We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shanise Pimentel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shanise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

I always give my best to my customer my main quote is “Treat your customer like you would like to be treated”. I Once made a Wedding Cake that I had to take 1 hour and 30 minutes away, so my customer had the peace of mind that they would have their cake set up on time and ready to celebrate and take pictures from their special day. Is very important to go beyond and make their experience the best experience possible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Born and Raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was raised by my paternal grandparents. In 2009 I fell in love with baking and cake decorating. At the time I was doing it part time. It all started with my first daughter.

In 2015, I decided to quit my corporate job after 10 years and enroll at the Culinary Institute of Lenotre in Houston, Texas. In 2016, I graduated top of my class with Summa Cum Laude honors. As a Baker and Pastry Chef.

I am a mom of 5 kids, that are my world. I Started out by taking the Basic Wilton Cake Decorating classes at Michael’s, Stores. My skills grew as quickly as my love for the craft.

In 2010 I went from baking for co-workers and family birthdays to eventually taking the leap into baking as a career taking orders from the friend of a friend and complete strangers.

On a personal note, when I am not baking, I am teaching decorating classes or making Party Decor items like cake toppers, banners etc. From my passion and love for baking it has grown another love for a different craft to add to my cake orders and help my customers get what they need in one place.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I do own an Etsy shop where I sale my Cake toppers and Party Decor it can be found as Nomar Creations. I love the way Etsy brings us our customers after learning how to work the platform things get way easier but in the beginning is very scary. But after you learn how to get around it and your first sales comes is way easier. I do not like all the fees that come involved in to having an Etsy shop, but I have learned when you have a business you have to invest, and it involves a lot of fees and spendings. But when you look at it from the business aspect there are fees that could be way more when you have to do marketing and other things yourself, and Etsy does that for you.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I do make my cake toppers and other items for birthdays. I also make personalized gifts. My cake business allowed me to be able to jump into the personalized crafting world. I do own a Glowforge(laser machine) that has allowed me to make beautiful items to upscale my cake designs and to be able to make unique items. I have learned a lot thru this journey and have damaged a lot of material I guess is a matter of trying, learning and not being scared. I love to learn new stuff that can make my business get to the next level. I make sure that every item I make meets my standards if I do not like the item I re do it and it will not leave my hands until I am happy with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shanisecakes.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shanisecakes
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shanisecakes
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/shanisescakesbakerystudio