Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariel Doan

Hi Ariel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

I have spent most of my life in the kitchen either baking or cooking. I love how creative you can be in the kitchen taking basic recipes and creating something completely unique.

I have always had a dream of owning my own bakery but I never expected to be 30 years old and purchasing the bakery I had been working at for 8 years. It has been an amazing journey taking this bakery and making it my own over the past 2 years.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

Life is full of challenges, but it’s how you handle those challenges that create the future you want and the person you want to be.

I moved away from my family and friends at 22 years old to come to Virginia Beach which was a huge change and created several challenges. But I pushed through them and focused on becoming a strong independent woman capable of fulfilling her dreams.

After purchasing the business it took a huge adjustment becoming a business owner and still being the only cake decorator. Then finding employees to create a strong team, and cultivating the work environment that I feel everyone deserves. But with every challenge there was the opportunity to succeed and become stronger.

I couldn’t be prouder of the team I have, the business we have built and the woman I have become over the past couple years.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I absolutely love what I do and what I can create. My main specialty is custom cakes for all occasions. I love being able to take a simple cake and turn it into a work of art. Sometimes it’s as simple as some flowers and scrollwork, or a fun character themed cake. But what really sets my work apart from others is being able to take a round, square or rectangle cake and turn it into something completely different like a helmet or a fish or even a character.

Sometimes when I am working I even surprise myself on how things come out or a new technique I think of that works perfectly. There have been so many times I have worked on something and had to tell myself to just trust the process knowing it usually works out in the end even if it looks like a mess in the middle!

Can you share something surprising about yourself?

Cake decorating was never something I really did when I got into baking. It was something that kinda just found me.
When I was in my first year of college I was looking for a bakery job back home and the only thing I could find was an assistant cake decorating position which my only experience was my one cake decorating class in school. But I was offered the position and thrown right into it.

My boss at the time Bonni showed me some techniques and taught me some along the way. Along with that fun just trust the process instinct I learned as I went how to decorate cakes and really grew into that specialty.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://twistedsisterscupcakes.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/twistedsisterscupcakes
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/twistedsisterscupcakes