Yesterday afternoon, ArtsRising, the Frankford CDC, and the Frankford Neighborhood Advisory Committee teamed up to bring the Frankford Junior Garden Club to A Cupcake Wonderland‘s production space in Globe Dye Works. Learning, fun & deliciousness ensued!
Lily Fischer and Nima Etemadi showed the Junior Garden Club members their kitchen, and spoke about their career choices, passions, and hard work, as well as their experiences appearing on the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars not once, but three times.
Lily & Nima emphasized the hard work that goes in to running your own business, and that not every day or task is glamorous – but that it is important to follow your passions in life. Lily knew she wanted to bake; and not only did she take the leap of faith to start her own business, but she and Nima have put in the hard work and long days it took to make it a success.
We hope the Junior Garden Club members who participated yesterday were as inspired as we were by Lily & Nima!
The Frankford CDC just can’t stand sitting still, so on Tuesday we held not one, but two, business spotlight events. We started our day at Frankford High School, where we teamed up with the Student Success Center to hold a round table discussion focused on owning your own food business. The panel consisted of three women entrepreneurs based here in Frankford, Lily Fischer of A Cupcake Wonderland, Tegan Hagy of Philly LoveBar, and Therice Denby of Denby’s Sweet Sensations (4428 Frankford Ave). All shared great insight in to the hard work involved in being a small business owner, their decision making processes, and where they see their businesses headed in the next few years. As always, the Frankford High School students were wonderful, and asked some great questions!
In the afternoon, we headed over to Aria’s Frankford Campus for our first Business Spotlight Day. As you may remember, Aria and the Frankford CDC are launching a new program whereby four Frankford businesses, four times a year, set up a table for an afternoon in Aria’s cafeteria and get to know Aria staff who might not ordinarily find themselves shopping on the Ave. We had a great time speaking with Aria’s dedicated staff, and think some great connections were forged!
Stay tuned for more information about coming events, and for details about how to get involved! And if you have an idea for a business support event, we’d love to hear from you! Just call our offices at 215-743-6580.
There is a very nice story that just popped up on Philly.com about Lily Fischer and how she went from preschool teacher to cupcake entrepreneur.
The South Philadelphia woman and her friend Erin Bailey were preschool teachers at Friends Select in Center City in 2009. “I was having a stressful day, so I decided to go home and bake something,” Fischer said. The something was a batch of cupcakes, which they brought in the next day for a coworker.
Noticing the stash, the mommies bit: “Oh, my God! I want to order from you!” Fischer said, re-creating the squeals. What started off as a hobby turned into a side business, A Cupcake Wonderland.
The Frankford CDC worked with her while she was looking for a location and guided her in the direction of the Globe Dye Works.
They were picked and flown out to California to compete (for Cupcake Wars, the reality competition series). Fischer missed her last week of classes but did graduate. But they won their episode. The $10,000 prize allowed them to go legit, setting them up with space in the entrepreneur-rich Globe Dye Works building in Port Richmond. They share a space with LoveBar, a chocolate bar.
Unfortunately, the story has the location of the Globe in the wrong part of the city. They say where they are on their web site. No matter where they are, congratulations to Cupcake Wonderland.
The annual public board meeting of the Frankford Community Development Corporation was held at Aria Health on January 19th. The meeting provides and opportunity for residents to come out to talk with the CDC about past accomplishments and future plans.
The board is presently made up of: Marie DeLany (President), Dan Lodise (Vice President), Patricia Miller (SEPTA), Terence McSherry (NET), Michael O’Brien (resident), Mike Galdi (Century 21 Realty), Herb Frayer (S&A Cleaners), Santo Caruso (Aria Health), Faye Allen (SPIN) and Fernando Torres (Mark My Flesh). In addition Tracy O’Drain is the Managing Director. Michell Feldman is Corridor Manager and Special Events Coordinator. Lisa DeMore is the Bookkeeper.
Some highlights:
Significant progress in social media and marketing – The CDC has a revamped and useful web site and is a prominent Frankford resource on Facebook.
Has recruited new business (A Cupcake Wonderland and Philly Love Bar to the Globe) to Frankford and assisted existing businesses (Avenue Shoes, Denbys, Gilberts, Just Good Scents, Quickie Mart, Simply Flawless).
Raised the profile of Frankford with some significant special events like the Second Saturday festivals.
Began work on the 4600 block of Frankford Avenue project. Impact Services under an existing contract with the city will begin work this year on those improvements.
New computer lab via PhillyRising came this month.
Dan Lodise announced at the end of the meeting that he will be stepping down as Vice President. The board has room for several more members and I believe we need more residents on the board. There were two exceptional people at the meeting who were interested in possibly joining. I hope they do. Both are business women in Frankford. Just the people we need.
Tracy and Michelle did a great Power Point presentation at the meeting that I recorded for my notes but it is so detailed I am including it below for your information if you care to see some of the details.
It works best in full screen and pause it at each slide if you need time to read them.
I’ve been patrolling You Tube for Frankford related video and found a few interesting things. This one, which the CDC slipped by me, is ready for public viewing. They will be telling us more, in the future, about these two businesses and how they came to be in Frankford. Philly Love Bar and A Cupcake Wonderland.
