When I walked into Lesley’s Cakes last Thursday night, I was welcomed by the sweet smell of delicious pastries.
The store was decorated with beautiful cakes, colorful cupcakes and delectable chocolate treats that would satisfy any chocoholic! When the clock turned to 5 p.m., the ladies from the Chugiak Eagle River Women in Business (C.E.R.W.I.B) group started to slowly trickle into the shop.
“What is C.E.R.W.I.B?” you might ask.
Good question.
This group’s three main goals are to Educate, Support and Network.
They want to educate anyone that is new to the business world and support them and their business through helping them. They want to guide them in the right direction and to mentor any woman that needs it.
“We can help each other,” Lisa Monson said. She is the president of this non-profit association. She also added that this association is to find mentors to help you with finances, advertising and etc.
Before the actual meeting started, Mrs. Lesley, owner of Lesley’s Cakes, gave out cupcakes for her guests to decorate. Mrs. Lesley and her assistants taught those in attendance how to frost a cupcake and how to decorate it with fondant shapes. Some lucky women got to make fondant ballet slippers too. The women had a lot of fun as did I – especially consuming the free samples.
I recommend the Rock Slide brownie if you like nuts, caramel, and beautifully rich chocolate.
After we all settled down a little they got down business. They talked about themselves and their businesses and any problems they had with it. Mrs. Lesley set up a mentor board so if they have a specific problem they could contact a woman that has experience in that field. That’s what I call teamwork. Before the night was down each lady was sent off with a box of free cupcakes and some ladies went with some wonderful door prizes.
Even though I had never heard of this organization before I went there, I felt kind of sad to leave. But I am so glad that I went.
Editor’s Note: A’Layia Lewis is a freshman and Eagle River High School and is an editorial intern with the ECHO News. We welcome her to the team. She will be writing for the “Good Things” column. Send us a story idea that A’Layia can write about.