The tasty, lovelee life

Leanda McConney (Picture by Sandy Pitt.)

Four years ago Leanda McConney started baking small batches of cupcakes for friends and family.

Today, she has Bim’s Best sweet treats.

McConney’s company, Lovelee Cakes, won in the Sweet Treats category of the recently concluded NATION initiative. Bim’s Best was the NATION’s Independence month initiative to find and celebrate the best food and best people serving communities in Barbados.

McConney told EASY she is completely humbled and elated by her first ever award.

“I feel very good about it. I was happy and surprised when I heard that I won.

“My friend Crystal Holder told me she nominated me for the award and I thank her for that. I never thought I would have won, though, because the hardest thing to do is to deal with the public. You just never know. This is the first award I would have won besides everyone just saying how good the cakes are and stuff like that,” she said with a shy chuckle.

But just how and why did this 29-year-old get into the business of cake making? She told EASY it was the pressure from her friend that made her do it.

“I started in 2013 just doing cupcakes but it wasn’t a full-fledged business as yet. I only got started after I came back with the qualifications and I registered and so on. Then I branched out into the cakes.

People used to pressure me about doing cakes for them and I finally decided to do it,” she added.

She said so far business has been going well.

“I have no complaints at all. Business is great, things are good. Bajans love cake,” she said.

And now she’s looking to go even bigger with her small business because the time is right. Without giving too much away, McConney said it was time to go bigger.

“I’m opening my shop soon. Then I want a storefront where I could sell my stuff, but I want it in a way that I could still teach. So I could have small classes come in and children during summer camps. Children love cupcakes, so I would teach them different techniques and so on. Then I would branch out into making more sweet treats,” she revealed.

Surprisingly, McConney revealed that baking was not her first love.

“No not at all. My degree is in chemistry. I’m a scientist at heart. I love food science and that’s my real passion,” she said.

In giving advice to other young entrepreneurs, she said: “Believe in yourself and do your best and you will be fine!” (DB)