We recently connected with Space and have shared our conversation below.

Space, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

When I first decided to move to LA to study performing arts, a lot of people in my life would tell me how brave they thought I was for taking such a risk and/or they wished they could do something like that, but at the end of the day they prioritized a more secure, financially safer career. Which is completely valid! To be honest I’ve never even really considered myself much of a risk taker—I’m generally the type to be logically analyzing situations and then usually playing it on the safer side that I think has the higher chance of an ideal outcome. I think the idea of committing to a safe, but boring job and risking regretting never trying to go after my dreams always seemed like the scarier option to me, so I didn’t necessarily feel very brave. That being said, in hindsight, my decision to leave my then current college nearly halfway through a global studies degree, give up the amazing traveling I was doing through that program, say goodbye to every friend I had made, collect even more student loan debt, and more permanently move away from my family in NY so I could try to make a career doing musical theatre was pretty crazy! It was perhaps not the most logical choice, but I felt so deeply that this was the path I needed to take to be happy. Here I am some 6ish years later, and while my life is certainly not perfect and it has not gone anything like I thought it would back then, I don’t regret my decision one bit. I have sung, danced, stepped in the shoes of intriguing characters, created art, and met amazing people in the country’s biggest cities and am genuinely happy with the little life I have now, and I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t taken that crazy risk!

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.

Growing up I was always doing a bit of everything: I was in drama club, field band, art club, chorus, various sports, and all other clubs and classes I get my hands on. Outside of school I would make jewelry with my sister to sell at craft shows, and paint custom shoes or other things for people—I liked to keep busy. My adult life has still reflected that. I traveled for college for a couple years, taking art classes in Italy and watching over sea turtle nests in Costa Rica for research projects, and learned/worked interior house painting when I was home. I eventually moved to LA and NYC to get a degree in performing arts from AMDA and then started working as a cake decorator! I’m definitely more of a Jack of all trades kind of person—I like to dabble in as many things as possible and kind of just go wherever the creativity wind takes me while gathering different experiences that help me grow as an artist and person. I love a good challenge, especially when it comes to creating. I have a habit of taking on projects even though I’m not quite sure how I’ll do them, but that’s half the fun for me, figuring out how to make it all work. I don’t like to miss opportunities if I can help it. These days a lot my time is spent making cakes in West Hollywood at Cake and Art. I get to do a lot of fun stuff there, from cakes for Logan Lerman and Angelina Jolie’s kids birthdays, to Hollywood and Oscar events, to Bad Bunny’s music videos, and more. Outside of my job there, I make cakes and pies for personal clients and friends, do some interior apartment painting, and art commissions when I have time. I’ve also been working on some songs and ideas for larger projects in the last year that I hope to release at some point soon down the line. While I haven’t been putting much time or energy towards acting lately, I look forward to doing more in the future, hopefully some projects that include sword fighting, which I really enjoy doing. I suppose I don’t really like to think of myself as any particular kind of artist or job title, I’m just a being doing whatever kind of creating that feels right at the time.

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

While almost every career choice has been a major pivot for me, I’ll talk about a more recent one. When I moved LA, the plan was to do the acting and music thing (big surprise, I know lol). I was on a pretty good path with that when the pandemic hit and I had to go home to NY and finish my degree online. After about a year or so I moved back to LA and had to start thinking about finding the dreaded survival job so I could pay the bills while auditioning etc. I desperately wanted to avoid restaurants or retail, I didn’t have a car, I don’t particularly like children, and I’m terrible with computers, so my job options were very slim. My mission was to find a survival job that I didn’t dread going to every day because I know myself well enough to know that while I enjoy working, my mental health takes a massive nosedive if I feel like my work is not worth my time. I felt like I had no useful skills to qualify me for any jobs I would want. I thought about the things and skills I did have that I enjoyed, and one of my hobbies stuck out to me: baking pies. They had started out as normal pies when I was 15 or so, I used the recipe my mother had and did her trick of making leaves from the dough cut for the air vents. I began to grow unsatisfied with just the leaves though and started to wonder what other designs I could make with the dough. I strove to make each pie look better than the last and this self challenge helped me hone my skills. I started making flowers and words, then symbols and characters from movies or games, eventually learning how to paint on the dough. People would often tell me to sell them, but I really just liked to give them to friends, and they take SO long to make that it wouldn’t make much sense financially. Fast forward to 2021, I needed a a job and while nobody was looking to hire a pie artist, cake decorators are a thing! Despite having almost no cake making experience, I expressed my eagerness to learn and showed my pies to the Pavilion’s bakery that was hiring. After 6 months of annoying corporate grocery store work that stifled almost every ounce of my creativity, I had enough and sought out something better. With cake decorator officially on my resume I took my chances inquiring in the cake shop I frequently passed by with giant cheeseburger and spaceship shaped cakes in the window. I thought it was a long shot, but I once again showed them my pies and eagerness to learn and they gave me a chance. A year and a half later and what was supposed to just be a survival job has become something that I’ve very passionate about. I haven’t given up on acting, it will always be there, and I still write songs and sing in my free time, but allowing myself to pursue this other creative path more deeply than I originally intended has been really good for me. An important part about being an artist/creative to me is exploring and creating whatever feels right and exciting in the moment, and I’m excited to see what other pivots I take as life goes on.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

In every artistic area of my life, whether it be baking, painting, acting, music, etc., my favorite part has always been in the details. I like to look at art with my eyeball as close as possible, appreciating the importance and impact of every single stroke or dot. I love the magic of how many tiny parts can create a bigger, amazing thing. The details are what really do whatever person/world/feeling/message you are trying to portray justice. Finding and figuring out how/where to use the details in my art is such a rewarding puzzle. I think about these details on a personal level too. Pretty much all of my work is custom, tailored for each person it’s going to. When I make cakes at work usually I only know so much, a photo/message/color scheme etc, and I have to guess what I think the person might like based on those. While that’s a fun game, I usually prefer to know as much as I can about a person when I make something for them. Every individual is made up of all the details about them and they have different things they like and dislike, little things that impact who they are and make them unique. I think one of the best and purest human experiences is learning and appreciating those things in others and when others recognize those things in you. There is a special kind of joy and connection in someone making efforts to make the little things that make you you feel seen, and that’s one of my favorite parts about creating the custom things I do. I love seeing people light up when they get a cake with their favorite movie character, or I’ve included their favorite flower in a painting. Getting to make someone’s day a little brighter or playing a role in them making a happy memory is always such an honor.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @spacetheperson @tastesfromspace
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/space.ofk?mibextid=9R9pXO