We were lucky to catch up with Cecilia Loya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cecilia , appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I truly believe one needs to be resilient to changes and challenges in order to be successful. No matter what industry you are in, there will always be a challenge that comes when you least expect it. When that time comes, you can do one of two things – give up or force yourself to pivot. Nothing will always stay the same, and if they do, that means you are not growing. We go through these challenges because they force us to grow and learn from them.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started baking when I was 11 and would always give out treats to family and friends. I’ve always been the type of person who wants to perfect things because “good” was never good enough for me. I was always eager to learn more about the things that I loved and become great at them. It wasn’t until I was about 23 that I decided to start selling my cakes. I registered Baked Enough in 2019 and got really serious about becoming a business owner rather than just baking as a hobby. In 2022, I opened up Baked Enough studio, because I wanted to teach others what I’ve learned in the past 10 years in just a few classes. I want others to find the joy and peace in decorating desserts, and not have to go through all the stress, trial, and error that I went through all these years. I love seeing everybody leave their problems outside of the studio and just focus on themselves for a few hours. The studio is a place where my students come in and just do something for themselves. I’m really proud that I have been able to create a safe space for my students and teach them not only a craft, but how to be creative without any judgment. I always encourage my students to be creative because everyone’s cake, cupcake or cookie is unique.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

During the time I was working for a corporate business, I was selling cakes on the side. I was still in school starting to get my MBA. When Covid hit, I wasn’t able to work because I needed to stay home and take care of my family. There was a point where I really had to rely on my cakes to make an income. That’s when I realized I had to step it up and really start selling More. When Covid hits, it really pushed me to strategize a better business plan to help me gain more customers. I started making videos and posting more on social media. I had to get out of my comfort zone and start showing up more on social media. I was a bit shy at first, but I knew that being shy wouldn’t get me anywhere. I let everybody know about my business so that when people saw me, they knew I made cakes. I was dedicated to make this my full-time job because I loved it so much and it gave me the flexibility I needed to be there for my family.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I definitely believe that word-of-mouth helped build my reputation in the baking industry. Sure, social media has definitely made a huge impact in bringing in customers, but it’s those loyal customers who keep coming back that have really helped my business grow. A lot of my customers have been referrals from my loyal customers who bought a cake and served it at their party, and their guests fell in love. It Is important to me that my product stays consistent every time so my customers know exactly what they are going to get. This also builds trust between my business and the customer to know that they will get high-quality and delicious products every time.

Contact Info:

• Website: BakedEnough.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/BakedEnough
• Facebook: Facebook.com/bakedenough