentation that will take her to Texas, thanks to her former high school special education teacher who is a professor at the University of Houston. Suzy has been invited to share her message that focuses on people with special needs transitioning to find their place in the world.

These speaking engagements began as a 10-minute speech and now are 45 minutes, followed by question-and-answer sessions. Of course, corn nibblet samples are handed out.

As Suzy says, “I have Down syndrome, but that doesn’t define me … I am on a mission to spread love and show that every person has great value and a bigger purpose.”

Suzy’s purpose in this world is spreading sunshine, far beyond 1-ounce bags of corn nibblets.