We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ariel Doan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ariel below.

Alright, Ariel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

I personally manage my own social media. I see pros and cons to it.
Pros- I can post what I want when I want and really engage personally with customers. And who really knows their customers better than a small business owner. Along with this I am saving funds instead of having to pay someone else to do the work for me.
Cons- It is very time consuming, and with that sometimes things do not get posted in a timely manner or as often as I would like. Sometimes I do feel the stress of trying to be everywhere at once and do everything.
I would say it’s really something that you have to decide what is best for you and your business. Someday if I can get to the point of having the funds to be able to hire someone to work with directly to do social media I do think it would be beneficial to my business as social media has really taken over as a huge marketing area for small businesses.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started baking as a kid with my grandfather, making apple pies. This is a fond memory of mine since I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer’s at a young age. As I grew up I continued my love of both baking and cooking, getting my first start in the restaurant industry at the age of 15 at Rogues Harbor in Lansing NY; cleaning the restaurant just to get my foot in the door. Moving my way up into bussing table, working the bed and breakfast and when I was old enough moving into the kitchen to make all the desserts and prep for the upcoming dinner shifts. It was there that I with the advice of the chef Larry that I decided to go to school for baking and pastry. He told me “anyone can cook but not everyone can bake, so if you have that talent to bake then you should follow it”.

The summer after my first year at Johnson and Wales I got my first bakery job at Baked Euphoria in Endwell NY. Starting as an assistant cake decorator with very little knowledge and learning as I went until I became the head cake decorator. Until I moved in 2014 to Virginia Beach and started working at Twisted Sisters Cupcakes as the head cake decorator and general manager. Continuing to grow my cake decorating skills on the job and develop manager skills. In 2021 I was given the opportunity to purchase the bakery and continue to pursue my dream of owning my own bakery and creating a bakery family. My employees are my friends, my chosen family; in the sense that they know I have their backs and will do anything to help them succeed and in return they have my back. Taking over the business was challenging enough to begin with juggling trying to keep the business successful and not burn myself out and they were there for me every step of the way. Over the past year I have had several personal challenges that have taken me to the lowest points of my life but knowing I have a team at the bakery that are stepping up where I was needing to fall short kept me going.

I have always felt like giving back to those around me is a purpose everyone should embrace. And helping others feel special and celebrate is something that is close to me. If I can cheer someone up who is feeling down why wouldnt I do that. Which is one of the main reasons I have taken heart to partnering with CHKD and the Confetti Foundation. Raising funds to donate back to CHKD along with creating birthday cakes for children who what to spend their birthday in the hospital.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients is definitely word of mouth. I have some amazing very loyal customers and I appreciate them so much. There have been many times I have met new clients and they will let me know they were recommend by another client of mine. Being able to be apart of so many family’s special events over the years and accept new families into our Twisted Sisters family is such an honor.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We connect with our customers a few different ways. One is we have a loyalty program that allows our customers to collect points for purchases and redeem them for sweet treats in store. By signing up for this our customers also sign up for our marketing emails, allowing us to connect with them directly and let them know about exciting new things happening in the bakery and send out deals to bring them back in.

But on top of that we treat our customers like family. We know a lot of them just from their visits and conversations and care about them. We enjoy following up with them when we see them and checking in to see what’s new and how they are doing. That is the real way to have brand loyalty, they are more than just customers to us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://twistedsisterscupcakes.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/twistedsisterscupcakes
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/twistedsisterscupcakes
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/twistedsisterscupcakes
• Yelp: https://yelp.com/twistedsisterscupcakes