We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Theresa Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Theresa below.

Theresa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The Cake. Artistry is the name of my business. When I first started my first baking business, it was called Elsie Grace Confections, I was thinking confections had not been used a lot and I wanted to revive this novel term. Also, I wanted to use family names to honor my mother and grandmother. Although I like the name, after registering for a french macaron class, the person who was checking me into the class said, “Ah, the person with the longest email address!” After the class was over, I was thinking was the name was too long and does it name clearly state what I do? A few days later, I changed the business name to Elsie Grace Bakes after brainstorming with a coworker.

Under this business, I made everything from mini cupcakes, custom cookies and cakes. Whatever I saw trending on social media, I added it to my baking menu to win more clients. I was learning how to make candied apples and cake pops. I liked making these treats, but I felt like it was not by best work. However, I kept at it until I was asked to make my cousin’s wedding cake. It was a huge moment for me because someone trusted me to make something that was monumental. I researched and planned for months on the design. My cousin and his bride loved it! After this, my sister and her fiancé asked me to to design their wedding cake.

It would take another five years for me to finally decide to solely focus on wedding cakes. decided to move from Miami to New Orleans. I woke up early one morning. I asked myself, if I am to focus on cakes when I move to New Orleans, what would I call the business. I was attached to the Elsie Grace since they were family names and I used them since the very beginning of my baking journey. I thought about it, I jotted some names and after scratching out stuff, and it was like God gave me the name. The Cake Artistry. I looked to see if the domain was available and it was, so I purchased it! Soon after, I switched all my social media to reflect the new name.

The Cake Artistry encapsulates the entire process I feel it takes to make cakes edible pieces of art. Each cake I create is a unique masterpiece, carefully crafted with love and attention to detail. From the moment I start planning a design to the final touches, I pour my heart and soul into every step of the process. Being able to share in people’s special moments through my cakes is a privilege that I cherish. The smiles on my customers’ faces and the tears of joy that often follow are the greatest rewards for me. Knowing that I have played a small role in creating lasting memories is what keeps me inspired and motivated.

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?

How did I get into the wedding/event industry? After leaving Miami, I moved to New Orleans and decided to focus my business on cake design. I begin designing cakes I wanted to see and posted them on social media. After a few months, I was contacted by two well-know event designers and asked to do cake tastings. I was so excited! These tastings lead to bookings and our cakes being featured in national wedding blogs.

I love it when I post my behind the scenes stories/post on social media and the couples tell me how they loved their wedding cake. I had an event planner tell me, the kitchen wasn’t cutting the cake fast enough so the wedding guests stood outside the kitchen waiting for the cake! I was almost in tears reading her text messages. This had to be one of the best cake moments for me.

It takes research, learning and practicing new techniques to create unique cakes for clients. I constantly push myself to go above and beyond to deliver excellence. It brings me immense satisfaction to see my clients’ visions come to life,

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Story Brand by Donald Miller helped me focus my business as an entrepreneur. Also, I started a program called FLYTE which help link entrepreneurs to resources. One of these resources is the Urban League of Louisiana. I was able to connect with a business coach. This has helped me refine my business and help me with the running of the business since this was my weakest area. Being creative is fun, however learning about SEO and creating marketing/social media plans were more of a challenge for me,

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Social media has been the best source of new clients. On my website, I have a question on the inquiry form asking how did you hear about us and over 75% say social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecakeartistry.com
• Instagram: the_cakeartistry
• Facebook: The Cake Artistry
• Twitter: thecakeartistry
• Youtube: The Cake Artistry LLC

Image Credits
Mo Davis Tracy Townsend