We recently connected with Kelly Lohrenz and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve always loved anything that involves creativity and my heart has always been in the arts. Growing up I played the piano, took studio dance, and loved to sing and act. I come from a musical family, my mom sang in our church, and my parents met in guitar class. My dad still plays and sings in a band, and my brother plays guitar, as well. We still get together and play gigs every now and then. I graduated from Western Illinois University with a Bachelors in Musical Theatre. But also, like my mom, I love to craft and enjoy being creative in any way. My grandma Betty taught me to crochet when I was young and I fell in love with it. Blissful Betty began as a small Etsy Shop named after her, and when my creativity pivoted towards cookies during the pandemic, I decided to keep the name. My cookies are mostly driven by creativity, I love working on new themes and learning new techniques. While I currently only offer one flavor of classic sugar cookie, the fresh hint of lemon in my recipe is always a big hit!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There’s nothing that brings me more joy than seeing the look on a customer’s face when they’re really in awe of the art that’s been created on a cookie. When they come to me with an idea or a vision for a something or someone special, and watching them see their ideas come to life. Not to mention, I love a good challenge, or a design that allows me to learn and perfect a new technique. I’ve also recently started selling at Theatre for Young Audience productions, and to see how happy the kids are when they get to pick out their cookie is the best feeling.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

At the end of October 2023, I was laid off from my, what I believed to be, reliable office job. As a performer at heart you think you’re doing the responsible and safe thing by taking a well-paying corporate office job. But when all of that is taken away from you in an instant, it makes you really take a step back and examine what is really worth your time. I realized that if I was going to spend 8 hours of my day, or more on something, it was going to be for me. So I dove back into the gig life, teaching dance classes, choreographing, and putting more effort into my cookie business. It may be more exhausting but it’s totally worth it, because I’m not doing it for anyone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: Blissfulbetty.com
• Instagram: @blissfulbettyshop
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blissfulbettyshop/

Image Credits
Professional Headshot by Brandon Dahlquist.