We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenean Carlton and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jenean, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Carlton’s Cakes is my second career and my second company. I worked in optics and managed large optometric practices for decades. In 1999 I started a consulting business and worked as an educator, technical consultant, and writer for the optical industry until 2016. In 2007 I began concentrating on pastry arts, particularly sugar sculptures, recipe development, and cake artistry. I worked in both optics and pastry arts for the next 12 years as I improved my skills with sugar work. By 2016 I knew I wanted to start a luxury cake business and launched Carlton’s Cakes, LLC. I am a science nerd at heart and am also a creative person.
However, I was not always this artistic. Tragically, my older brother, a music professor, was killed in a school shooting in 2001. He was 2 years older than me and was such a hero in my life. I spoke with him the night before he was killed and had a wonderful conversation with him. I will always think of that conversation as a great gift from God. My brother was a very spiritual person and was such a light in this world. We were close and his death devastated me, as well as the rest of my family. The trauma of his death affected me so deeply that I suffered from memory issues, depression, anxiety, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Shortly after his death, a trauma counselor suggested that I enroll in classes to learn new skills; he said that learning new things would help my brain to heal from the trauma by developing new neuron connections in my brain. He thought it would help with the PTSD and with processing the trauma. I enrolled in classes at Georgia State University and particularly enjoyed the pottery and art classes. I always thought I could be creative but spent so much of my life working in optics, studying German (I lived in Germany while in high school), and never put much effort into being an artist outside of baking. I did enjoy baking early on when I was a teenager though.
The art classes, particularly pottery and sculpting classes, helped me to begin to heal from the trauma. All of the classes I took for the next 4 years became very important in my life and helped me to heal. The art classes served as a useful tool in teaching me how to self-soothe and de-stress from the loss of my brother. I ended up earning a BA degree in art and minored in the German language. Surprisingly, Georgia State also has a counseling program for students, and I worked with a trauma counselor there for several years. She was particularly important in my healing and to this day I love her for how much she helped me to recover.
After finishing up at Georgia State, our daughter came into our lives in 2007 and, with a baby to care for, I found I could not spend hours each day in a pottery studio. Art was still important in my life, so I switched from sculpting pottery to sculpting edible sugar mediums and working on recipe development. From 2007-2016 I worked in both optics and pastry arts and was still very drawn to sugar artistry. Carlton’s Cakes was born in 2016 and it has been a difficult but rewarding journey.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Carlton’s Cakes is a multi-faceted business. We create one-of-a-kind wedding cakes as well as specialty cakes, offer cake and cookie decorating classes to our student group, work with private catering companies for specialty items, and also offer private baking classes to individuals as well as groups. I enjoy teaching and thoroughly enjoy teaching baking and decorating classes. Because I also have food allergies I feel it’s important to offer products for those with food allergies and food sensitivities including gluten-free, vegan, lactose intolerance, nut allergies, and more. We are a small business so we are capable of taking care of clients who require special diets. This sets us apart from our competitors; I don’t know of another specialty cake business that offers gluten-free as well as vegan offerings from scratch.
The only way to start a new business is to put in the work and to keep at it for years. I worked 14 hours days for the first 4 years every single day. It takes a minimum of 4 years for a business to become successful and it’s a grueling process. It takes pure GRIT to make it happen which is why so many new businesses fail. I’ve learned along the way what works for us and what doesn’t and have made adjustments accordingly. The lesson I have learned about my business is that I have to take care of myself and my family, not just our clients. Self-care is so important and for years I didn’t take good care of myself regarding sleep, nutrition, and spending time with friends. My family and friends are so important to me and I can’t take them for granted. My family has been so supportive and has put up with me working hard for years. Now, I space our weddings out months in advance, plan all of the classes for the entire year and also plan our vacations. I try not to get caught up in “cake emergencies” because it doesn’t fit our business model.
Carlton’s Cakes is a luxury brand offering high-quality cakes using the best ingredients available to the industry. I love to create sophisticated flavor pairings and I believe this shows with our cake offerings. It’s very important to me to please our clients as well as please myself with the work. I’m a perfectionist so every detail matters to me from the flavors to the texture and the design. I love the science and the artistry involved in our projects and I also really enjoy our students and business relationships. With my students, I want them to have their own successes and endeavor to be a cheerleader for them. Lastly, baking therapy has done so much to help me with my personal struggle with PTSD that I want to help others as well. I feel very passionate about this and hope to create a blog or perhaps a book about how art and baking therapy are useful tools for recovering from trauma and PTSD.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Atlanta! We enjoy spending time at Ponce-City Market, particularly on the roof-top, eating dinner at Sprig (my favorite restaurant) and also eating at Las Flores (my second favorite restaurant) in Conyers. Las Flores has the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten and you must try the grilled guacamole and street corn! I’m a hard person to please when it comes to food and I appreciate it when chefs put in the effort to create food pairings that complement each other and make an entrée sing!
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband and daughter have been my biggest supporters. They help with the business and also put up with me working long hours. I truly appreciate their love and they are the most important part of my life. Sadie Coleman is my assistant and she is such a joy to work with. She’s so talented and we have fun working together. We are always singing and enjoying the creative process. Thank you Andrew, Mia and Sadie.
Website: https://www.carltonscakes.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carltons_cakes/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carltonscakes
Image Credits
Sara Wooten, co-owner + photographer Sara + Logan Weddings Athens, GA www.saralogan.co