as founder of Vera & Company, a home-based catering business begun in her own kitchen in 1984, Vera Stewart believed that where there’s a will, there’s a way. Today VeryVera, a privately held company with divisions in catering, gourmet-to-go and mail order confections, is best summarized by the company motto, “It will get done!”

A Home Economics graduate of the University of Georgia, Vera has cultivated a talent for preparation and presentation that has brought both success and recognition to her catering business since the 1980s. However, as the local economy began slowing in the early 1990s, Vera began looking for new ways to grow and diversify. To that end, she launched VeryVera in 1993, a mail order subsidiary of Vera & Company specializing in homemade baked goods. Incorporating recipes passed down by her grandmother, Vera Wingfield, Vera created a new niche in the gourmet mail order market by offering “homemade cakes, like your grandmother made.” VeryVera has been featured in several national publications including Veranda, Southern Living, Gourmet, InStyle, The New York Times, Traditional Home and Southern Lady. Her mail-order line now also includes Gourmet to Go, and drop-ships products through other reputable vendors such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

VeryVera proudly gives back to the Augusta community through corporate funding of events, has a scholarship program for young people employed within her organization and raises money nationally for Cancer Research in memory of her mother. A company proud to be American-made, VeryVera boasts that the only thing homemade about the company is the product.