Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Natalie Barroso . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Natalie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

By 2020 I had been decorating cakes for 13 years. I had worked at a cupcake shop, a custom cake shop, a publix bakery and had gone to culinary school but had never considered making it into a career for one reason or another. It’s a common theme to make up reasons for not going after your dreams, you don’t have enough money, your market is over saturated, you’re not talented enough and the list goes on but 2020 changed all of that.

After losing both my job and my father to his long battle against cancer I really contemplated what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It’s interesting how death has a way of making you look at your life with a brand new perspective and 2020 sadly had a lot of perspective to give. I considered going back to a management position (which I held pre COVID and hated) or go back to serving (which I held with equal disdain) but with the encouragement of my friends, family and incredible husband I started Nat Just Cakes, (my custom cake/dessert shop running out of my home in Orlando FL).

These last 2 years have not been easy by any means, I’ve definitely faced financial and personal struggles but I would not trade it in for the world. Being able to do what I love everyday, creating beautiful edible works of art is well worth the risk it takes to get my name out into the world. I hope to someday have a global brand, teaching others sugar art and to me, whether I make it to that goal or not it is worth the risk to try.

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

Growing up I was always into creativity and making edible things. I remember wanting to make a candy town in middle school just because which now that I think of it is so incredibly ironic given what I currently do. When I was 17 my family and I went to visit an older cousin of mine who owned a custom cake shop out of her home in Connecticut where she showed me all of her supplies and how to make my very first buttercream rose. That was the moment I fell in love with cake decorating and as soon as my parents and I came back home I told my mom that was it, that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

I went on to work at the publix bakery, smallcakes, to get my degree in bakery and pastry managenent, to then get an internship at sprinkles custom cakes, which I eventually worked at once my internship ended. I always did cakes for family and friends on the side but never made it into an official business until 2020.

The pandemic was a terrible year all around but like many people it brought on a lot of perspective on what I wanted the rest of my life to be like and so, with the support of my family, friends and wonderful husband I decided to open Nat Just Cakes.

Nat Just Cakes is a custom cake and dessert shop I currently run out of my home studio in Orlando Florida. We pride ourselves on not just having a product that is beautiful to look at but equally as delicious to eat. Like so many artists, I look at each new project as a means to learn and grow my craft. Oftentimes I spend my free time watching YouTube videos, and searching new ways to create fondant and other sugar pieces just so I have a better understanding of the cake decorating world. I want more then anything to be an example to someone somewhere to not give up on anything they want to do in life, to speak life into their dreams well before they “make it”.

I hope someday to expand Nat Just Cakes to becoming a brand where we can not only take orders for our community but also teach others the beautiful tricks and techniques of the world of edible sugar art.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There is never one way to do something, find the way that works best for you and don’t feel obligated to do something someone else’s way.

I so wish I knew this not only at the start of my business, (as it has been my most valuable lesson throughout owning and operating) but early on in life in general.

We are all individual people and we all learn, understand and operate in different ways so why would creating be any different? It was difficult for me in the first year of my business to change my core recipes, to change my way of communicating with clients, or to change pretty much anything because I had learned one way of doing things and thought that was how things needed to be done. I was wrong.

I have now learned to tweak and change things as I go and it has been such a freeing revelation. You can change your business or your life to operate however you want to no matter if you are the only one doing it that way because guess what? You are the only you there is, do what works for you and mind your business on what works for everyone else. It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks? Well they never said it was impossible.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Be supportive throughout the ENTIRE journey.

I have been very fortunate to have the incredible family, friends and husband I have who understood at the beginning of this dream journey that it was going to be a long road that was going to require a lot of patience and understanding with little to no reward throughout a lot of it but some people aren’t as lucky.

It’s easy to be supportive in the beginning when your friend wants to go be a full time artist but faith in that person’s ability is definitely tested when they have to cancel plans for the 10th time because they’re broke and have to save their money for bills. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any person who went after their dream who didn’t go through a trial period and I think showing even the slightest understanding and support for your creative friends/family will not only give them the motivation they need to keep on going after their dreams but to do their best work in the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: Natjustcakes.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/natjustcakes
• Facebook: Facebook.com/natjustcakes
• Twitter: Twitter.com/natjustcakes
• Other: TikTok: Nat Just Cakes

Image Credits
A.Michelle photography