Charlynda Scales is the founder and CEO of Mutt’s Sauce, LLC, a company that makes “the sauce for every meal.” She is an Air Force veteran and currently serves as a Reservist at Wright Patterson AFB. Charlynda’s mission is to bring American families together and unlock people’s purpose by harnessing her gift of empathy and servant leadership.
Mutt’s Sauce was the inaugural winner of the 2017 Heroes to CEOs award by Bob Evans Farms. Mutt’s Sauce recently debuted and sold out on QVC.
Scales is a Clemson University graduate, with a degree in aerospace science and business management. She also holds an MBA in strategic leadership. She started the company Mutt’s Sauce, LLC while she was still serving on active duty in the military to honor her late grandfather, Charlie “Mutt” Ferrell, a Korean and Vietnam War veteran who invented the sauce in 1956.
She is a graduate of the following distinguished courses: Tuck School of Executive Leadership at Dartmouth; The Empower Program, Dayton Chamber of Commerce; The Course for Presidents, Aileron; and the Veterans Program for Politics and Civic Engagement, Syracuse University.
Scales goes above and beyond the call of duty to give back to her community. Currently, she occupies the following leadership positions: Board of Directors, Bunker Labs; Board of Directors, Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau; Board of Directors, Veterans for Political Innovation; Board of Advisors, Gala of Hope Foundation; and Board of Advisors, Diversity and Inclusion, Ohio Restaurant Association.
In 2021, she was awarded a Lifetime Membership by the Girl Scouts of the USA for her contributions as a Gold Award winner. She currently serves as a Food and Beverage small business consultant for the Miami Valley Small Business Development Center. She has also partnered with SCORE and Bunker Labs, two organizations that have made invaluable impacts on her success as a veteran entrepreneur.
Scales and the story of Mutt’s Sauce have been featured in Yahoo! Finance, Forbes.com, CBS News, NBCUniversal, Black Enterprise Magazine, Military.com, Army.mil, and Air Force Association Magazine. In 2016, she was crowned second runner-up, Ms. Veteran America. In 2020, Scales was humbled to learn that her journey with Mutt’s Sauce was also featured in FUBU Founder and Shark Tank investor Daymond John’s latest bestselling book, “Powershift.”
Scales also owns a nonprofit, OH Taste. Her current focus in the community is to use the organization to help revitalize the local economy by building a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen, 6888 Kitchen Incubator, in Dayton, Ohio. This kitchen will employ at least 50 small businesses and will feature workforce development programs and a financial literacy curriculum. This project is currently being prioritized in two Ohio Congressional earmarks by Senator Sherrod Brown and Congressman Mike Turner.
