Ebunoluwa Akinola
Justin Ellen, a 19 year old Netflix star baker was first invited to join a Netflix baking show called Is It Cake? on Instagram, he initially thought it was not true until the organizers told him there was an interview. However, he joined the show as one of the youngest and the least experienced baker.
The baking show features bakers who create edible replicas of everyday objects such as handbags and sewing machines, buildings,shoes etc.
Ellen had to skip his high school graduation to participate in the show and this was the longest period he has stayed without his parents
Prior to joining the show, Ellen has started his own bakery business and he was recording sales. He revealed achieving $100,000 in sales last year. “With the Netflix show coming out, I’ve been getting like a lot more inquiries my calendar is flooded. I’m super grateful for it,” he said.
Baking runs in Ellen’s family as his mother and grandmother were bakers and he learned from them when he was only seven years old.
By age 14, Ellen had started watching cake tutorial videos on YouTube and got inspired to start his own cake creations.
Mastering the art of cake-making did not come easy for Ellen. He did not have a lot of free time on his hands. Nonetheless, he was determined to break barriers so he made time for his passion. He founded Everything Just Baked in the process which is now a full-time business. The teen sold a six-inch cake for $60 when he started but now he sells the same size for $150.
Ellen now earns close to $12,000 per month managing his business full-time. According to the 19-year-old Netflix star, the business is on track to make $200,000 by the end of this year.
Ellen now accepts six orders in a week and they keep growing. For now, he works on the orders in his home kitchen single-handedly. However, his mother helps occasionally.
He said “most of my clients don’t choose hyper-realistic cakes, they’re more like wedding cakes.” The young entrepreneur now hopes to have an appointment-based studio soon.
