When Cherie Scott moved to Boothbay, Maine, she found herself thousands of miles from the flavors, memories, and traditions familiar to her childhood home. Her mother’s cooking, kept alive through vivid sensory memories, became the start of a new culinary journey to recapture her culture and share her legacy. Today, Cherie is the founder of Mumbai to Maine, an award‑winning Indian simmer sauce brand that connects her culinary knowledge, heritage, and love of food with the community she’s built in Maine.

Q&A as told to CEI by Mumbai to Maine founder, Cherie Scott, in her own words, with minor editing for context.

Can you introduce yourself?

I’m Cherie Scott. I am the founder, owner, and visionary behind Maine’s first award-winning Indian culinary brand, called Mumbai to Maine.

Can you share a bit about your background or what brought you to Maine?

When I was nine years old, I made my first sales pitch. We were going to move. It was very important that I did that because it changed the course not just of my destiny, but also of my parents’ destiny. They were not professionals, as in doctors, engineers, et cetera, jobs that Canada would want, and they didn’t have enough money. Long story short, in our seventh year of waiting, I landed in Vancouver, Canada. A couple of years later, I moved to New York City to go to school. Later, I met my husband, and we moved to Maine.

What unique skills do you bring to your business?

My superpower is my ability to create bridges and tell stories. My bridge connects food and culture, and two completely different cultures through a beautiful brand of food. I never learned how to cook Indian food, because my mom did all the cooking. But I had these amazing emotional and sensory archives of every iconic dish she made. After arriving in Maine, I started having these absolute, nostalgic, and deep longings for not just the aroma of the dishes that she made us. I literally needed to put her food in my mouth, or I was going to go crazy. You cannot explain this to anybody unless you’ve felt this way. I decided to take on those feelings and start teaching myself how to make Indian food. A couple of years later, my mom passed away very young in my life, and I took this feeling that I had to the next level.

Describe Mumbai to Maine in one sentence.

Mumbai to Maine is a brand that elevates lifestyle through highly curated gourmet simmer sauces and innovative, authentic Indian products that connect culture, food, and people.

What has been the greatest challenge so far?

The most difficult part of this business is balancing a very high-quality product with profit and purpose. This past year, in 2025, I launched a line of chutneys that were very thoughtfully put into the market because I wanted to honor the story of the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine, who were cultivating these beautiful heirloom blueberries. These blueberries are truly from the people who had this land for generations before anybody else came to it and cared for this land. I also want to make sure these chutneys have a different footprint. These are not 100% authentic Indian chutneys like achars. They have New England cranberries and beautiful Maine apples.

What has been your greatest success so far?

Success is very subjective. There’s no number I can put on that other than how many jars of sauce I’ve sold. I look at it in a very holistic way: there’s a brand that has existed in this world for the last five years. It has my name, my story, my family, and my heritage attached to it. With every single day and every batch that I make that goes into this world, I am essentially curating my family’s legacy. That is my greatest success, even if the business closed up tomorrow.

How do your sauces help you connect to Mumbai and Maine?

I started posting on this blog (Mumbai to Maine) all these beautiful, rich, traditional stories of the dishes my mom made us. What this did for me was set me up for a very important opportunity. I had a friend who used to teach at Stonewall Kitchen. They reached out to her and asked, “Do you know anybody who could teach an Indian cooking class?” So, she reached out to me.

I said, “Of course, I’ll teach. But only if you let me curate a series of Indian cooking classes covering the entire Indian continent.” And they said, “We would love that!” So, I put it all together and literally learned how to make the dish the night before I taught it. I would walk into these classes, a nervous wreck, but I had these incredible, beautiful, rich, colorful stories about the land that I grew up in.

How do you see your business impacting your Maine community?

After three and a half years of teaching sold-out classes at Stonewall Kitchen, I ended up curating the most amazing following of people who fell in love with my food. I knew they would literally wait for the next class to come out on the menu because they wanted to see what part of India I was going to bring to them. That’s when I realized, “Can you imagine if I took this idea and scaled it into something that people could bring into their kitchens?” Give them stories to go with the food so they can share at the kitchen table, saving themselves a ton of time without compromising on the quality and authenticity of recipes that have been created for generations in India.

How did you first learn about CEI?

I first heard about CEI when someone from the community reached out to me about joining a panel during COVID. In doing so, I created that connection with CEI. They asked if they could mentor me and give me the opportunity to be part of this brand-new initiative they had just launched. The New England Made Show was in its second year, and I was going to be able to apply for a spot in this beautiful space designed to showcase immigrant founders launching a brand.

What made you decide to work with CEI?

It was an absolute, instantaneous decision. I have admired CEI for many years and heard about the great work that they have done. I felt like there was absolutely no way but up with CEI, given the support they had offered. The one person that I worked with there really took me to the next level and put me on this proverbial stage at the New England Food Show. It gave me a chance to put my brand out in front of thousands of buyers. That really changed the course of my business because I went from having two stores or 20 stores to then having 60 buyers. I also ended up winning one of the best product launches of the year, out of hundreds of people who were showcasing.

What resources or support from CEI were the most helpful to you?

The reason I love CEI is that they built this beautiful table and gave us all a seat. When we have a seat, they give us a voice to go with it. You can sit at a table, but if you don’t have a voice and you don’t have a chance to share what you’re there for, then there’s no point having that seat. The key difference between CEI and any other entrepreneurial support system in Maine is that they get behind you. That’s the barrier breaker when you have the microphone in your hand. CEI is masterful at doing that. My advisor, Grace Mo-Phillips, and all the mentors at CEI are truly remarkable at doing that for their clients.

What advice would you give to aspiring business owners like you?

My biggest piece of advice is to stick to your core values. Keep your eyes on your North Star and let it guide your brand.

Where do you see Mumbai to Maine in 3-5 years?

I’ve built such a strong legacy of customers that they are finding me on my website and coming to me to get things not just for themselves, but to ship all over the country to friends and family. That is my cue to now take the business in a different direction for the next five years. And so that’s what I’m going to do. It’s going to be direct-to-consumers with just a handful of select exclusive wholesalers.

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As Cherie has grown Mumbai to Maine from a home‑kitchen venture in 2020 into an award‑winning culinary brand in 2025, she reflected on her deep commitment to sharing authentic flavors and honoring traditions. That deep emotional connection—and Cherie’s ability to seize the moment—was immediately evident to her CEI advisor, Grace Mo‑Phillips, Director of the CEI Women’s Business Center, who recognized not only Cherie’s talent but the purpose behind her work.

While CEI offered guidance and opened key doors, it was Cherie’s own storytelling, craftsmanship, and determination that built her loyal community and propelled Mumbai to Maine forward. As she looks ahead, she is expanding her direct‑to‑consumer reach and continuing to share the warmth of Indian home cooking with families across New England and beyond.