The Sweetest Thing

Juanita Koo, 36, Creator of Custom designed cakes and cupcakes and a Personal trainer

A year and a half ago, Juanita Koo’s life was packed with triathlons, marathons, volunteering as a coach, her hobby as a cake decorator and she was also juggling a career. “I really thought I was balanced but I wasn’t really. I was just trying to fit in as much as

Photo courtesy of Juanita Koo

Note: The purse in above photo is a cake.

possible.” This woman, originally a director for a software company knew prior to her lay off that this path was not what she desired to do with the rest of her life. Although there were perks that came with being in such a position, she felt that she needed to move forward in another direction and follow her passions. Juanita Koo is an example of when times get tough, it’s time to get creative! “In April 2007, I knew for sure I had to leave that place, I was not happy. I actually remember, I was on the airplane with my boss and he was the CTO of the company, I said you know what, I will give you one more year of my life, I have to leave because this is not what I am meant to do. He just goes what are you going to do? And I go, I want to do cakes. We’re literally in first class, drinking champagne going to London for work. It was just very ironic and this is what I am doing a year and a half later and I love it! I wouldn’t change a thing.” Juanita has no regrets in regards to previously being a director of a software company due to feeling that this has helped her business with the knowledge she obtained.

Juanita was out with friends discussing their interests and things that they love and she explained to her friends that she “always loved really cool wedding cakes…they said you could probably take a course to learn that stuff and I never really thought about it. The next day I just googled cake decorating in Toronto and that popped up and I signed up.” Now, Juanita creates custom made cakes and cupcakes that appear to be as tasty as they are pleasing to the eye and to create some balance in her life she is also a personal trainer. “Now, when I kind of got the kick in the pants to figure out what I was doing, I realized it’s a total balance. I love coaching people it is so rewarding and then what my hobby was before is now my own little business. It’s so amazing; they don’t feel like jobs at all! It’s just my hobbies are my life!” The first cake that Juanita was proud of was her first creation in her cake decorating class. It was pink with flowers and cupcakes on top and as she puts it, “It was ugly; I have it posted on my blog, actually. It’s horrible! I just realized that it was something that I was going to do and it just continued. Every cake I’ve made, I loved it. I never felt that way about anything.”
Juanita’s advice and what she has to say about being an entrepreneur is “I really believe everything happens for a reason, I know that sounds cliché. My life has been such a rollercoaster in the last few years. People always say that I’m positive but I have had a lot of lows. It’s really tough when you get laid off…You just have to be resourceful! Everything I’ve learned up to that point, I was able to apply. I was working at a marketing software company, now I have this blog and I can’t believe how many visitors are on there commenting on me. I’m really into twitter and all that stuff, it just comes naturally now…I use to write communication pieces too, I wrote to a home renovation show saying I lost my job…and I was picked for the show and the show came and renovated my basement into my cake studio. It was just being resourceful and seeing every opportunity…Running your own business has taught me so much, I am still learning so much…It’s hard running your own business but it’s also exciting and I wouldn’t do it any differently!”

If you would like to see Juanita’s designs, this is her blog
http://sweetthings-toronto.blogspot.com/

She can also be found on twitter @SweetThingsTo

Written by Jenifer Lapierre