Leap of Faith: Carly Jump’s rapid rise from Edmond to NYC sensation

Carly Jump didn’t think she would like New York. Like many people who pay a visit to the city that never sleeps, she thought it was a great place to drop in for a quick trip, but could never imagine herself living there.

Nevertheless, the Edmond native made the biggest decision of her life in 2018 when she bought a one-way plane ticket to New York City with the intention of finding her way in the world.

That choice led to a life Jump could never have foreseen in a place she never thought she would grow to love. Now she is the executive director and co-owner of Funny Face Bakery, one of the most distinctive eateries in NYC. And she hasn’t even turned 25 yet.

“I am building this life that’s better than I imagined, and I’m more successful at this age than I thought I would be,” the 24-year-old Jump says. “And that’s not to say it in a bragging way or anything. It was just like I never expected myself to become a businesswoman. I’m proud of myself.”

However, Jump admits none of what she has accomplished was planned. When the former Edmond North student graduated from Epic Charter in 2018, her original plan was to go to art school in Portland.

But at the last minute, the thought of incurring student loans changed Jump’s thinking.  

“I just continued to work at my job at Walmart throughout the summer with no plan for the fall,” Jump says. “I was just sitting in my room one day and decided I wanted to move somewhere. I didn’t have an exact idea, but I kind of played around with some big cities. I had visited New York once before, and when I visited, I remember so distinctly saying, ‘I love it here, but I would never live here.’ And for some reason, I kind of brushed that out of my mind.”

Yet, that proved to be an impossible chore. The thought of New York City had burrowed itself into Jump’s subconscious and she was unable to let it go.

“I booked a one-way plane ticket to New York that night; did not think about it at all,” Jump says. “Did not have any plan for where I was going to live, how I was going to make money there, and told all my family afterward.”

Funny Face Bakery’s Noho location at 319 Lafayette Street in New York City

It didn’t seem to occur to Jump that what she was doing was adventurous or impetuous.  For her to reach the next phase in her life, she had to make a bold move.

“I have been fiercely independent my whole life, and so I just always loved the idea of picking up myself and building my own life,” she says. “I love Oklahoma. I love going back to visit, but I’m a very strong believer that everyone has to leave their hometown, at least for a little bit. You can go back, but you’re not going to figure out who you are [while] being surrounded by the people you depend on. I think that was just my main motivator, wanting to go out there and create something for myself that didn’t depend on anyone else.”

Two weeks after booking her $102 plane ticket, Jump flew to New York. She stayed at a Brooklyn hostel and was living with 12 other strangers when she first arrived. Her rent was $672 a month, which she said was a good deal.

Jump happened to know one person in the city, who suggested she apply for a job at a small bakery called the Cupcake Market.

“They did cupcakes and they painted faces on cookies, which I thought was such a fun thing,” Jump says. “I’ve always loved art and baked goods. It was two of my favorite loves put together. I went in for an interview as a counter girl and the owner (Sarah Silverman) told me, ‘I like your vibe.’ She didn’t look at my resume and hired me on the spot.”

A week after moving, Jump was gainfully employed, and quickly began to love her job and the people she worked with. That enthusiasm for her new career showed through and her customers took notice.

Jump was soon promoted to manager at the rebranded Funny Face Bakery, and she kept building relationships and getting to know the regulars. That included a venture capitalist, whom she told about their dreams of expanding the business.

Executive Director and co-owner Carly Jump

Once the pandemic hit and everything was shut down, Jump came back to Oklahoma for two months.

“The venture capitalist customer reached out to Sarah, and said, ‘We’ve heard from Carly about all your goals for the bakery. We would love to invest,’” Jump recalls. “So they were kind of our saving grace throughout the pandemic. And after that, Sarah brought me on as one of her partners, and then our other partner, Olivia Nickel, was brought on shortly after. And the three of us spent every day during COVID figuring out ‘How are we going to reopen this business?’”

Once again, it was Jump’s infectious personality that opened doors to opportunities for her. It’s a trait that has always been part of her persona.

“I give a lot of that credit to Oklahoma. People here love that I’m from Oklahoma,” Jump says. “They think it’s a charming thing to be and people love my accent. But even my boyfriend, when we started dating, he was like, ‘I just love that you’re from Oklahoma.’ To them, it’s just so foreign and exciting.”

Since reopening the Funny Face, Jump and her partners have increased the company’s brand awareness. That includes being featured on BBC News, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, “The Today Show” and the final episode of “The Kardashians.”

But Jump’s biggest highlight so far has been overseeing the expansion of Funny Face Bakery, which now has two locations in NYC.

“Opening both of our storefronts was a major moment,” Jump says. “That was something that was just weeks and weeks of no sleep for the three of us partners, and we put so much work into it. We designed them. We had an interior design team for the second one, but we gave all our creative advice. Just to be able to see something come to life in front of you — now when we go in there and we see a line of customers it’s like, ‘Oh, we built that.’”

Jump’s journey from an unemployed teenager living in a hostel to a successful business executive is as improbable as it is fantastic. But she isn’t done. By most accounts, she hasn’t even reached the prime of her young adult life.

When Jump looks at her future, she now sees opportunities she couldn’t have imagined before taking that first bodacious step.

“This is something that I’m still not quite sure about. I love the bakery, and that’s definitely in my future, but personally, I am still kind of trying to figure out what I want my growth to be,” Jump says. “I am also trying to not put too much pressure on it, reminding myself that I’m only 24.” Plenty of time to take stock, enjoy the journey … and perhaps one day take another leap.