Faces of Long Island celebrates the uniqueness of everyday Long Islanders. In their own words, they tell us about their life experiences, challenges and triumphs. Newsday launched this social media journey into the human experience to shine a light on the diverse people of this wonderful place we call home.

‘I feel like a lot of teens think they can’t be entrepreneurs because they have a lot of other things going on. But there is room for everybody.’

South Setauket

“Like every other teenager, I was on my phone a lot during quarantine and my mom threatened to throw it out the window if I didn’t get off of it. I was on the social media site TikTok and I scrolled to the next video and I saw somebody baking pretty vanilla cupcakes. And I thought, I’m going to bake! My mom told me that there was a box of Betty Crocker cake mix and a tub of Pillsbury frosting in the pantry. I didn’t originally tell her what I was going to do; I just went downstairs and went on Pinterest and I started baking. Then my mom started sharing my baking on social media and it just kind of blew up. I had never really baked like this before; I’m self-taught. I have now had two pop-up shops at Walt Whitman Shops.

“I’ve gotten to bake for many different graduation parties and birthday parties, and I just started doing events with little kids, where they can decorate their own cupcakes. During the school year, I have cheer practice six days a week, for two to three hours at a time. I am a part of my school’s Community Connections Club, where we bake food and make dog treats to give back to the homeless. I bake after school, in between cheer and school, and late at night. A typical week for me is 25 to 30 dozen orders. The profits are going toward a future car and college.

In December, I did a hat and coat drive; anyone who was picking up their orders could donate. I love helping my community. And now, I’m hardly ever on my phone.

“Originally, I was sending cupcakes to my dad, who is an FDNY firefighter, to support the firehouse during COVID because they were working long hours. Now, I do what I call First Responder Fridays, which is normally the first Friday of every month, people can nominate their favorite first responders and I’ll pick a couple of winners to get a dozen free cupcakes. The FDNY, EMTs, and the Selden police chief were able to get my cupcakes so far.

“In December, I did a hat and coat drive; anyone who was picking up their orders could donate. I collected over a thousand hats, coats, and mittens and I donated it to my local church, which gave back to people in need. I love helping my community. I feel like a lot of teens think they can’t be entrepreneurs because they have a lot of other things going on. But there is room for everybody. And now, I’m hardly ever on my phone.”