Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrita Cooley.
Hi Carrita, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Greetings! My name is Carrita Cooley a.k.a “Cece”. I am the proud owner of Sweet Life Cake Company, LLC, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
I have been creating custom cakes and decorated treats for over 11 years. I have always been creative and have had a love for art for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a child, people would compliment me on my creativity. I was a member of a number of Art & Fashion clubs all throughout my school years. I always knew I loved art and creating but never quite knew what area I wanted to focus on. I would always volunteer and, most times, be selected to decorate and design for school and social group projects.
Soon after college, a friend of mine asked for my help with decorating her baby shower. I immediately went to Pinterest to look for decor and dessert ideas. Once on pinterest, I instantly became obsessed with custom dessert tables. That night, I went to my local craft store and bought tons of cake and treat decorating supplies. At this time, I had no idea what I was doing. I would watch tons of online videos and soon after, I began to start practicing the treats I saw online. Once I gained enough confidence, I began to post my custom treats on my social media accounts. My family and friends instantly inquired about placing orders.
Those orders quickly turned into a very profitable baking business. Over the years, I have been hired to create over 1,000 custom cake and treat orders for a variety of private clients and local businesses. Some of my biggest clients that I have been hired to create cakes for include but is not limited to; Miami Dade College, TV personality and entrepreneur, Angela Simmons and Rapper, Yung Bleu.
Although sweets are a large part of my life, I am more than just a baker. I am also the published Author of “Sweet Surrender,” a non-fiction novel. I am also a Notary Public and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. I have also just recently expanded my business to offer teaching both group and one on one classes. I am also a content creator for YouTube, where I share free cake and treat decorating tutorials weekly.
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?
Although I have faced many struggles along the way, including taking a year-long break from baking and wanting to quit the business all together, I’ve always refused to give up on my passion. It has been far from easy but I get to do what I love and get paid for it, the good aspects definitely outweighs the negative aspects.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a self-taught Custom Dessert Artist. I pride myself on providing high-quality and great-tasting custom desserts. I also pride myself on always being a student of my craft. I am always investing in my business and myself to be able to both keep up with new trends in custom desserts while always remaining true to my core values and consistent high quality.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I believe that there is no reward without some level of risk. I’ve had to step out on faith several times. I’ve taken chances and have experienced both wins and losses. But I will say, my rewards have always been greater than my number of losses and I will continue to bet on myself every single time.
Contact Info:
- Email: Sweetlifeofcece@gmail.com
- Website: www.sweetlifeofcece.com
- Instagram: @sweetlifeofcece
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/SweetLifeofCece
- Tik Tok: @sweetlifeofcece
