For some, the start of the pandemic was a time spent looking for fun, creative ways to pass the time. Others used it as an opportunity to switch up their careers. For Joey Lo, it was both.
It all started when her 3-year-old, Ellis, wanted to bake cakes with her. At first it was solely a hobby, but now that she has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and YouTube combined, her little girl has a platform to show off her incredible talent – keep scrolling to watch some of her videos!
1. Devastated from being laid off from her job as a Toronto-based flight attendant, Joey decided to give baking cakes another shot.
2. We say “another shot” because this busy mom once made money selling cakes years ago, something she originally started doing because her oldest daughter has a peanut allergy.
3. But that was years ago. Joey now had the opportunity to put all of her focus on baking. Little did she know, however, just how involved her 3-year-old would get.
4. The more Ellis saw her mom baking, the more she wanted to try. Finally, Joey gave her some leftover fondant and cake tools to play with, and the rest is history!
5. “She would sit there for like two hours and she would enjoy it and it kept her busy,” Joey said. “I noticed her fine motor skills are really good and she’s very artistic so I started teaching her the very basics of cake decorating.”
6. Before she knew it, Ellis was becoming a baking pro at just 4-years-old!
7. Joey loves watching her little girl create such delicious masterpieces, and she isn’t the only one.
8. “People really enjoyed it so then we started making more cakes and I recorded more and then I guess it just snowballed from there,” she said. “I show some behind the scenes where I’m teaching because I make one next to her – and she copied me every step – she picks things up really fast.”
9. Ellis’ favorite cake that she’s made so far is hands-down the red panda from Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red.”
10. “Her name is Mei and when she gets mad she puffs right into a big scary monster and red panda,” Ellis said, later adding, “I like to put the sprinkles on the cake and the funnest part is to eat the sprinkles.”
11. Through the difficulties of the pandemic, Joey and Ellis’ time baking together meant the world to them.
12. That’s why, even now that things are far more normal than they were back then, they still make the time to bake together.
13. Plus, now that Joey has such a massive following, she’s back to earning money as a baker!
14. “It was my older daughter who made me start making cakes and learn how to make cakes, and I got income out of it,” Joey said. “And it was my second daughter who made my cakes into content creating — kind of modernized it.”
15. She added, “Ellis totally – she pivoted that whole thing for me. I don’t know… it’s just kind of crazy how both my kids just kind of made this cake into my life. I never thought I would be a baker at all.”
When life threw Joey a devastating curveball, she didn’t know what to do at first. Now, she’s finding that this unexpected change is exactly what she and Ellis needed. We’re so proud of them both, and we can’t wait to see Ellis’ talent continue to grow as she gets older!
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