Enjoying the Sweet Taste of Success, Amanda Cupcake

Enjoying the Sweet Taste of Success, Amanda Cupcake

[00:00:00] Kristin: Hello, and welcome to the second chapter podcast. I'm your host, Kristin Duffy. If you haven't been following the second chapter lately, or you haven't been with us on Instagram, first of all, why not? But also, I've been letting people know I started a master's degree. So the podcast will be released every two weeks for the foreseeable future.

[00:00:19] While I study filmmaking and set the path to tell even more incredible stories of women over 35. This week, I'm speaking with Amanda Rudd, aka Amanda Cupcake. Amanda started out in fashion, but the fast pace and stress led to anxiety and health problems. She did something she thought she'd never do, which has allowed her to discover that sometimes the best fashion model is a cupcake.

[00:00:44] Amanda: Success can mean so much more than just the financial end of things. It can mean just being full of love for what you do every day.

[00:00:56] Kristin: Hi, Amanda. Thank you so much for joining me on the second chapter. How are you?

[00:01:01] Amanda: Hi, I am glad to be here. I have never done a podcast before, so this is my first one.

[00:01:08] Kristin: I'm really, a tough interview. We're going to get to the bottom of things, so no, I'll go gentle.

[00:01:14] Amanda: Thank you.

[00:01:15] Kristin: For those who are listening, I have to say that I'm looking at Amanda next to the most beautiful pink sparkly wall. So she's giving me all kinds of joy.

[00:01:26] Amanda: Glitter makes everything better.

[00:01:27] Kristin: glitter makes everything better. Thank you for bringing a little glitter into my evening, which I desperately need after a long day.

[00:01:35] I am in honor of Amanda. I'm wearing. My not nearly as attractive as hers pink wig.

[00:01:42] Amanda: I love it. It's fabulous.

[00:01:44] Kristin: Why, thank you. I don't even remember why I bought a pink wig, but I'm looking at yours and feeling like I definitely need a nicer one.

[00:01:52] Amanda: I do have some pink wig tips that I could share.

[00:01:57] Are you wearing a wig cap?

[00:01:59] Kristin: I'm not. I did wear a wig cap when I wore this officially, to be fair.

[00:02:03] Amanda: Okay, wig caps help and the other thing that I do because my hair is actually naturally brown, which I feel more like myself with the pastel pink hair. I wish I could wear it all like always have pink hair, but my hair would fall out. So what I do as well is on my hairline before I put the wig on, I put make like foundation along my hairline and it makes my hair look gray or lighter.

[00:02:33] So then you can't see the darker hairline. So those are a couple of wig tips and and the one that I have here, I buy on Amazon and it's actually pretty inexpensive. But it looks

[00:02:44] Kristin: is a really good tip because you can see my hairline terribly and it's got a nice little fringe, but it does not help. So anybody who's wanting to put on a fabulous pink wig, now you know how to do it. Thank you, Amanda. We're done here. Have a nice day.

[00:03:01] Amanda: of those tips I got from it was like a drag queen show on Netflix, I think, or was it on Hulu? Something like that. I watched them and I got tips from watching drag queens,

[00:03:12] Kristin: I was going to say, drag queens always have the best tips when it comes to things like wigs. So

[00:03:17] Amanda: right?

[00:03:19] Kristin: definitely. Other than wigs, there's a lot to you, a lot to talk about. Tell me about growing up in I think I'm saying Walpaka, Wisconsin, correctly.

[00:03:28] Amanda: It's Wapaka,

[00:03:30] Kristin: Walpaka.

[00:03:31] Amanda: Wapaka, but that might be with my Wisconsin accent. So you can say it however you

[00:03:36] Kristin: I was going to say, I have to really think about my, because I used to work in Wisconsin or come through Wisconsin for work. I always worked, I'm in Wisconsin accent, so I have to say Walpaka,

[00:03:49] Amanda: Love it.

[00:03:50] Kristin: right? So tell me a bit about growing up there.

[00:03:53] Amanda: Waupaka has a population of, I think like around 6, 000. It's a pretty small town in central Wisconsin. And. I stuck out like a sore thumb there my whole life. I've always been like the sensitive, unique, creative, quirky artist type I guess. So I always wanted, I always dreamed of like getting out of Waupaka and I had these big dreams of being a fashion designer and like moving away and seeing my name in lights and leaving the bullies behind.

[00:04:30] And So I, I did that and I moved out to the big city. I moved out to LA to achieve my dreams of being a fashion designer.

[00:04:41] Kristin: So as somebody who grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a lot bigger than Waupaka but still, pretty like Midwestern small ish city and then having moved to New York for fashion, I have a vision of the, I don't know, the shock to the system, that comes from, Being, even though, I, like you, I was like, I'm a creative and I'm going to get out of here and all the rest.

[00:05:04] What kind of things did you find moving from such a small city or such a small town into such a big city?

[00:05:11] Amanda: Honestly, I felt free. A lot of people would be totally freaked out, but I waited a while, I stayed. in like the Wisconsin area until I was in my mid twenties. So it's not like I moved like right away after I graduated high school or anything. And I dabbled in doing hair. I was like, you know what, if I can't do fashion, maybe I'll be a cosmetologist.

[00:05:35] So I waited a while. And so I was really ready. When I made the move and my family was really supportive of it and I was nervous and I was excited. I feel like those two things, two emotions go together a lot, like nervous and excited.

[00:05:51] Kristin: definitely.

[00:05:52] Amanda: And I just felt like something in me just went free, like something that was trapped was free.

[00:06:03] And so I found my wild side when I moved out there.

[00:06:09] Kristin: Wild in a good way or wild and maybe a bit too much because it was the first time really away from home kind of way.

[00:06:15] Amanda: Both. Probably both. I went to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for product development in the fashion industry and I did so well in college. I was like a superstar in college. But I also Definitely through the most amazing parties in Burbank, California, in my apartment complex.

[00:06:39] It was like Melrose Place, if you remember that show from back

[00:06:42] Kristin: indeed.

[00:06:44] Amanda: We called it Melrose Place and Chyna the wrestler lived there and she would throw people in the swimming pool. I don't know. I have wild memories. So it was just this combination of all these amazing things and I would work fashion shows and I met like Jack Nicholson at his daughter's fashion show.

[00:07:03] I, I have all these amazing one of a kind memories from living out there. Yeah, it was, it just freed up my spirit and I could experiment with kind of learning who I was by making mistakes. And also by being like, okay, I want to keep this part of my wild side, too.

[00:07:25] Kristin: Yeah, I do think you know, the wild side gets a bad rap I think especially when it's like I went off to college and I like found my wild side or what have you. But I think it's something it's really important that we hold on to because it's easy to kind of. quote, unquote, older and start settling in and forgetting, that we might want a pink glitter wall or that, a party where somebody gets thrown in the pool is just actually spontaneous and fun and, we shouldn't lose that.

[00:07:53] Amanda: I agree. It made me realize that there is no shame in having that wild side. You just gotta tweak it a little bit so that... I don't know, maybe add some wisdom to the wild side, if that makes sense.

[00:08:11] Kristin: I like that. I'm going to use that. I've added some wisdom to the wild side, but it's, mine is definitely still there. So I'm glad that, hopefully wisdom's come along with it. Before I go too far away from your college days, your university days, I do want to talk about you mentioned something to me before we started recording about what you were doing with Lee Jeans.

[00:08:33] Tell me a little bit about that.

[00:08:34] Amanda: Yeah, so while I attended FIDM, they call it FIDM, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, they have a special it's like a graduate program and it reminds me a little bit of Project Runway because it's very competitive and fast paced and you partner with a company and they have a different company like every year that you partner with and they only pick, I think they picked like 12 people out of the whole school and you get a scholarship and you get to partner and do like a real life position with a company.

[00:09:08] And they interviewed me, and I got into this exclusive program. And I got to travel. I went to Hong Kong, Italy, Paris for inspiration, and I partnered with Vanity Fair Corporation. Their brands are, like, Jansport, Lee the Riders brand, which is who I worked with, and they wanted me to come up with A marketing plan for them.

[00:09:32] They wanted like fresh young minds, right? So they wanted me to come up with a marketing plan for their women's Lee Riders brand of jeans and a new fit campaign. And I thought, what is better for a fit campaign than to make women feel amazing when they put their jeans on? Because half the time I don't feel amazing when I put jeans on, I I want to say this is that through this journey too, I've really discovered I'm great at marketing. And so I think my marketing side of things with Vanity Fair Corporation was the strength that I shared. So I came up with these tags to put inside of their jeans that said inspirational quotes.

[00:10:16] And so when you, if you felt bad that day or just felt insecure about putting your jeans on that day. you'll see this al quote and it'll make you feel better. And it'll be like, yes, I do shine. And so a few years ago, actually in a whole other lifetime now, my friend gave me a pair of her Lee jeans and I unfolded them.

[00:10:45] And I just so happened to look at the tag and it said, you shine. And that was the marketing campaign that I came up with for that brand. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or if that was honestly like my idea. Cause I presented my idea to them at the end of the program and they loved it. And so that was really my first big experience working in the fashion industry.

[00:11:12] Kristin: Obviously, people that have listened to the podcast will know how much, inspirational quotes, or I don't even like to say inspirational quotes, because sometimes I think, it's more about something that means something to me . God knows it's. Trying on jeans is like every woman's nightmare. So to just have something that just reminds you you do shine or whatever that is in your jeans is a, just a small way to just make somebody's day a little bit brighter, I think.

[00:11:36] Amanda: Just like a sweet message and tiny things. are often so much more, I don't know, they mean so much more than the really big things,

[00:11:47] like

[00:11:47] cupcakes.

[00:11:49] Kristin: like cupcakes, which we will get to cupcakes, but obviously you spent a little time some time in fashion in LA. Tell me a little bit about what you were doing once you graduated.

[00:12:01] Amanda: So it took me a while to find a job, but then I got a position with Billabong, and that's who I stayed with for quite a while, I want to say. I worked with them for six years, and I was like a product developer, designer, and I designed junior girls clothing for Pacific Sunwear, the buckle, zoomies, all the surfwear stores.

[00:12:25] And I would work with all the factories and get everything made from concept to completion. So sometimes I go on Pacific Sunwear and I'd be like, I know that design. I helped make that.

[00:12:37] Kristin: Yeah. And I'm very familiar with some of at least Billabong because I worked on boys clothes for a long time. So I'd go out to LA and shop Billabong to see what the surfers were wearing.

[00:12:48] Amanda: I feel like we have so much in common then.

[00:12:51] Kristin: We do. Cause of course when I worked for Oshkosh, I was going into Wisconsin. So Oshkosh, Wisconsin to meet with our merchandising team. So yes, I feel like we have this fashion background that there's a lot of the same language that we're speaking for sure.

[00:13:07] Amanda: Wow. And that's how we connected.

[00:13:09] Kristin: Yeah. I was like, Oh wait, you're in Appleton, Wisconsin. I'm very familiar.

[00:13:15] Amanda: Yeah, Appleton is so close to Oshkosh.

[00:13:18] Kristin: I remember actually we're speaking about accents, but a friend of mine from Wisconsin who I was a friend with in New York, I gave him my impression of a Wisconsin accent. And he was like, no one speaks like that unless they're from Appleton. And I was like I'm, I was in the Appleton airport.

[00:13:35] So I'm pretty sure that was pretty good.

[00:13:38] Amanda: What is your impression? I want to hear it.

[00:13:40] Kristin: Now I'm on the spot. She was like, sorry, we don't have any mid sized cars. We've,

[00:13:47] Amanda: That's pretty good.

[00:13:49] Kristin: We've run out of mid sized cars, so we can give you a large car. But yeah, I don't know. Now I'm embarrassed to have done it in front of you. I feel like I'm going all red, but my friend was really giving me a hard time.

[00:14:02] Amanda: I love it.

[00:14:03] Kristin: So fashion is stressful. I think we would both agree. And I think that some of the stress and maybe a little bit of disillusion led you to not really want to do it anymore. Similarly to, again, me, but tell me your story about kind of stress and disillusion and just wanting to get out of fashion.

[00:14:21] Amanda: Yeah, so I'm a super creative person. I'm, when I have a vision, even if it seems impossible, I make it happen. I've been like that my whole life. And so my thought of what the fashion industry was is that I was going to get to be that person and be that creator and it would fill me up but I was working like 60 to 70 hour weeks and my boss was like super hard on me.

[00:14:50] She loved me, but she used to say to me I'm really hard on you because I see so much potential in you. And for me as a sensitive person, as a highly sensitive person, that is just not the way to connect with me at all or to motivate me. And so I had that going on. And you'd think like working in the surf industry, everything's super chill, but it was not.

[00:15:14] And it was just very fast paced and my, as a sensitive person, my body doesn't react well to stress.

[00:15:24] And I've been doing this now for six years and it wasn't getting any easier and I really wasn't moving anywhere. And I wasn't really growing. Like in my career, and I'm like, is this it? Is this, I'm just gonna be super stressed all the time, and I can't seem to do anything right, like according to my boss.

[00:15:44] And I did, I ended up getting really good at my job, and so it's not like she was hard on me all the time, but to get there, she was very hard on me and so I started making me sick. I had broken off an engagement with someone that I had been with for 10 years.

[00:16:02] There's just a lot going on. And then. On top of it, I started getting this autoimmune, like mystery autoimmune disease. And then on top of that, like my best friend, my mom back in Wisconsin was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And I'm like, this is just, this is too much. What am I going to do? And so I was like I never thought I would make this decision, but I'm just going to go home for a while.

[00:16:29] I'm just going to go home and I'm going to chill and I'm going to figure out what I need.

[00:16:35] Kristin: You mentioned thinking that you would never do something like that. At the time, obviously there were. many reasons to make that happen. There were, you were doing it for your own health, to look after your mom. Did it feel like a failure to say, all right, I'm going back home.

[00:16:51] I'm going

[00:16:52] back to this small town.

[00:16:53] Amanda: It did. And back then okay, I was like in my early thirties back then. I feel like once you hit your forties, you're more self aware and. And failure doesn't look the same, right? Back then, I really felt shame around failure. And so it did. It felt like I, I failed and I was going back to this little town that I always said I was gonna get away from.

[00:17:18] But I went back and I didn't really know my next move. I just started doing some self therapeutic, like coping, baking activities.

[00:17:32] Kristin: If you don't know what to do and you need some therapy, start baking. That sounds all right to me.

[00:17:38] something to do with your hand, something to take your mind off things.

[00:17:42] Amanda: And baking was like, like sculpting. So I guess people that do like pottery and they work with their hands, that's very therapeutic. And I started making cupcakes because cupcakes are small and they're cute and you can do all these different flavors. And I started making frostings and all these colors. And so Sprinkling sparkles on cupcakes and I was like, what would I name myself? If I started a blog, like what if I start a baking blog? What would I call myself? And I'm like, Amanda cupcake, because then that is something that people can relate to.

[00:18:18] It's a person. It's not just a bakery or a thing, it's a person. And so I decided to start like a baking blog, like not really thinking anything of it. And so I started sharing my recipes. on this baking blog.

[00:18:32] Kristin: And I'm assuming that this, these early day blogs, it definitely was the start of we're talking about your glitter wall and your pink wig. I can just imagine from the start, it was just this joyous place to go and read about cupcakes.

[00:18:46] Amanda: I think it, it made me happy. I, at that point in my life, I call it a dark point in my life with my mental health, my own health, the beginning of the down, the downfall of my mom's health. It was just like a dark place and I needed this rainbow bright character in my life and I created her and she became my alter ego, but she's also who I really truly am on the inside.

[00:19:10] So I, I found like the true side of me. But I also created what I needed at the time, like this bright character.

[00:19:20] Kristin: And I feel like cupcakes have they basically have taken you on this whole trajectory, but it started with the blog, but then you started baking for a diner in your hometown as well.

[00:19:31] Amanda: Yeah, so my blog was discovered and there's this little diner in my hometown and it was privately owned and they offered to let me rent their kitchen at night after everything closed and sell my cupcakes there. And I was like, this is amazing. Maybe I'm onto something here.

[00:19:49] And so I started baking my cupcakes there at night and selling my cupcakes there at the diner during the day.

[00:19:57] And this TV station, this local TV station heard about me through my blog. And while I was also selling my cupcakes at this little diner they're like, you should come on and demo your cupcakes. And I had never done any TV before, but I was like, I'll do this. And ever since then, I have been a regular on this TV channel for the last 10 years.

[00:20:24] Kristin: Do you think there's something to be said for, big fish, small pond, small fish, big pond kind of thing, but like getting to come home and finding this alter ego and finding this part of yourself that maybe was hidden in a bigger city where you had to be fast paced versus, in a smaller place, really being discovered and making this name for yourself and getting to influence and inspire a lot of people through what you're doing.

[00:20:48] Amanda: Yeah I actually say that I did become a designer, just not in the way that I ever envisioned. Because I am, I created this name, right? This brand identity, Amanda Cupcake. But I dress up cupcakes instead of people.

[00:21:06] Kristin: And that's one of the things I loved when I first saw um, your Instagram page is where I originally saw everything, but everything was creative. It wasn't just, oh, I'm doing colorful cupcakes or, and in fact, wasn't it a cake? What was the cake?

[00:21:19] Now I can't remember. It was so amazing.

[00:21:22] Amanda: I said too old for Leo DiCaprio. It was for my, it was for my friend that she was in her forties and she was, she's a widow. And so she's trying to date right now and she shares like all her stories with me, but she's also grieving. So I had to make her something fun and funny and she loved it.

[00:21:42] Kristin: When I saw that, I can't believe I couldn't think what it was. When I saw that, I just, it was like. This, whoever has created this cake must become my friend.

[00:21:53] Amanda: That's how we met was through that cake.

[00:21:55] Kristin: That cake has brought us together. You're welcome second chapter listeners, the Leo Cake.

[00:22:02] Amanda: And That's what my cupcakes and my cakes do a lot. I, it has united me with people that I never knew that I would ever get to meet. And I've had experiences because of these cupcakes that I've made in my art.

[00:22:16] Kristin: I think we're making it sound like everything has been really all rainbow bright and easy since you started baking though, and there definitely have been some ups and downs. Can we talk about the Cupcake Mansion?

[00:22:28] Amanda: So I've been doing Amanda Cupcake for 10 years. I have been on a roller coaster, okay? When I talk about failure, I don't talk about it in a shameful way anymore because I have been the, through the ultimate failures, as Amanda Cupcake. After the little diner I opened a little retail store called the Cupcake Mansion.

[00:22:51] I called it the Cupcake Mansion because like Disney was my inspiration or like Starbucks, these big brands that create an experience were my inspiration. And I'm like, I'm going to open up a retail bakery. It's going to be an experience. It's going to be the Cupcake Mansion. And so I, I had like glitter walls there and people used to come and take classes, but then I would have to stock everything like all day, every day.

[00:23:23] And people would come and throw, I would go outside and throw sprinkles and make wishes. I really tried to create this dream, but behind the scenes I was struggling.

[00:23:34] I I was trying to do a lot of it on my own. And it was expensive to hire staff and you have to sell a lot of cupcakes to cover a staff of four people.

[00:23:46] And as a creative who is learning and making mistakes, I don't have that necessarily manager mindset where I can teach everybody exactly the structure that they need to follow to do my cupcakes, how I would do them. They're not me. And so it was very difficult. That's what people, my customers were expecting is every cupcake to look like I designed it, but I have to hand this over to other people because I can't do it all on my own.

[00:24:17] So I, I was exhausted. There are times I will tell you that I sat on the floor in the middle of the night in the kitchen crying because from exhaustion and just frustration, and I wasn't getting ahead financially. And I made all my mistakes at the Cupcake Mansion and it closed. I worked with the wrong business partner on it too.

[00:24:43] And the day that it closed, I. I really grieved that loss because, when people think of opening a bakery, it is very glamorized. They're like, oh, I'll open a cute little bakery.

[00:24:56] But it is very difficult to run a small business bakery, especially in the world that we live in right now. It's really difficult if you want to make a living out of it. If you want to do it as a hobby, great, but , it is hard. It's really difficult and I made all my mistakes there and if I ever decided that I wanted to open a bakery again, I would know exactly what to do, but that's not really what I want to do necessarily.

[00:25:24] Kristin: I think what you said too you mentioned when you were making cupcakes for the diner, being able to use the kitchen at night. So people don't think about, if I want to have a bakery, I'm either up all night or. Up really early and then like you said, you have to sell a lot of cupcakes to pay staff.

[00:25:39] I think about that all the time when I see a cute little bakery. It's like, how many croissants or how many cupcakes are, like how many can you sell to make that actually

[00:25:48] Amanda: right,

[00:25:49] exactly. And after the Cupcake Mansion failed because I had grown this amazing reputation, I was able to walk into the local grocery store and they have a whole chain around Wisconsin. It was Woodman's.

[00:26:04] They were like, yes, you can sell your cupcakes here.

[00:26:06] And I'm like, maybe I'll do this. And that will, that'll be amazing, right? I'll sell my cupcakes and in this grocery store chain. And so they wanted me to sell my cupcakes in every single one of their stores all throughout Wisconsin. And while that sounds exciting, I was like, how am I going to do this?

[00:26:22] I don't have the capital to start my own cupcake factory. So I became the cupcake factory. I called myself a walking cupcake factory because I did it all.

[00:26:31] Kristin: And again, that does not sound sustainable.

[00:26:34] Amanda: it was not sustainable. I was wearing myself out. And everyone loved it. I had so many people, they still come to me to this day and be like, I remember when your cupcakes were at Woodman's and I would go look for them.

[00:26:47] And I, through that process too, I just, I learned a lot through my mistakes and everything, but, the problem wasn't that they weren't doing well, it's that they were flying off the shelves and I contacted Shark Tank I applied and I got to the point where I filled out like the 50 page application so I, and I tried to contact like a contract manufacturer to try to get them to bake it.

[00:27:14] for me so that I didn't have to pay employees. They could just take a portion and we could get in all the stores. And I just wasn't quite big enough, but I was also too small. And that I ended it. I was like, I cannot keep up with this. And so that was another process that I went through. And after that I took a step back and a deep breath.

[00:27:35] Because I was losing my passion for Amanda Cupcake. And I just, I felt angry and tired. Because I think when you're exhausted, you just feel angry about everything. And so I just, I took A deep breath. And I actually had been dating somebody that I had met while it was doing all this, his name is Kyrick and I married him and we got pregnant on our wedding night.

[00:28:00] So then I started a whole new chapter of my life at that point.

[00:28:05] Kristin: Yes. And obviously you couldn't be working 20 hour days and baking through the night and supplying every grocery store with cupcakes and things like that. So at that point, did you decide to stay at home for a while with your new daughter,

[00:28:21] Amanda: Yeah. So I decided to be a stay at home mom. My daughter's name is Rebel,

[00:28:27] Kristin: which I love?

[00:28:28] Amanda: I figured you would like that name. And so I decided to stay at home with her and I had no idea either what that looked like. And I struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety.

[00:28:41] As far as like Amanda Cupcake went for a while because I had to do some self care as much self care as I possibly could with having a new baby. And after I got through that, that first year, then Wisconsin passed like this cottage baker's law where you could bake out of your home. So I'm like, ooh, cool.

[00:29:01] Maybe I can do a few things. But I will tell you after all this, too, I really evaluated what got me here. And did I still want to be Amanda Cupcake? And I said, yes, because Amanda Cupcake is part of who I am. And I just can't let go of her. I can't let go of her. I really feel like she is like what I've always strived for since the time I lived in Wapaka as like a teenager.

[00:29:27] Kristin: I do think too, a lot of people open up their business and of course it's personal. You can't help it. You open your own business, especially if it's a small business, it's personal.

[00:29:35] It's hard to give up your business because it's your baby, but it's also probably even more difficult if it's your whole person wrapped up in it.

[00:29:43] Amanda: If you ever, if you've seen the Barbie movie at the end where she is trying to decide if she wants to be Barbie or if she wants to

[00:29:50] Kristin: Spoiler alert.

[00:29:52] Amanda: sorry, it reminds me so much of Amanda Cupcake too, because I'm like, sometimes I, I tell people I am so much more than Amanda Cupcake. There's so much more to me than this glittery rainbow bright character.

[00:30:07] Yeah.

[00:30:08] Kristin: It is also a huge part of who you are in your business and everything as

[00:30:11] Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. So it's. All of this beautiful mess.

[00:30:18] Kristin: And so how did you start? Were you able to start small? That's the question.

[00:30:25] Amanda: Yeah, I actually started over and I've been working on redeveloping my brand ever since I had my daughter. It used to be that Amanda cupcake was a mask and I actually had a Mickey mouse voice that I would use with kids. My husband, when he was my boyfriend back then, he would just look at me like, why are you using that voice?

[00:30:45] And ever since I became a mom and have hit 40... Everything changed I've been a lot more transparent with who I truly am even though I'm wearing the pink wig and I tell everybody this is a pink wig. I don't fake it and say that it's my real hair

[00:31:02] Kristin: going to think mine's my real hair.

[00:31:05] Amanda: You could fix it up

[00:31:06] Kristin: Yeah. I desperately need some fixing up.

[00:31:09] Amanda: I relaunched my brand and I pre pandemic, I started hosting classes with local businesses and nailed it themed like cupcake decorating parties. And I'm like, okay, this is the part that I love. I love doing the blogs. I love doing the videos. I love doing the events.

[00:31:29] And I love creating my own thing and do not like doing custom orders where people just send me like a Pinterest picture and say, Hey, can you make this? I like doing my own thing. So then I did the classes for a little while and they were a huge hit locally. And I still did my TV appearances and things like that while I was being a mom. And then the pandemic hit. And so no more classes.

[00:31:56] Kristin: How many times have I heard, and then the pandemic hit?

[00:31:59] Amanda: We've heard that so many times and it changed everything. And so again, I took another break. Within this last year, my daughter went to school and I started, I was like, am I going to go out working or am I going to, experiment with Amanda Cupcake because I haven't really been that successful financially.

[00:32:20] So maybe I should go get a job. So I started interviewing last year for jobs and I remember interviewing with a really successful like women's owned marketing firm in the area. And I think I did three interviews with them. They loved me, but they were like, we just don't know where to fit you. And that's, With my resume, that's what I ran into on top of being a stay at home mom, sacrificing my career to be a mom basically for the last five, six years.

[00:32:53] And then having this wild like Amanda cupcake character on my resume with all my experiences, I don't think people knew what to do with me. So I couldn't, I just kept getting turned down for jobs.

[00:33:09] Kristin: I feel like this is another place where we have similarities because I have such a sort of diverse skill set, diverse jobs, have done so many things on my own and I think this is probably a an issue for so many women too that go back to the workforce after raising children.

[00:33:27] People are like, you have great experience in life or in doing different things, but what do we do with you? You're not the cookie cutter. It's easy to find the, highlight words on the resume and say, yeah, this is perfectly where you should be in this world.

[00:33:43] Amanda: right. We're not cookie cutter.

[00:33:45] Kristin: Exactly. We're

[00:33:46] Amanda: Yeah, Yeah, we're cupcake.

[00:33:50] Kristin: I couldn't resist.

[00:33:53] Amanda: That was really good. I like that.

[00:33:54] Kristin: Thank you. What kind of made you say, you know what, they're not going to find the right place for me. I'm going to keep persevering with my love of cupcakes and pop ups and all the rest.

[00:34:04] Amanda: . So I dove into the sprinkly world of pop ups. And I think the pop ups are the perfect fit for my brand right now at the point that I am in my life. I'm open to new opportunities with Amanda Cupcake. I don't know if this is where I stay, but so last year I decided to debut as Amanda Cupcake pop ups. And what pop ups are if people like aren't, or if you're not familiar with what a pop up is I partner with local businesses since I have my cottage license

[00:34:41] And I show up at this business. And I promote their business by being there and vice versa. And I'm, I just spend like a week or so just creating cupcake art in my kitchen.

[00:34:56] And I bring it in. I display it all on these platters. Everybody comes in, I have lines of people that line up to buy my cupcake art. And it's like an art show in a way because people come, they admire my art and their eyes light up and then they get to eat my art.

[00:35:16] Kristin: I love too that we are, I think, finally recognizing that art is so broad. Cupcakes can be art or, I've got two sisters who are hairdressers and they make art. That is their art. My one sister studied fine art and yet, decided that she wanted in the same way that your design, you're dressing up cupcakes instead of she's, her art is her fine art is hair and I think it's, there's really something to be said about being appreciated for being creative, no matter how you choose to channel that creativity.

[00:35:48] It also helps if you get to eat it.

[00:35:51] Amanda: It does, right? And there is this, intuition and it comes from being a sensitive person but there is this intuitive gift that I have and I've always wanted to like maybe start a new account called like the Cupcake Medium or the Intuitive Cupcake or something because I will make a cupcake and it will somehow speak to that person or they'll be like how did you know that this is exactly what I needed.

[00:36:22] . And so I feel like I also use that intuitive gift through baking

[00:36:27] Kristin: I have two ideas for you. The cosmic cupcake or the clairvoyant cupcake.

[00:36:32] Amanda: Oh, I like the cosmic cupcake. I love that. Yes.

[00:36:38] Kristin: If nothing else, that'll be something maybe you can take away from being on the second chapter.

[00:36:44] Amanda: I love that so much because I'm on a crazy book tour right now, which we can get to. But maybe after that I thought about starting a whole new, like separate version of Amanda cupcake, which would be the intuitive cupcake, but I like the cosmic cupcake.

[00:37:01] Kristin: I love an alliteration. So

[00:37:04] Amanda: Yeah.

[00:37:07] Kristin: this is the other problem though, with being creative is that you get, like you said, when I'm back from this crazy thing, I'm thinking about this whole new thing. It just never ends. There's too many ideas.

[00:37:19] Amanda: Yeah, there are. So I'm the idea person for sure.

[00:37:23] Kristin: Tell me about the book though, because this is really interesting as well. The book tour.

[00:37:28] Amanda: So while I was. She's just shining from doing my pop ups and doing so well last year. I had an author contact me and she's a best selling author and her book is called The Christmas Cafe, the book that she wrote, and it's like a rom com.

[00:37:47] Kristin: What's her name as well? So we can give her a shout.

[00:37:49] Amanda: Sure, her name, so she created a whole new name for this book, but in the past her name has been Sarah Richardson, which is her real name.

[00:37:58] Her name for this book is Eliza Evans, and she actually lives in Oshkosh, but she moved here. I think she lived in Colorado before this, and she's written many books, and Random House is the publisher for the Christmas Cafe, and she was looking for a local baker because The Christmas Cafe, the character in it is a girl that's a baker and she was looking to save her Christmas Cafe with an epic recipe.

[00:38:31] And she thought having a matching recipe at the end of her book would just be a bonus. And so she was looking for a local baker to design a cake and a recipe for her book. And so she found me actually through another baker. And that baker referred her to me. And so I wrote the recipe for her book, The Christmas Cafe, and I came up with the recipe just based on the description of her book and that it was a holiday theme.

[00:39:03] And I made this giant mug themed cake with a stencil on it and it has whipped cream, frosting and it's a peppermint mocha. recipe and it's in the book.

[00:39:19] Kristin: You sent a picture, so I have to put it on the Instagram page and, when the podcast comes out, but it is such an epic looking cake

[00:39:26] Amanda: that is what we were going for. So thank you. Cause it's supposed to save a whole Christmas cafe.

[00:39:32] Kristin: So how does it work with a book tour though, when you're going out on the book tour? I know that you've been, you're doing co events.

[00:39:39] Amanda: So Eliza, she talked to her publisher about this and they were like no one's ever really done this before where

[00:39:46] They'll do like authors will do like book signings and book tours, but. They just sit there and sign the books. But she is in hiding a lot, and she likes to get out and see people.

[00:39:57] And she, she does things alone, a lot like me. I've never really found my partner yet either. And so we were a great team, because she's she wanted somebody that could maybe Make like little cupcakes that looked like the recipe in the book and we could have a book cake tour. And so what we actually did this yesterday at our first book launch party.

[00:40:22] It was at a goat farm called LeClaire Creamery here in Wisconsin. The character in the book lives, I think she lives on a goat farm. So that was why we started there. And I taught. a cupcake class and I made all these I made a flight of mug cupcakes that they could decorate in the class and so I taught The class how to make mug cupcakes and Eliza was there and she helped me and she helped the students.

[00:40:54] We had a wine and cheese tasting in the class and then after, right after the class, we had a pop up sale. And I sold all these Christmas cafe themed cupcakes at the pop up shop. And I had goat cupcakes there as well because goats and she did her book signing and it went really well. And so we're doing this book cake tour all throughout the fall and then for the first couple of weeks in December. So it is wild. I can't see straight. There is flour and powdered sugar stuck to everything. But I really do feel like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't think I'll ever experience anything quite like this ever again, so I'm just letting it happen.

[00:41:40] Kristin: And I think we have to, if you tried to create a career, no, you would have never said okay. My big goal is to have my recipe at the end of a book and go out on this book tour as a book cake tour. Yeah. Yeah. But when the opportunity presents itself

[00:41:55] Amanda: Right?

[00:41:56] Kristin: it's amazing. And I can't be the only one sitting here thinking, okay, you've combined books, wine and cheese, cupcakes, like all of my favorite things into one event.

[00:42:08] That's a dream.

[00:42:10] Amanda: Yes, that's what we were saying yesterday. I'm like, how do we even explain this to people? There's goats, there's wine, there's cheese, there's cupcakes,

[00:42:16] Kristin: I didn't even talk about the goats. Come on,

[00:42:18] Amanda: And the goats were dressed up as cupcakes, by the way.

[00:42:21] Kristin: you don't even have to, you don't even have to explain it to people. Just be like, imagine the best thing you could ever experience and then come. Because it will happen.

[00:42:30] Amanda: okay, that is a way to market the event. Thank you.

[00:42:33] Kristin: Just combine everything wonderful and you will, you'll find it here.

[00:42:37] Amanda: I think, yeah, I think that people get a little, my, like my fan base gets a little confused because they're like, wait, is this your book? Whose book is this? And I'm like, I partnered with somebody, but I have written my own book.

[00:42:51] Kristin: I

[00:42:51] was going to say you're not, not an author.

[00:42:54] Amanda: right. I like, I do love writing. I love teaching. So this past year was also a very difficult year for me.

[00:43:04] I swear. I just, I go through, I've just been going through so much hardship and I feel like we all have, right. I thought this was going to be my golden year. I was so happy. And then my mom has been struggling with Parkinson's disease for like 10 years.

[00:43:24] And what I haven't really talked about in this podcast is the heartbreak that our whole family has endured just trying to fight this thing that you're going to eventually lose. This battle that you're going to lose and sorry if I cry a little bit right now, but like in January when everything felt like it was going right, my mom started to go downhill extremely quickly.

[00:43:50] . She was a fighter, so I didn't expect her to go because she is, she had almost passed a few times before this. So I was like, it's not going to happen. And my mom passed away in late February and she was my best friend. But She was a teacher. There are students that are all grown up now and they still come to me and say that she was their favorite.

[00:44:13] And she loved books. She was a library media specialist at a school. And she taught me to love books. And I can't help but think yesterday when I was there I, I will tell you in my grieving process this year, I am that intuitive, that cosmic cupcake, right? And so I have really felt my mom around.

[00:44:38] I get really intense messages from her a lot ever since she passed. I even got a message from like a medium like that came a group reading and I didn't expect it like that's how intense the messages have been. But in the last few months they've been fading and I've had a hard time trying to keep up with everything and trying to figure out where my grief is at.

[00:45:03] But what I realized yesterday that even if the messages aren't like super loud. I, just by living and doing my thing, my mom is guiding me. She was a teacher. She loved books. Look at what I'm doing. I just taught yesterday and the class just lit up and everybody loved it. And I am meant to be a teacher and I am a writer.

[00:45:27] And now I'm in a book on the shelf, like at Barnes and Noble, and I'm in a book that's in a library. And so I am living my mom's legacy, but she is saying, Hey live my legacy, but be free to be you in it too.

[00:45:47] Kristin: I do think in the same way we were talking about, art can take many forms. Teaching takes so many forms. But I think what, more than anything, being happy in what you're doing, what a legacy to have passed on to you.

[00:46:03] Amanda: My mom was always really supportive of everything that I did. She used to stand behind the counter at the cupcake mansion and she used whatever energy she had to support me. And I actually did write a book. I wrote a children's book and I wrote it while I was at the cupcake mansion. So a lot has changed since then. But I called it sweet dreamer and it has all these characters in it, including me. And the reason that I wrote it as a library asked me to come and be a guest one day.

[00:46:33] and talk about my journey as Amanda Cupcake to a bunch of kids. And I'm like what better than to write a quick children's book? And so I wrote it in 10 minutes or something, but it is the cutest story. And so then I hired an illustrator and I have this children's book sitting there called Sweet Dreamer.

[00:46:51] And I think that's going to be one of my next things as well as I'm actually going to self publish that and maybe I'll go on my own little sweet dreamer book tour.

[00:47:01] Kristin: Did your mom get the chance to know that you were going to be in the book that you are in?.

[00:47:05] Amanda: Yes. Last fall when Sarah, Eliza contacted me, I told my mom about it. I always say like my mom is able to be my more of my supportive mom than she was when she was sick now. So I am sure she's so excited for me right now and she's with me through all this and it's just cool how it's all. I don't think it's a coincidence how it's all working out that I got this really unusual Book deal.

[00:47:36] Kristin: And I'm sure she is wherever she is. She's right there beside you.

[00:47:41] Amanda: Cosmic cupcake.

[00:47:42] Kristin: Cosmic cupcake.

[00:47:44] Amanda: Yeah.

[00:47:45] Kristin: So I want to ask you as I ask everyone I know you brought a quote cause you love quotes you put quotes in jeans.

[00:47:52] Amanda: Yes.

[00:47:53] Kristin: What did you bring for me?

[00:47:55] Amanda: So I love quotes and it was hard to pick like one. So can I tell you a couple?

[00:48:00] Kristin: Yes, I'm never greedy about that.

[00:48:02] Amanda: Okay, so you know, I love wigs and everything. And so the less serious one is the one from Dolly Parton. And it's a good thing. I'm a woman. Otherwise I'd be a drag queen.

[00:48:17] Kristin: You would be a good drag queen with your wig tips, whereas I I'm gonna have to use some of your wig tips. But yes, anything Dolly Parton is great. She's a hero.

[00:48:25] Amanda: Yes. Yes, I love her.

[00:48:28] Kristin: Okay, can you share some serious quotes as well?

[00:48:31] Amanda: Okay. My other one is, even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, you owe me. Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the sky. I love that quote.

[00:48:45] Kristin: I'm getting a little teary from that. It's really, yeah, it's a good one.

[00:48:49] Amanda: yeah, it's beautiful. I think I relate to it because I have given so much and I try to remind myself like in my journey, like with all the heartbreak and the adversity that I have faced and maybe I haven't gotten everything that I want back yet. I have to remind myself to be in that present moment and really treasure the things that have been created from this. And I have to constantly remind myself of that because even if I haven't been that millionaire, like financial, super financially successful person, I've been the stay at home mom while my husband is the breadwinner, I'm still doing these amazing things that are worth way more than Making millions of dollars.

[00:49:43] Kristin: And cupcakes make people happy.

[00:49:45] Amanda: They do it with a love like that. It lights the sky, right?

[00:49:50] Kristin: It does. Amanda, thank you so much for sharing what's behind some of the glitter of Amanda Cupcake, first of all, but just the amazing things you're doing with Amanda Cupcake and Cosmic Cupcake and the book and what lessons in success after 35, after 40, and.

[00:50:08] And, all the different things that could mean.

[00:50:11] Amanda: Success can mean so much more than just the financial end of things. It can mean just being full of love for what you do every day.

[00:50:23] Kristin: I definitely will be putting up some of the pictures that you sent me, but people that haven't gone to your Instagram page have to go see it. Obviously I'll have all the information in the show notes.

[00:50:33] Amanda: Yeah, it's really fun, getting to know you and I feel like I want to talk more and be friends.

[00:50:39] Kristin: Yes, we will be Pink Wig friends.

[00:50:42] Amanda: I would love that. I am really honored to be on your show.

[00:50:47] Kristin: And I'm really honored to have hosted you for your first podcast.

[00:50:51] Amanda: Yes! Woohoo! I did it!

[00:50:54] Kristin: You did it.

[00:50:54] Amanda: You need to throw some glitter in the air. Glitter eyes!

[00:50:58] Kristin: Thank you so much.

[00:50:59] Amanda: Yes, thank you for the cosmic cupcake inspiration.

[00:51:03] Kristin: You are very welcome. I look forward to hearing the Cosmic Cupcake success.

[00:51:06] Amanda: Thank you.