Meet Swati Desoares | Software Engineer and Cake Designer

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

Hi Swati, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
How did you come up with the idea for your business It all started with my daughter turning 3 years old and wanting a princess belle cake i couldn’t afford. Started learning cake decoration and experimented on my coworkers, friends, and daughters’ friends. Perfected my art through the years and then one of my friends forced me to start charging for my hard work and art. I was hesitant in the beginning as no one in my family had ever done a business and being a single mom, I had to have a steady primary income to pay my bills. So, I ventured into starting it small… made cakes for my friends and coworkers and as word of mouth spread, now I make cakes for total strangers!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My artistic journey starts from when I was in school. I used to do a lot of painting, arts and crafts and Sculpting. My dad was an artist and taught me how to do copper carving and wood carving. When I moved to USA, more opportunities to make art came to me when I started scrapbooking my memories and discovered craft stores and meddled with various art media. Creativity comes from within and cannot be taught, my interest in cake decorating came when my daughter wanted a fancy cake I couldn’t afford. I started watching video tutorials, took a few classes at a craft store and joined a cake meetup group. Friends encouraged me to take it to the next level and I got a few certifications and started learning more advanced skills online. I wanted to have a niche in the work I do, as there are so many cake decorators in town. I specialized in edible figure and flower making. I enjoy creating human/animal figurines as decorations on cake and florals. The journey was tough, had a few failures, but learnt from my mistakes and overcame challenges like handling difficult customers, time management, money management and grew as a brand cakesbyswati. Now when strangers come up to me and say “Oh you are Swati from cakesbyswati..” I feel proud that i get recognized by my work and people appreciate my art!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In fact I just did, had my cousin visit me from India. We had a great time… Took a week trip to Cancun, spent days and nights relaxing by the beach, pool and enjoyed a technology free week with nature. Locally we went shopping to Galleria mall, Grapevine mall, Stonebriar mall and the Allen mall. We visited downtowns /museums in Dallas and Fort Worth and took a TRE train ride. We went to the stockyards in Fort worth and also to Turner falls in Oklahoma. Restaurants we ate at were Samuii Thai, The yellow Chilli, On the Border, Olive Garden and Torchys Taco. These restaurants have a great vegetarian menu. I wish we had time for Six flags and hurricane harbor (my fav entertainment / amusement parks in DFW) but she had to go back to India.

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 certainly give the credit to my daughter. She’s, my inspiration. Been a single mom since she was 3 months old, she has been my pillar of strength. She encourages me to reach new heights and do what makes me happy. I’m a software engineer by profession, but art is my passion. I used to do oil painting and sculpting when I was a teenager and enjoyed art. Then life happened, got married, divorced, and had to handle everything on my own. lost everything in 1 day… a huge house, husband, job, money and was left with a 3-month-old kid and lots of responsibility to survive and make a living for her and me. Picked up the pieces in 2007 and started building a life for me and my daughter. Art took a backseat for a few years. She saw the struggle I went through by working long hours just to make ends meet. She pushed me to bring art back into my life, do what makes me happy… this also added a second income and made my weekends happy and fulfilling (while she’s at dads). Now i have a great career at the bank as a software professional and a great hobby of cake decoration that is my way of relaxing and creating art every weekend and get paid for it too.

Website: www.cakesbyswati.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cakes_by_swati

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swati-desoares-2062475

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cakesbyswati

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cakesbyswati-frisco