How She Became 'The Bun Lady'

Cordia Harrington Shares Her Story In 'Going For It' Series

(CBS)  Cordia Harrington grew up wearing hand-me-down clothes and watching her parents struggling to pay bills. A trip to a McDonald's was a big night out for her family. She wanted better for her own kids. But in the end, it was her desire to spend more time with them that was her biggest motivator.

Harrington's nickname is "The Bun Lady."

"It's growing on me," she says of her nickname with laughter to Early Show correspondent Melinda Murphy. "I didn't name myself that. I can promise you that."

Harrington owns the Tennessee Bun Company and claims to make more buns per hour than anybody else on the planet.

"We make over 1,000 buns a minute," she says, "It's over 60,000 buns an hour. It's a lot of buns."

But Harrington wasn't always all about buns. In fact, she started out in real estate.

"When I started the real estate business, I did use all my own money, $587," she chuckles. "I bought my plywood. I bartered for my office space, leased my desk and it grew from there."

It was a $587 investment that would eventually lead to millions. Of course, Harrington's path to fortune was anything but direct. She took her real estate company one step further and launched a construction business, too. But running booming businesses and being a mom is tough.