Rising Stars: Meet Lisa Mackey of North Canton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Mackey.

Hi Lisa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up my dad always told me to do something you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. I have always loved art class, being creative, and baking, so I decided to pursue a career as a Pastry Chef. I went to Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to get my degree as a certified Pastry Chef. I then worked at different resorts and bakeries in Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio, including a position as the Assistant Pastry Chef at a 5 Diamond Restaurant in West Palm Beach at The Breakers Hotel. I eventually settled down in Ohio and fell in love with cake decorating as my specialty. 22 years later I never imagined I would own my own bakery!

After working as a cake department manager at a local bakery, I got married and had our first child. We found out in utero that she was going to be born with a rare condition causing her to be born completely blind. I wasn’t able to just put her in a regular daycare, and needed to be home to care for her, and take her to appointments. I decided to start baking from my home and balance caring for her. Which is why I named the bakery as a nod to my sweet girl! I started the bakery in December of 2019, right before the global pandemic.

The great part about running the bakery by myself is I am a part of every single step, of every single order, ensuring the customer gets exactly what they are looking for. It has been amazing being a part of family’s traditions and watching their family grow! I’ve done a bridal shower, then wedding, then baby shower, first birthday, and so on, its beautiful!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Thankfully it has been a very smooth road for me. I just post a picture on social media every day of my work, run giveaways and flash sales sometimes, and it has been incredibly consistent business. The pandemic ended up skyrocketing my bakery business. Everything shut down, and people were looking for in home bakeries to create a small cake for their immediate family. Customers wanted to make their occasion extra special since they couldn’t be with their family and friends at that time. I also created “boredom boxes” and sold hundreds of them. They were undecorated cookie kits to give families something to do during this time. Word of mouth has been the way to my success.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in custom cakes. Everything from wedding cakes to birthday cakes, to cakes for no reason at all. I also do dessert tables as well, which is a very big trend in weddings right now. It takes a lot of skill and patience to create the type of edible art that I do. One of the things that I pride myself in is being able to create most designs in buttercream. The majority of customers do not want fondant covered cakes, and many of the cake inspo pics people find online are all fondant. I am able to create the same look/feel/inspo out of buttercream with minimal fondant accents.

There are a lot of in-home bakeries out there, what sets me apart is my years of experience, my professionalism, my quality of work, and a great tasting product. So many of my customers rave that the cake not only looked amazing, but tasted amazing too! My years of experience also help in guiding customers through the creative process and doing my best to work within their budget.

What’s next?
So far we are going to continue working hard as we have for the past 6 years. We are always talking about what’s to come and if a brick and mortar building is in our future. Once my kids are in school full time we will cross that bridge. Until then I do my best to balance the responsibilities of running a bakery from our home and being a stay at home mom.

Contact Info:

• Email: loveisblindbakery@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveisblindbakery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveisblindbakery/