Back in the days there was no Youtube, Instagram, Craftsy or bloggers. In fact, there was pretty much nothing at all really, except for cake decorating books and a couple of guilds, so it was really quite a sad and lonely place. Things have really changed, though and a lot of growth has happened, since then. You can now join youtubers to learn how to bake anything! Social media star Courtney Rich, also known as “Cake by Courtney” to her mass online following, has made “all things cake,” her life motto for nearly a decade.
‘’I long ago ditched box mixes in pursuit of melt-in-your-mouth, to-die-for flavor combinations, fillings and textures. believe cake must be decadent, life-changing and worthy of celebration! And I believe anyone should be able to bake that kind of cake – and I’m here to teach you just that!’’
Courtney Rich didn’t bake her first cake from scratch until she was 26, when her son turned one. It looked like a big brown mound with sprinkles and a candle – honestly, a train-wreck, but it tasted delicious and that’s when Rich got hooked! Over the last nine years, Rich has taught herself the dos and don’ts of baking cakes through a lot of trial and error.
‘’I’m all about, if I can do it, you can too!’’
Cake by Courtney is about more than just baking and decorating cakes. Courtney Rich has dedicated her life to helping others feel pride and accomplishment in what she has found so much joy doing. She hopes, through her online tips and tricks and through her in-person lessons that she can bring that same joy of accomplishment in the kitchen to others.
What inspired you to start Cake By Courtney?
I didn’t bake my first cake from scratch until I was 26, when my son turned one. I did it out of a bit of intimidation, actually. I was throwing my son’s birthday party and my in-laws would be in attendance. They are excellent cooks and I didn’t want to make a cake from a box or buy one from the store. So I grabbed a Bon Apetite magazine and got started on my first homemade cake. It looked like a big brown mound with sprinkles and a candle – honestly, a train-wreck, but it tasted delicious and I was hooked! It was like a fire lit inside of me and all I could think about was cake. I started looking for every excuse to make a cake so I could teach myself the ins and outs of baking.
There are many KPI to measure the success of a company, what’s your formula to measure the success of yours?
I think this is a little different for each part of my business. For the last three and a half years, I’ve been focused on blogging and developing recipes. I’ve measured my success by the response of my customers, as well as growth across social media. But now that I also have a physical product to sell, measuring success is certainly more focused on our earnings.
How is Cake By Courtney different and what are the Unique Selling Points of your business?
I started Cake by Courtney simply to share my love of baking from scratch with others. I didn’t really look at it as a business three years ago when I started, and even though it’s turned into one today, my core goals for Cake by Courtney have stayed the same since the very beginning: to create the most delicious tasting cakes, teach others how to make them just like I do, and to encourage and inspire others to simply get in the kitchen and create lasting memories with their loved ones. It’s about the experience and the new found confidence someone gains. Anyone can make a cake from a box, but there’s something far more satisfying about baking a cake from scratch. After someone creates one of my cakes, whether
What if you’re making something new – how do you decide if an idea for a recipe is viable? Do you act on all your ideas?
I’d say I act on about 99% of my ideas. I’m constantly thinking of new cake flavors and textures and have notebooks filled with my ideas. I simply bake what sounds good to me! When I start a new cake, I often have several rounds of recipe testing. I won’t ever share and post a recipe I don’t absolutely love.
What challenges have you faced in your creative work?
I think most of my challenges center around lack of time. Being a mom of two, which is my first priority, and starting Shop.CakebyCourtney.com with products and my cake subscription boxes, finding time to be creative in the kitchen lately has been my biggest struggle. I always have ideas for new cakes and content, but finding the time to be in the kitchen to create can be my biggest set back. Now that our cake boxes have been going for about four months and we’re becoming more efficient in our processes there, I feel like I’m doing better at managing time between all aspects of my business.
What are you working on currently?
We’re constantly working on making sure our customers have the best experience with our cake box subscription, and we’ll be launching new cake tools throughout the year for our shop. I’m also working on spring and summer cake flavors.
Have you ever reached an impasse where you thought your creative work had become impossible? What changed your mind?
There are times when a certain cake design doesn’t pan out the way I envisioned or my products need adjustments, but I don’t ever look at things as impossible. I think there’s always a way to achieve our goals. It just might not be in the way we originally planned. I try to stay open minded to change and alternative paths for creativity and accomplishment.
Share two words of advice for female entrepreneurs.
Go for it! I know that may sound cheesy, but it’s the first step any entrepreneur needs to take. You have to just get out there and get started. Build your website, start your instagram, and begin creating. Our fear is our biggest hurdle. If we can get past that, we are limitless.
Surround yourself with people who will build you up and support you – whether that’s family, friends or even joining a female entrepreneur club. It’s easy to doubt ourselves, but with the supportive voices of other women we admire and look up to in the arena with us, it’s much easier to move past the doubts and on to success.
How do you think modern women can be more fulfilled in their lives?
Whether you’re starting a business or not, I think it’s important for all women to have something they’re passionate about in their life. Something that is theirs. Something that they can escape to and find peace in. As women, we often get caught up in helping and serving others, and we sometimes forget about ourselves. There has to be something we do for ourselves, at least on occasion, and I think fueling our passions, learning something new or developing a skill is so important to feeling fulfilled. More importantly, I think we then need to share our passions and learnings with others.
How do you help other women with your own experience?
I try to share everything with them! Whether it’s about making the best tasting cake or building a business. I have no secrets and love to see others grow and succeed.
Tell us about your proudest achievement?
I think my proudest moment was shipping out my first order of cake boxes in January. I knew building this business was going to be hard, but I really had no idea how hard it would be until I got into it. Having a ton of curveballs thrown my way before our first shipment went out was a battle to get through, but made moment of watching my first order drive away in the FedEx truck all the more sweeter.
![From Music to Perfume: How did your background as a music teacher influence your transition into perfumery, and how do you incorporate your musical sensibilities into creating fragrances? I’ve always thought in terms of metaphors, and music has many that can be related to perfumery! Beyond just thinking in terms of top, middle and base notes [soprano/alto/tenor in choir], I approach each fragrant idea as a composition. When documenting my ideas, song structures often come to mind. As the scent brief is visited, I meditate on what the fragrance should convey - do I want to create an accord or a “chord” of fragrance note combinations? Do I want an a capella soloist (a particular ingredient to stand out more than others?) Many of my thoughts regarding song composition transfers to my scent formulation process, with me treating each note as an intentional soliloquy at some point.
Brand Origin: What inspired you to start Pink MahogHany in 2005, and how has your vision for the brand evolved since its inception?
An avid lover of all things pleasantly scented (with slight modesty), looking back in retrospect, it’s no huge surprise that I’ve created an indie perfume house with just an idea to provide unique options for those who may be sensitive to unnecessary pungency. Initially, I just wanted to evaluate various blends to note their aroma profiles when “played” together…it wasn’t until I had friends and family asking if I knew of brands that catered to those who may be on the more olfactory sensitive side, that I really began to take my research more seriously. In the almost 20 years that Pink MahogHany has been in existence, our micro visions for the brand have evolved to larger territory. Where Pink MahogHany used to only be a personal brand, we are now also a bespoke formulation service provider to other indie brands seeking unique fragrance offerings for their products. These products range from (but are not limited to) perfumes, candles, body butters and lip balms. Ingredient Transparency: You emphasize transparency and the use of desirable ingredients in your products. How do you select your ingredients, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining this standard?
Being an indie brand often comes with a set of assumptions and misconceptions - one of them being more negative than positive as it relates to ingredients used. There is a lot of “fluff” in the industry with labeling falsification. Because fragrance formulas are a trade secret, not every molecular breakdown of a material has to be noted on the ingredient label (it would be incredibly long), but we at Pink MahogHany™️ adhere strongly to the IFRA [International Fragrance Regulatory Association] regulations that state for common and potential allergens to be listed on our ingredient label. We’ve taken this a step further to also include these ingredients listed on our website to promote further transparency, all while protecting our intellectual property. Unfortunately, we’ve had companies to unethically sell lesser expensive “dupes” of our artisan perfumes, so as a way to create a better authenticity stamp, we make it our duty to be honest about our claims. If our perfume says “Rose Bulgaria”, it is in fact just that and not a component of rose being passed off as the source material. Collaborations and Custom Scents: Can you share more about your work with private label clients? What excites you most about creating custom scent solutions for other indie brands? I could easily sum this up in one word and say “Funding.” True, there is money out there, but I’m always thinking outside the box. Having a program that has an “Each One Fund One” mentality doesn’t exist (that I’ve been made aware of). Bootstrapping can be quite the challenge, even when you’ve reached the 6-figure mark annually. Competition to be seen and set apart is extremely high, so having quality packaging and branding is a must. There are lots of factors to consider, though when desiring to make upgrades. If there were a unique, tier-geared funding operation available, it would help perfume brands offset packaging and bulk material costs in the beginning stages.
Industry Challenges: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an independent fragrance house, and how have you overcome them to grow your brand? As the brand continues on the path of organic growth, I would like to expand our reach into schools, offering perfumery as an arts elective for middle and high school. I’d love to partner with botanists, farmers and horticulturists directly to grow and source raw materials for the students to work with in the creation of tinctures. My passion is getting back to nature as best as possible, as nature was my first “scent experience” as a child. We would also love to witness our fragrance creations being used to scent model homes, our focus diffuser blends being used in automobile dealerships as well as partner with Air Bnb and boutique hotels that specialize in highlighting minority, indie brands. Personal Journey: How has your personal experience, particularly as a divorced mother and someone who has experienced the loss of a child, shaped your approach to life and your work in perfumery?
Because I homeschool my twin sons, we are together a lot more than most, so one thing we all do is have moments of sharing where a neutral “floor” is laid to converse about anything. Though they are quite communicative by nature, I realize that sometimes I can be in work mode so much that it spills over into what should be our quality time. My sons see the authentic me and learn how to communicate through seeing authenticity. I’ve learned not to feel as if I have to be the epitome of perfection but allow them to see my imperfections vulnerably but with discernment. Having had two traumatic experiences pretty close together has taught me how to truly slow down and enjoy the simplicities of life - igniting a spiritual aspect that I’ve always carried but never fully explored…until Kenji’s sudden passing (2018.) Grief has a way of catapulting us into a quest for more meaningfulness in both life and business. After Kenji’s passing and my processing through the initial stages of grief, I was able to incorporate our spiritual bond into Pink MahogHany by way of essential oil diffuser blends for both focus and sleep and most recently aromatic perfume elixirs. It’s been quite the process channeling the void of his physical presence, but I also have peace knowing he can be honored in a great way through scent. I noticed once I began to be more open and receptive to spiritual signs, synchs and “winks”, more ideas began to flow. It’s been this way since his transition. Emotional Expression: Fragrance is often tied to memories and emotions. How does your personal life influence the fragrances you create, and do you have a particular scent that holds special meaning to you? My creative process is much more alchemic now, and I include Kenji by talking out loud to him, believe it or not. I’m a firm believer that when our loved ones transition from the physical plane, they are still present - just in another form. I choose to keep his memory alive by not pretending he never existed (even if for a brief period of time). I am working (slowly) on a book and accompanying fragrance, but I know it will require me to revisit some memories I’m not quite ready for, so until then, his big brothers will launch their debut fragrance, The Peaceful Tiger (they chose the name.) I’ve learned that even in what we consider “small things”, our transitioned loved ones want to be recognized and acknowledged. When the twins and I designed their fragrance label (with a designer out of the country that didn’t know anything about me personally), we had issues with the graphic - so much so that the designer asked if they could rework the design. When they sent the proof for approval, the Tiger was not only younger but sleeping, with an uncanny, angelic resemblance to baby Kenji! Becoming more aware and being more sensitive to my intention for launching a fragrance has definitely made room for more divine situations like these to occur. Healing Through Scent: In what ways has creating fragrances been a form of healing or expression for you, especially after the loss of your son, Kenji Mwamba? I know my sons may not necessarily want to be perfumers, but they definitely have an entrepreneurial heart. My desire is that whatever they decide to pursue (acting, script-writing, music or architecture), they know that anything is possible with the right amount of determination, grit, belief and immersion. One reason I chose to homeschool is so they could enjoy learning without restraint and have ample time to devote to their own separate passions and it still be fun. They know Pink MahogHany is theirs if they want it (many, many years from now - lol), and we are already discussing business structures for whatever they choose their role to be once I retire. Work-Life Balance: How do you find balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, and what self-care practices do you prioritize? I’m not just a perfumer; I’m also a consumer, and self-care is huge for me. I often take salt baths to reset my energy and clear my mind after being around large groups of people or free a long day. I’m a habitual perfume sampler, and I have so many to choose from to wear as my “nightcap.” Even if just for 10-15 minutes, I cherish each moment I’m able to have some “me-time.” When time and co-parenting schedules permit, I’m definitely on a flight somewhere to indulge in some delicious food and mouth-watering mocktails!](https://www.womenontopp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_3812-1200x720.jpeg)
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