Russy's Sweet Treats: How this Central Market vendor is 'pouring into our youth'

In 2017, Russalina Nolden started making smoothies in Penn Park, despite never having made one before.

"I didn't know anything about textures or fruit, and they weren't all pretty back then," she joked.

But she's a fast learner, and aside from the appearance, they tasted good. Without knowing it, that day was the start of an unexpected journey that would lead her to open her own business and impact the youth in her community. “Then it was like, OK, I make smoothies now – and I never stopped.”

Her leap of faith paid off, earning her a new title “the Smoothie queen.” She would then continue to vend at sporting events all through York City for several years until opening her stand at Central Market.

A year earlier, she made her first batch of red velvet cupcakes. Although she doesn't eat sweets herself, her treats earned her an early following among her loved ones.

She now owns and operates Russy's Sweet Treats, where she whips up fruit smoothies, homemade sweet indulgences, and soon, fresh pressed juices, in Central Market − and recently she opened a crepe stand right behind it.

'I wasn’t always the sweetest treat'

Nolden grew up on the south side of York City.

Growing up, she was one of four children, and while no one in her family owned their own business, Nolden paved the way for entrepreneurship in her family.

Admittedly, she wasn’t always all smiles as a child and found her way into behavioral issues.

“No one was telling me, ‘you can do it.’ I kind of just learned along the way.”

But Nolden did have one mentor, who she met when she was 7 years old, Inez Munier, who owned the Blue Dove Bridal Shop.

"Be more than what's expected of you, Russalina," was a phrase Munier would tell Nolden as she was growing up, and it's a message she’s carried into adulthood.

In her early adulthood, Nolden studied business management techniques at the Old Dominion Job Corps and Culinary Arts as well as mixology at the Yorktowne Business Institute.

“I’m living proof that you don’t have to be a product of your environment.”

And after expanding her smoothie brand across York City, Nolden was offered an opportunity to open a stand at Central Market – an opportunity she never considered for herself.

“I went to school for culinary arts, but I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be here.”

In late 2021, Nolden met market master Cindy Steele and opened her stand in May.

Steele said she could see something special in Nolden when they first met.

“Russy came to me with a dream to have a lemonade and smoothie stand. She had drive and passion, and she had a community mindset,” Steele said.

‘Pouring into our youth’

Since opening her business, Nolden has involved local youth, hiring students as young as 13 during the summer months to help at her stand, and offering events at the market on holidays and First Fridays to teach children how to bake.

Grateful that someone believed in her at a young age, Nolden knows that not all children have the opportunity for entrepreneurship or mentorship, and one of her goals is to be that person for them.

Five years ago, she saw a young girl on the street selling water bottles. Nolden thought, this 9-year-old girl had the potential to be an entrepreneur one day.

“I asked her mother if I could create her a business,” Nolden said. They sat down and they helped create Ja’Nydiia’s Sweet Teas LLC. "She was probably one of the first kids in the city that had their own LLC.”

Ja’Nydiia sold sweet teas alongside Nolden at local sports tournaments and events around town. Nolden even helped her son start his own lemonade business, Lou Lou's Lemonade, a fresh-squeezed and frozen lemonade vendor.

She and her son work side by side at Nolden's market events, which bring kids and their families together for food-filled events including a make-your-own chocolate bar event, a popcorn bar event, a homemade hot cocoa bomb event, and more.

This year, Nolden was asked to be a career mentor through Reach Cyber Charter School, where she teaches a 10-week home economics course she created, giving kids a hands-on experience involving cooking and entrepreneurship.

“The plan is to inspire them (the kids) to be creators,” Nolden said. “Kids are more determined than we often know – I feel like I can save them by giving them an opportunity to create.”

Nolden likes to say God has a bigger plan for her.

“He orders my steps, and I just obey what he says.”

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Russy's Sweets in Central Market is giving youth new opportunities