Hatching that dream

It began in 2004, when  Sheryl decided to go on a trip to New York.

She spent her time taking in the usual sights – like Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. Then, on a whim, she decided to visit a cupcake bakery she’d read about in her guidebook.

The infamous Magnolia Bakery.

She walked inside, ordered one of their sweet vanilla cupcakes and took her first bite. In that moment – with a mouthful of the fluffy buttercream frosting – her passion was born.

The minute she got home, Sheryl started baking. Any chance she got, she was in the kitchen – experimenting with different recipes and techniques, striving for the perfect taste, texture and design.

Her friends and family were her guinea pigs (no complaints from them, of course). Every time she carried a box of her cupcakes into a friend’s house, their faces lit up. It was a special treat for them. And an absolute joy for her.

Sheryl was still an IT Consultant by day and a cupcake baker every other moment she wasn’t working. She would dream and obsess about what it would be like to own her very own cupcake store. Then one fateful day in May 2009, during the economic downturn, her boss told her that she no longer had her job. As Earth shattering as it was to lose her job, she picked herself up and sought the opportunity to follow her dream.

As word spread to friends that she wanted to bake cupcakes for a living, she started to receive requests for parties and functions. Requests turned in to orders. And orders turned into an online business – cupcakecentral.com.au . But demand eventually outgrew what she could supply from her home kitchen. So in 2010, she opened up her first store in Hawthorn.

It was a dream come true.

These days, Sheryl is just as passionate about her baking as ever. And she feels especially fortunate to be able to use her business as a way to fulfill another dream of hers – to make a difference in this world by giving back and building an honest business.

Above all, she hopes her story will inspire others to hatch that dream of theirs, no matter how impossible or absurd it may seem.