We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Suzanne Lyons-Elleraas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Suzanne, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents always encouraged me to follow my passion and put 100% in whatever I did. Whether it was school, sports, other extracurricular activities, I always gave it my best, learned from my successes and my mistakes and kept pushing forward. As a result, I’ve been able to live an amazing life, working full-time for the US Navy (I’m a govt. civilian and a Reserve Captain) and still having a fun business on the side (cookie decorating) that keeps me balanced and happy. My parents always told me that failure was nothing to be ashamed of; the only thing that would disappoint them would be if I really wanted something but DIDN’T try to attain it because I was afraid of failing. That gave me the courage to move forward at times, to include when I started my own business: Hat Trick Treats. I had no idea if anyone would be interested in buying my cookies or taking my classes, but with the encouragement of my family, I went for it and have sold out every one of my classes for the past two years.

Suzanne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a “Cottage Law Baker,” which means that I have a license to bake and sell cookies and cakes from my home kitchen. Additionally, I teach cookie decorating classes for the public and for private groups. My foray into the cookie decorating world started in 2015 when I was getting ready to go on deployment with the Navy. I am a civilian with the Navy in my “day job” and am a Captain in the Navy Reserves, where I’m an Intelligence Officer. I was just about to leave for the Middle East when I came down with a severe case of pneumonia and was hospitalized, missing my deployment. It was during this hospitalization that I was diagnosed with lupus. Needless to say, this combination “one-two-punch” left me reeling.

While trying to grapple with all of this stress, I saw a notice for a local cake decorating class. I decided “Why not? I could use a little stress release.” and went. That’s where I met Valerie Lindsley, who introduced me to the world of cake and cookie decorating. From there, I joined the California Cake Club and discovered my love of decorating cookies. I had always loved being creative with food, often making themed treats for my kids’ birthday parties and holidays, but I’d never decorated sugar cookies until Valerie, Kevie, and the other ladies of 3Cs convinced me to come to classes with them. I discovered that I had a passion for cookies and my skills improved fairly quickly, especially during COVID when I couldn’t go anywhere except for work and home. I’ve always loved teaching so it seemed natural to start doing cookie decorating classes and spread my love for “bakery art.” But how do I turn my idea into action? The answer? Facebook.

In 2022, I joined the Sugar Cookie Marketing Facebook Group, which is full of professional and amateur cookie decorators who want to learn more about marketing. After months of lurking and learning (the twins who run the group also have a Podcast), I decided to move forward with getting my Cottage Food Law License. I had constantly heard, “You need to sell your cookies, Suzanne.” whenever I brought treats into work and friends would ask if they could order from me for various events, so this way, it would be legal to sell my little works of art and be able to teach others how to make them as well.

In June 2023, I was granted a Cottage Law License for Hat Trick Treats (I named it after a hockey term since my husband and I met while playing together and our son has played his whole life as well) and started the next step: setting up classes. While looking for a good location to host my classes, I started practicing teaching my family to see what worked and what didn’t. Luckily, they never complained (I think free cookies helped). Meanwhile, I finally got up the nerve to contact a local winery to see if they might be interested in me hosting “Decorate and Sip” classes there and they said yes! I was over the moon. And terrified. But everything went well with my first class and I have been teaching there ever since!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Growing up, I had always wanted to be an astronaut. As a child in the 80s, space travel was the “it” thing and I wanted to travel to Mars and see what secrets it held. So in college, I majored in Geophysics and then went on to earn a doctorate in Earth Science (geophysics). While in grad school, I joined the Navy Reserves, and in my last year of school, the 9/11 attacks occurred, throwing America into chaos. By the time I finished grad school, we were about to invade Iraq and I volunteered to mobilize, thinking I would only be gone for a year and then would get back on track for NASA. However, I fell in love with the Navy and serving my country, so I stayed on orders for the next five years, did three deployments overseas, and gave up my post doctoral research grant to continue hunting terrorists. While I knew that decision meant I would never be an astronaut, the love I felt for the Navy, my fellow Sailors, and my job made it worth it. And I have never regretted following my instincts and making that change!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My leadership philosophy is simple: if you take care of your people, they will take care of the mission. Whether it’s cookies or military operations, you will succeed if you listen to your people, tale their views into consideration, and show them that you care. That doesn’t mean you have to do everything they want. In the end, you’re still the boss and the authority and responsibility rest with you. But people want to be heard. They want to be included and feel like they’re part of the team. So if you treat them with dignity and respect, that leads to high morale and an effective team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hattricktreatsca.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hattricktreats/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hattricktreats

Image Credits

Image credits: Suzanne Lyons-Elleraas, Jeff Elleraas.
The photo of my hands: Scott Norland (@scottnorlandphotography)