New Year... Same BADASS you!

Well friends, it's the FINAL episode of Season 2 and we are going out with a BANG (and maybe a little treat too)!

Today we're chatting about:

Connect with Maria:

Other awesome accounts mentioned in this episode:

Today we welcome a true wedding cake chameleon to the pod, 

Sugar flowers? Yes. Modern, colorful fondant cakes? Yes. Buttercream ruffles, petals, Lambeth? YEP. Baroque classical beauties? You know where I'm going with this.

Jenna Jenkins is the face behind ButterSugarFlour, 2024 winner of Best Wedding Cakes at the American Cake Awards, AND the Executive Cake Designer at Philadelphia-based Cescaphe Events.

Today we're talking about:

Support Jenna on Instagram and Facebook!

Support the podcast on Instagram, or follow Blayre's biz on Instagram

HAPPY HALLOWEEN WHISKTAKERS!

It’s become a thing on the podcast to have a fun episode for Halloween. After filming Halloween Baking Championship Season 8 in 2022, Halloween has become a super meaningful holiday to me! Last year I welcomed two past HBC winners for a fun roundtable. This year, I knew I had to go even bigger… so I invited HBC JUDGE, Pastry Chef Extraordinaire, and the entrepreneur behind the infamous Piecaken, Zac Young, to join us in the studio!

This episode has ALL THE THINGS:

• Hear about Zac’s unique journey from a musical theater career to somehow finding himself enrolling in culinary school

Support Zac!

Check out Piecaken Bakeshop on Goldbelly or visit Zac Young’s Sprinkletown

Support the Pod!

Sometimes being a business owner makes us feel like a solo juggling act at the circus. 

Our guest today is learning how to become an expert "juggler" and is here to share her tips on how you, too, CAN and WILL earn a standing ovation from your audience. Whether its figuring out how to blend biz life and family life, finding ways to connect with the community around you, or setting small, attainable goals to get you where you want to go, Pastry Chef Jill Davis is focused on finding the perfect balance of them all. 

Today we're talking about:

• Jill's journey leaving her full-time baking job and figuring out how to provide for her growing family in the middle of the pandemic

Support Jill:

*And don't forget to tell your baker friends about the pod!*

Cake stands and sugar flowers and dowel rods, oh my!

The World of wedding cakes is strange, beautiful, and honestly a little daunting- especially if you're trying to break onto the scene for the first time. 

• My journey from culinary school to working in cake shops along the East Coast to now running my own wedding cake-focused business!

Mentioned in this episode:

"Do no harm, take no s***."

And it happens to be the approach our guest takes to running their business. Obsessed. 

Today we welcome award-winning wedding planner, ultimate powerhouse boss-lady, and accidental badass entrepreneur Taryn Blake to the pod!

We’re talking about:

• How she accidentally fell into the wedding industry and loved the freedom so much that she left her six-figure corporate job to pursue it

Support Taryn!

• Blake Events website

Also mentioned in this episode: Buy Back your Time

Support the Pod:

• Follow us on Instagram

As Beyonce once said, "lemme upgrade ya"!

If you really think about it, most of our time as business owners isn't spent doing the thing we actually are in business for. Instead, we're spending our time marketing, e-mailing, creating invoices- ALLL of that back end work that helps keep things moving AND keeps our clients HAPPY!

Mentioned in this episode:

-Dubsado - Blayre's Client Management System

Support the Podcast on Instagram!

Luxury is in the details, and nobody embodies that more than today's guest!

On this episode, we're welcoming the supremely talented Alexandria Carmona from Toronto's Finespun Cakes. Not only is she a true sugar flower wizard, she's also an expert at creating romantic, flowy, and DELICIOUS luxury wedding cakes (and she can teach you how to do the same thing!).

She joins Blayre in the studio to discuss:

• How she entered the whimsical world of sugar flowers and how she remains known for them to this day

Support Alexandria!

Support the Pod!

WE'RE BACK WITH PART TWO OF THE PRIDE MONTH SERIES!

Last episode we talked about some changes you can make in your business to make your space safe and more inclusive. This week, we're inviting Blayre's past clients (and friends!) Calvin and Orin Macon Phillips onto the pod to hear about their experience planning a wedding as a Queer couple. 

• The good, the bad, and the ugly of searching for inclusive wedding vendors

Contact Calvin with your questions!

Support the Pod!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, WHISKTAKERS!!!

Here on the Whisk Management Pod, Pride is 365, baby! And this month I'm bringing you not one, but TWO episodes that will help you foster genuine inclusivity within your business!

Today we're talking about the work you should be doing as a business owner if you want to make your business a safe space for Queer clients. 

• Some basic Queer terminology that you might want to be familiar with so you're not making assumptions about your clients (or people in general)

So get out your pencils, paper, gel pens, and glitter, because this episode is full of helpful tips and LOTS of homework. 

Here are the amazing Queer Folx/Organizations referenced in this episode:

Support the Pod!