EDWARDSVILLE - Aria Burnside has been highly successful with her business Aria’s Cookies and Confections and has plans to open sometime in the near future at Eastgate Plaza because of shopping center owner Todd Kennedy. Aria has been operating with a ghost kitchen and won a contest through the Alton Main Street IdeaBounce Contest and Eastgate Plaza. The teen entrepreneur will get six months of free rental space at Eastgate Plaza in East Alton, which also has offered to build out a bakery space for Burnside. Aria just turned 18 years old. After she finished Liberty Middle School, she attended Edwardsville High School for a period of time but was struggling and her mother moved her to homeschool. During that time, she started baking and after some of her items were shared at church, others continued to want to purchase cookies and coffee cakes. She started selling things at church bake sales and fundraisers. Before she knew it, her Facebook page blew apart, and she ha
Continue Reading