Today we’d like to introduce you to Porsha Kimble.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Porsha. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My grandmother has always been in the kitchen. I am from West Texas, and from a small community. That community was an extended family of ours. Everyone looked out for one another as a family would and my grandmother always gave the gift of food or a dessert to those around the holidays, a death or a celebration. Growing up I then had an interest on putting a smile on people’s faces.
As I moved to Arlington, TX to attend UTA to obtain my degree and finished college, I began taking decorating classes at the local craft store to learn how to decorate cakes. As I finished the last course, the instructor asked me to become an instructor. As time went on I taught cake decorating class but had never baked cakes for anyone due to not having any family living close to me. Then, I lost my corporate job at and began to push myself to make cakes for the public. Being self-employed and not sure how to run a business was an eye-opening experience! I then began to wonder how many other home bakers were lost like me. I began to do more research on the home bakers law in Texas and then began to speak on it to other bakers and hands on decorating class also. Now, 13 years later I have traveled the US teaching other bakers how to make money and make better cakes.
Has it been a smooth road?
At the beginning, I struggled with pricing and how to decorate certain types of cakes, as I took on cake projects I did not know how to decorate. But I needed the money, since I had no job.
I had to figure it out what my policies and procedures needed to be for my business and realize that just because I was at home, my business should not be ran or devalued because of where I was creating my products. Until I got sued for a wedding cake I made for a couple. That was the worst thing to me at the time as I took it personal. I learned so much about the legal system as a small business and about contracts and paperwork. What I took away from it was, how it feels to be customer myself and how I should really be careful when making and producing a customer product for the public. How in business communication is key and having paperwork in place is what is needed to protect both parties.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Your Cake DIva story. Tell us more about the business.
My company name is Your Cake Diva and I specialize in creating custom cakes. What sets me apart from other is that I do not duplicate any cakes I have made in the past for potential clients. Everything is custom and produced based off the feelings and creativity I receive during a consultation. I am most proud that I was able to cross off a dream of mine by being on the Food Network show “Cake Wars” last year and came in second place. I also have 100 episodes online sharing tips and tricks of caking on ehow.com.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The baking and caking community is moving at a very rapid pace to online teaching and DIY projects. This does help for those parents who want to do it themselves for their own cakes or children’s cake due to the inflation of products to make cakes. Before you know it, everyone will be watching how to make things instead of taking a class in person to learn with a hands-on approach.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourcakediva.com
- Email: yourcakediva@gmail.com
- Instagram: Yourcakediva
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourcakediva/
Image Credit:
DeIra Lacy of DLacy Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
