Cupcake Motivation: A peek inside the transformation of Little Miss Cupcake to Sugar Daze

Over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Cat, founder of Sugar Daze Cupcakes. If you’ve been following along with Cupcakes Take The Cake you may recognize the name because we featured a photo of her latest cupcake creation, Field of Joy, (click here) on our blog.

Cat has quite the story to tell, starting with her decision to pack up and leave her home in New York. She relocated to France and began living her dream as a cupcake entrepreneur. Starting out as Little Miss Cupcake and later changing to Sugar Daze, she provides a cupcake catering service to the Paris area.

I asked Cat for some advice for people who are stuck in jobs that leave them daydreaming about better things...like packing up and moving to France to open a bakery. She replied with a solid, “I am a firm believer in making your own destiny. It is never too late to change who you are or what you are doing. You can reinvent yourself at any age!”

A mother of two young children, Cat runs Sugar Daze out of her home. After listening to some trusted advice to start with what is manageable and never give up, she decided working from home was the first step on her new journey. I can hear the enthusiasm when Cat writes, “I may not have a storefront on which to hang my sign but I’m doing what I love doing, and learning and slowly building, and feel that every day I am one step closer to my dreams!”

Cat’s journey hasn’t been smooth sailing. Legal issues arose when someone started a cupcake shop with a very similar name to Little Miss Cupcake. The entire story is best told by Cat (read it here), but in a nutshell she was forced to make the tough decision to change her name from Little Miss Cupcake to Sugar Daze. I encourage you to take this as an important lesson in why you should trademark your name. Doing so will help you protect the reputation you’ve worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

Despite the name change, no one can take away Cat’s skills as a cupcake connoisseur. Her latest adventure is a cupcake stand in Printemps (which she describes as a big department store in France similar to Saks or Bloomies) for the month of September.  As part of “La Rentree” (back-to-school) the stores have taken on a New York theme. Read more here to see Cat’s awesome I <heart> NY cupcakes. This experience has taken Cat out of the house and allowed  her to meet with many of her fans who follow her Twitter, Facebook, and blog postings. It sounds like the support for Sugar Daze is through the roof.

Best of luck, Cat!