Meet Mary DeNunzio | Cottage Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mary DeNunzio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
There have been many times in my life where I’ve changed directions. Ive never been afraid to take risks as far as what I think will make me happy and provide an income at the same time.
I started out as a hairdresser. And while I enjoyed that, I did not enjoy having a set schedule. So, I started doing hair from my home, and worked when I wanted to work. It was a fun, creative outlet for me. But, after awhile I wanted to do something different. So, I went back into a structured setting and worked at a real estate office. But, it was fun. I got to leave the office quite a bit to take photographs and notes on future listings as well as meet with sellers to go over documents. I enjoyed it for 8 years, but then again I wanted my own schedule.
I decided to start cleaning houses. I loved cleaning anyway, and the money was good and I was done with a job in a few hours. That lasted about 5 years and I wanted even more freedom and wanted to be at home.
I took some cake decorating classes while I had this free time and loved every minute of it. So, I took the next level of classes. I started watching you tube videos of cake decorators and they went into cookie decorating. I was riveted watching those videos and soon began creating my own decorated cookies. After a year of making the cookies for fun, I learned that I could actually make money doing this. So, I did my research and purchased more professional tools and 6 months later started my cottage bakery. That was almost 5 years ago and I have absolutely loved every minute. I have never regretted risking my secure job to take on a role I felt would give me creative freedom and take care of my financial needs.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have always been interested in anything creative! In school it was theater. Then I got creative with my hair stylist skills. Moved into playing with photography and now baking.
With baking I not only create recipes, but I can decorate my bakes with buttercream or chocolate or royal icing. Three very different mediums!
I have even found that I can incorporate my love of watercolor painting with decorating on royal icing with my sugar cookies. This skill is not something a lot of bakers possess, so I’m most proud of that aspect of my cookie decorating business. It opens up endless decorating possibilities.
The cottage baking industry has really grown since the pandemic and that makes staying viable difficult. Our market in the greater Cleveland area is saturated and competitive. I try not to dwell on that too much. I keep producing products, changing and adding as I feel I can. And, promoting my products as much as possible. The marketing and promoting are not the parts of business ownership that I love. But, they are necessary to get to the part I do love, the baking and decorating.
I also have a small network of fellow bakers that I rely on to keep me motivated. We try to be collaborative, not competitive and they mean so much to me! I highly recommend all small businesses to find a network of like minded women that can be a positive influence on them!
Moving forward, I’m hoping that more and more people find my bakery and see my love for it in my products. I pride myself not only on a delicious, beautiful product, but also on my genuine interest in providing a great experience in dealing with a home baker.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
For anyone visiting this area, a must see is the West Side Market. It’s one of my favorite places. It is such a unique experience!
I also enjoy taking visitors to Little Italy, for Corbos bakery and Prestis bakery of course, and from there Galuccis deli. My Italian heritage dictates we go there, it never dissapoints!
I also enjoy taking visitors to the little downtown in Valley City. Its a 2 mile drive down the road from me where we enjoy the local wine bar, Amys Arbors and an Irish pub, Gandalfs. Both are very small gathering places that offer live music. In the summer, its my favorite impromptu thing to do.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In the early stages of my baking business journey I found a baking business group on Facebook called Sugar Cookie Marketing. That group helped me so much in terms of how to market my bakery and bring in more income. I learned all about pricing, dealing with customers, photographing my products, paying taxes and more! The information was incredible!

Website: https://Sovarymaryscookies.com

Instagram: @sovarymary

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sovarymary?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Youtube: Mary DeNunzio