About this episode
From building the wildly successful bakery mini-chain Nadia Cakes to becoming a best-selling romance author, Abby Jimenez is no stranger to a career pivot. Jimenez spent her early career in a variety of service and retail roles, but when she was suddenly let go from her job as a retail manager, she leaned into her love of baking. With a Michaels cake-decorating course under her belt, Jimenez soon began selling cakes and cupcakes out of her home kitchen, and since then, her bakery, Nadia Cakes, has opened three brick-and-mortar locations, was crowned the winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars , and has grown its menu to include over 200 cupcake flavors. After successfully growing Nadia Cakes, Jimenez began writing romance novels in her newly earned free time. With some encouragement from her family and constructive feedback from online critique groups, she turned yet another hobby into a full-on career and has since published five novels. Jimenez’s sixth novel, Just for the Summer , comes out on April 2. Preorder it today here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just-for-the-summer-abby-jimenez/1143886130?ean=9781538769409.