Rising Stars: Meet Jessica Wirth of Moore County (Aberdeen)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Wirth.

Hi Jessica, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have been in love with baking since I was a little girl. I have always loved creating yummy treats for friends and family and have realized over the years that my passion project is to spread joy through the art of baking.

This particular journey of creating decorated sugar cookies started 2 years ago while I was living in England. I was pregnant with my second baby, and because of the Covid Lockdowns, I was stuck inside with nothing to do! I decided to try my hand and decorate cookies and let me tell you, as much as I enjoyed it, that first set was not pretty!! Because I had nothing else to do, I scoured the internet; reading every article, I could find and watching what seemed like every video on youtube. I ended up also taking an online decorating class through How to Cake it. That class gave me the confidence to start taking a few orders here and there.

One year ago, my family of four moved from England to here in Moore County, and that is when my business took off! I have been creating cookies for events and parties all over the area for the past year, and it has been such a fun journey so far!

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I started my cookie decorating business in England, and just as I was beginning to gain traction, we moved countries! The transition period was longer than we had anticipated, and I was very eager to get to baking and creating again.

Thankfully, business took off a lot faster than I thought it would! There were still heavy restrictions on gatherings in England, so I only got a few small orders every once. I had to transition to the fast pace of this new area, where parties were in full swing, and people were requesting larger and larger orders. I quickly learned how to work faster and more efficiently, which can be hard when my main goal is to create little works of art.

I love creating custom cookies for all of my amazing customers, so sometimes, I take on more work than I really should. Work/ Life balance has also been a struggle as I balance staying home with my two beautiful daughters and running my business. My goal for this summer is to make sure I focus on spending time with my family and limiting the number of orders I take.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us more about your work?
Although I love anything and everything cookie-related, I specialize in custom-decorated sugar cookies for practically any event you can think of. I’ve made cookies for birthdays, retirements, promotions, baby showers, Realtor gift sets, holidays, and many other things. I love working with my customers to create a set of cookies that is tailormade to fit their event perfectly. I usually ask for things like the event type, theme, color palette, or even any decorations they are using to customize each set further.

I always use my signature Vanilla-Almond cookie recipe with a delicious soft-bite royal Icing for my Sugar cookies. After 2 years of eating the same cookie recipe, you would think that I would get tired of it, but my recipe is so delicious that I still snag extra cookies for myself!

What was you like growing up?
Growing up, I would say I was a free spirit and a bit of a wild child, but I still have always loved people and helping people. I worked in the service industry and truly enjoyed being able to ensure other people had great experiences.

My biggest hobby growing up was singing. I remember singing solos in school programs as early as first grade. At one point in high school, I was in 4 or 5 choirs simultaneously. I thought I was going to be a famous singer someday. That dream didn’t pan out (yet)

In my early 20s, I realized I needed to tame a little bit of my wild side, and I was ready for a new adventure, so I joined the Marine Corps. I got a cool job as a Helicopter Mechanic and became a Marksmanship Coach. Even in the Marine Corps, I baked every chance I got and would give out my baked goods to my shop or hand them out in the barracks.

Pricing:

• Custom Decorated Sugar Cookies start at $55 Per Dozen
• Gourmet Drop Cookies start at $1 per ounce

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.CookiesbyJay.com
• Instagram: @cookiesbyjay
• Facebook: @cookiesybyjay