We recently connected with Emi and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Emi, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I started my journey as a baker/cake decorator by making cakes for friends, coworkers and family. Eventually word of mouth spread and I was starting to get cake/cupcake orders from local friends of friends and friends of family etc. Then covid happened and my regular day job working in health care was becoming harder and harder to get to. With 2 kids at home aged 1 and 3 at the time, finding consistent, reliable and affordable childcare was becoming impossible. I decided to take a huge risk and leave management level day job to pursue baking full time. I had no idea if it would work or if I could make it last but I felt like it was worth a shot. To my surprise and excitement, my baking side hustle turned into a full time gig. I was booking up most weekend, doing pop up shops and markets, booking weddings and even was awarded the title of “best bakery” and best desserts in a local news paper contest, all while working from a tiny spare room in our home that we converted into my bakery work space. Then the opportunity arose for me to move into a brick and mortar space, another huge risk! With the unwavering support of my husband and family we decided after 4.5 years of steady baking from home, it was time to take the leap into opening a real bakery. We opened our doors on January 11th, 2025 and business has been booming! I’m so grateful for the risks I’ve taken that have gotten ne to where I am today.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I knew I wanted to bake, and specifically decorate cakes, from the age of 12. In high school I participated in a 2 year vocational culinary program where I chose to focus on baking and pastry arts. From there I went on to get my bachelor’s degree in culinary arts from New England Culinary Institute in Montpellier VT. Afte that I spent years working in kitchens ans bakeries across New England and even spent some time in NC. After moving home to NH to start our family I took a brief break from kitchen life to work as a DSP/mentor at a housing facility/farm for adults with various developmental disabilities. It was while at this job that I started making custom cakes on the sides for friends, co-workers and family. One thing lead to another and 5 years later I own my own bakery called Cake Mama in my hometown of Hillsboro NH. Something I’ve learned over the years is to trust the process. Not every day will be record breaking, not every week will be busy, not every customer will be thrilled. You can only do your best, put your best foot forward, and be kind, hard working, honest and dedicated and the rest will fall into place. I almost gave up dozen of times over the years but pushed through and now I’m living a dream I’ve had since adolescence.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
My advice for social media is to be consistent with posting and use eye catching pictures. I grew my social media following without purchasing add space or paying to boost posts. I share my posts to local Town fb pages, post often, and even post giveaways to gain followers. Such as “like, share and comment to be entered in to win a free 6″ cake.”
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I took my side hustle of making birthday cakes for friends, family and coworkers and turned it into owning my own bakery. Covid was a huge factor in this for me. I was stuck without consistent childcare for my 1 and 3 year old girls and was forced to make the decision about what I wanted to do. Either continue struggling to make my hours because of lack of childcare, or take the risk and put my all into my baking and see where I could take it. I started posting more and offering more items like new weekly specials and cupcake flavors. I started attending a huge local festival in the fall, that I’ve attended 3 years in a row now and have done so well there. I put so much time into marketing and growing this business during that first summer of 2020 and it paid off.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ewynands.wixsite.com/cake-mama-llc?fbclid=IwY2xjawKbKRVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgJ2EdtkIwKqrZGPvMYovbXB3cKMyQDjwIaC0AFnFsVf0CcMbj_oJQkf7c7I_aem_ah_t1UVRIu4PyLuTB4BMNw
- Facebook: Cake Mama LLC, NH
