Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane White.
Hi Diane, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story is a very long one starting when I was very young, being bullied in the first grade and kindergarten, being sexually molested from the time I was in first grade through the second and beaten as a young child . I was a good little Catholic girl who went bad, got pregnant at the age of 16, had to leave the Catholic school and go to Parochial School, had a child at the age of 17, got married and almost lost my life at the hands of my first husband who tried to kill me at the age of 20 which left me homeless with a child. Jobs came and went, people came and went, small apartments came and went but finally, I managed to get to a point where I could sustain myself by baking cakes, cupcakes, and brownies on the side of my regular jobs, all simultaneously working 3 to 4 jobs and doing cakes out of my home.
Finally met my second husband, who ended up being a drug addict and left me with my second daughter and a whole house but no way to pay a mortgage with only one salary, so I started a before and after daycare out of my home for all the children in the neighborhood and then I became a substitute teacher at the school. then finally worked my way into a full-time job at a local supermarket which gave me some good benefits and good pay and taught me a lot of speed and techniques with cakes. I had a big following of my own cakes out of my house. After about 12 years and waiting for my daughter to get into high school I finally reached out to the newspaper and look for someplace that might have been for sale and lo and behold, the place where I bought my boxes was for sale. I struck a deal with the lady that own the property to buy her business and I had to give up everything I own pretty much and all of my customers at home just to work at that shop morning noon and night. Ended up bringing both of my daughters into the business for a short while until I got some steady employees meanwhile, I was working 24/7.
I missed a lot of life’s regular wonderful experiences because of the business. I had to sacrifice just about every occasion and my daughter ended up growing up in the shop from the age of 15 to 25. We have survived many things, even covid through the grace of God only. I was awarded $10,000 for my article in the Bake magazine about my life I have also completed writing my memoir. I also do speaking engagements at the local high schools about my life to hopefully inspire children in their teens not to go the way I went and to have empathy for those who may have not made the best choices. And to have faith no matter what happens that God is in control, and he will bring you out. And I admit that everyday I’m thankful God who brought me out many, many, many times. I never thought I’d make it and I have been the owner of Kake Korner Bakery for 18 years and the owner of my own cake business for over 40 years with a successful team before covid of 14 members and after covid 7 members. But we are still standing strong only by the grace of God.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not smooth at all more like a roller coaster ride up and down up and down and I feel like I was whipped like I was in my mixing bowl. I think you can tell by my first answers to the first questions there were a lot of obstacles to overcome some of them weren’t just the problems that I went through like beating, bullied molested it was the people that I had to deal with. the not so nice neighbors the not-so-nice kids in school the dad who tried to show me his love by disciplining me with his belt.
the in-laws that never liked me. The husband’s that disappointed me, almost losing my second home and having to deal with HUD to save it. Taking every penny, I owned to buy the business and then basically eating sleeping and drinking it and not being able to live doing anything else but the business. there were lots of hurdles in the business itself with employee’s thievery problems, the orders and the customers’. Just one big mixing bowl full of lumps.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a self-taught cake decorator. I am also a cake Sculptor and entrepreneur. I am also the creator of the recipe which is what people want whether it’s in a custom cake or just a plain sheet cake, they love the taste in my icing. It is beyond the best. I have worked with it over the years to get it perfected. My team and I are now Premier Custom cake bakers and decorators, and we provide the best cake in the area. I also feel that going through all the lumps in the batter has made me a stronger more confidant woman, and I feel like when you run a business you must be able to handle anything that is thrown at you.
I also am very particular about customer service, especially inside my shop. What I am most proud of right now is probably the fact that we made it through covid, and we still have the same team members. Very loyal employees that go above and beyond and my own daughter who has stuck by me through thick and thin. I’m very proud of some of the works that we have created some of them are one of a kind in the world
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
people can work for me as employees, or they can be customers that work with me to create a cake for their occasion. There can also be other businesses that may want to work with me and collaborate, that’s something different. it’s very difficult because we’re such a specialized field where you really have to know what you’re doing in order to collaborate or work with me. But there’s plenty of ways that people can support us and that’s just by ordering cakes and telling their friends about us and most of them do.
Pricing:
- The smallest cake starts at $25 and goes to any amount the pending again will Design , flavor,etc.
- Basic sheet cakes start at $50 for 10 people
- Basic tiered cakes start at $300 for 30 people
Contact Info:
- Email: info@kakekorner.com
- Website: kakekorner.com
Image Credits
The only other person in the picture with me in one picture was my daughter Jessica White.
