We were lucky to catch up with Oluwatosin Bello recently and have shared our conversation below.

Oluwatosin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I’m Tosin, owner of Tosin’s Cakery located in Baltimore, Maryland. Baking has always been something I admired while growing up, but I never got the chance to learn or bake for fun as a child. Not only baking but I found that I was more intrigued by the decorating aspect. I never once thought to give it a try because I just assumed I was not creative or artistic. It wasn’t till my senior year of college that the thought crossed my mind, When the pandemic hit, and I found out that I would not be having a graduation ceremony at that time, I was initially so sad but I still wanted to find a way to celebrate myself. And I started running into random cake videos on tik tok and instagram. Then I thought to myself, “why not make your own graduation cake! You have always wanted to do this.” And I got really excited, even with zero knowledge on how to bake or decorate a cake. I started watching so many youtube videos, I tried to learn the science about baking and all it entails. Then I started buying all the tools and kits I needed and I made a practice cake and had my friends taste it and give me honest reviews. I knew it wasn’t that great but it tasted like a cake and that was enough for me to keep going! So I went ahead and made myself a graduation cake which I really loved. What made me feel like I could succeed doing this is the fact that I enjoyed decorating so much. I never knew I had a creative side till I started making cakes and it is very therapeutic for me.

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 got into cake decorating by doing my research, teaching myself for the most part and learning tips and tricks from social media. I currently provide services for cakes and cupcakes and I have so far been honored to work on a wide variety of cakes, although my main focus is on buttercream cakes. I am currently a second year dental student, and dentistry is a field that also pays great attention to details and hand skills. I want to eventually be a general dentist. I grew up in a community that lacked access to dental health care and I experienced how neglecting your oral health could affect you in so many ways and be detrimental to your overall health, so dentistry became my passion ever since I was 7 years old. `Cake decorating started as a hobby for me to let out my creativity but I decided to expand it to a business after seeing how well I was able to bring different designs to life and how people complimented my cakes genuinely. In all honesty, I would say that seeing how creative I could be with my hands whenever I would decorate a cake, made me confident in my decision to be a dentist. When I’m not being a full time student, you can catch me designing cakes. I eventually plan on taking my cake decorating business to a store front level in the future, while still balancing a career as a dentist. Who said you can’t eat your cake and have it too? : ) One thing I am most proud of is being able to balance having a baking business alongside being in dental school full time. I always make sure to prioritize school first and so far that has been working out good for me.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I would say that when I first started putting my business out to the public, I did not know how to use social media to promote it. I still felt like I was not good enough to promote myself. But thankfully I had other small business partners like my sister Wunmi from wowchops. She constantly gave me tips on how to promote my business and even referred me to people. So yes I wish I knew more about how to get clients and how to promote yourself. Marketing is a big deal and it carries a business, so without good marketing, your business is nothing. I am constantly working on my marketing skills and trying to improve as much as I can.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My initial capital wasn’t so much. At that time, I wasn’t able to save up much so I started buying my equipments gradually. I was using an electric mixer for the first year of my business. I didn’t have a lot of other baking equipments but I made good use of what I had. When I started taking orders, I would use all the money I made to invest in myself and buy what I needed. Because of this, I didn’t start making money from my business till after a year when I was fully equipped. Looking back, I would say that I should have found more ways for funding, or split my business profit in half so some can go into equipments and some can go to me. But it is all a learning experience and I am proud of how far I have come.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinscakery/

Image Credits
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