Meet Perla Brown | Baker & Cake Decorater

We had the good fortune of connecting with Perla Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Perla, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I always loved baking. When I was younger, my favorite things to bake were cakes and brownies, using store bought mixes. I stopped making cakes and brownies after a while until I joined the United States Navy in 2020 and was fascinated watching one of my superiors bake from scratch and decorate beautiful cakes. After leaving the ship I was stationed on, I gave up since I didn’t have anyone to learn from anymore. It wasn’t until I was on maternity leave mid 2023 after giving birth to my daughter, going through post partum depression, I found my peace baking again and working on my cake decorating skills. The thought of putting my work out there was scary, the constant fear that my cakes weren’t beautiful enough to attract customers made me hesitate frequently but as the months went by and I got more cake orders and practiced more, I decided it was time to do something for myself.

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?
I learned that not everyone is my customer, not everyone will like my style of decorating or my prices and that’s okay. I’m constantly working on improving order after order. What sets my business apart from the others is that I always follow up on an order, big or small, I’m always seeking to improve on my skills and customer satisfaction is my top priority. It hasn’t been an easy road but anything is possible as long as you set your mind to it and trust the process.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a foodie so I love trying new restaurants, I’m constantly on instagram searching for trending places. I would definitely take my best friend to downtown San Diego and Los Angeles area and of course a Disneyland trip is mandatory. I also enjoy trying new coffee shops so we would be trying new brunch places near the beach.

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?
I would like to thank my husband for always motivating me and playing along with all the crazy ideas I come up with. I never thought that I would have the ability to start a business while raising a baby and being an active duty sailor but he’s made it so easy by being supportive and allowing me to take my time to build this business. He’s given me his 80% when all I could give him is 20%, I couldn’t do it without him. My other biggest supporter is my mom, constantly reminding me to not give up on my dreams and to be confident in myself, always hyping me up when I’m decorating cakes.

Instagram: _cakeddupp