MIAMI, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — A lot of us dream about taking our favorite hobby and turning it into a booming business. That’s where the dream ends for 99.9 percent of us. But not for a woman named Misha. Below is the story of how she went from mom to millionaire.
Even if it’s Oreo, chocolate, vanilla or red velvet with cream cheese icing, customers line up for all of Misha’s cupcakes.
“It started in 2005 after I had my first daughter,” said Misha Kuryla, Owner of Misha’s Cupcakes.
A new mom looking to make money for her family, Misha heard an NPR report about a cupcake shop in Los Angeles.
“They were selling 1,000 cupcakes a day and they had lines out the door and I thought that sounds like something I could do,” Kuryla told Ivanhoe.
Baking was in her DNA. Her mom baked all her life. So Misha threw on an apron and got to work.
“When I first started baking them I just gave them to my friends and then I started walking up my street and I gave them to my neighbors,” explained Kuryla.
Her big break came when she decided to donate 300 cupcakes to a breast cancer event.
“I’d done like ten cupcakes, 20 cupcakes, and then my whole kitchen was covered with cupcakes,” said Kuryla.
Right after the event, a woman who owned a local bakery called.
“She’s like oh you know, I want to see if you can wholesale. I’m like I don’t even know what wholesaling is,” she told Ivanhoe.
That opportunity got her more customers. In her first year she sold 50 thousand dollars in cupcakes! She has become a role model to her employees.
“It’s all about confidence and believing in yourself that you can do it, and if you believe in yourself then you can do anything,” said Vanessa Aleman, an employee at Misha’s Cupcakes.
Now the owner of eight stores with more than four million dollars in annual sales, Misha says running her own company forced her to take charge.
“It taught me to have a voice and to speak up,” she explained.
And now she’s inspiring other women to create their own destinies.
Misha is shipping her cake jars nationwide now. Her company makes more than 10,000 a day in 36 flavors. Her three kids are still her official taste testers! For more information on Misha’s Cupcakes please visit mishascupakes.com.
Contributors to this news report include: Janna Ross, Producer; Katie Campbell, Assistant Producer; Judy Reich, Videographer; Bob Walko, Editor.
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