UA Little Rock Alumna Turns Class Project Roots into Food Scene Success

University of Arkansas at Little Rock alumna Samantha Stewart is making a name for herself in Arkansas’s food scene. As CFO and owner of Certified Pies, Stewart has helped grow the restaurant into a local favorite — even earning recognition from Southern Living for serving some of the best wings in the South.

Stewart graduated from UA Little Rock in May 2013 with a degree in marketing and a minor in psychology.

While at UA Little Rock, one of her marketing projects required students to create a business concept and pitch it to mock investors. It was one of her final projects before graduation. Stewart and her partner developed a mock sports bar concept centered around wings and beer — an experience that helped shape the way she approaches business today.

“In hindsight, there were many things that helped me, like having knowledge of the basic fundamentals of finance, marketing, and even pitching ideas,” Stewart said. “However, one thing entrepreneurship will teach you is that you should always be a student.”

That mindset would soon prove essential as Stewart navigated an unexpected turning point in her career.

“Owning a business was actually a pivot from losing one of our primary incomes at the beginning of COVID,” she said. “We originally started as a meal prep company and then switched to pizza and wings after evaluating our business goals.”

Since then, Certified Pies has grown into a community favorite with nearly 100,000 followers across its Facebook and TikTok pages.

“Building this business through the pandemic shaped how we communicated with the community,” Stewart said. “With everything around us shut down and our customer base operating remotely, we had to use social media to reach them. Truly, Certified Pies became its own personality through Facebook, and people enjoyed being able to interact with a local business.”

Along with its growing social media presence, Certified Pies has also received national recognition. Southern Living recently named the restaurant one of the top 20 places for chicken wings in the South.

“We have been blessed to be featured in local magazines, but a national magazine is something major,” Stewart said. “It’s truly an honor to put Little Rock, Arkansas, on the map with our wings and to highlight another local business, Truth Sauce.”

Looking back on her time at UA Little Rock, Stewart says one lesson stands out: the importance of time management.

During her time as a student, she balanced a full course load while working a 40-hour-per-week call center job.

“Managing class schedules, professor expectations, along with the stress of a customer service job took a lot of juggling,” she said.

For Stewart, success as a business owner has taken on a new meaning.

“Success is very different as a business owner,” she said. “I used to be focused on working a full-time job and taking care of my family. Now it comes with great responsibility — providing job opportunities, feeding the community, and creating a space for families to gather. I appreciate the small wins just as much as the big ones.”

Her advice for current UA Little Rock students interested in starting their own business is simple:

“Jumping into entrepreneurship is like riding the longest roller coaster,” she said. “Where you are right now is not where you will end. You will pivot many times along the way, but the journey is still worth it. Appreciate it.”