This post is a month late but it’s too cute not to post! Remember back in December when I got to attend Bravo TV’s finale taping of WAY OFF BROADWAY – The Wizard of Oz Musical? The director, Sarina Condello, ordered these lovebear cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s my story of how Sarina and I connected.

I always wanted to make cupcakes for the cast and crew of a musical production. Don’t ask why. It’s one of those random things I always wanted to do. After I saw WICKED last year, I made a witch’s hat and a broomstick cupcake and thought, wouldn’t it be cool if the cast and crew got these cupcakes after one of their performances? I even specially ordered black cupcake liners with green polka dots on it for the photos. I used 6 out of 100 and the 94 are packed away in a clear box in my basement marked, ”What was I thinking?” If you’re ever in need if 94 black cupcake liners with green polka dots on it, you have my e-mail!

When I found out my friend Jon was in this 8-week series that follow amateur theatre performers pursuing their dream of performing on Broadway, I KNEW I had to get in contact with the director somehow. I was ecstatic when I found out they would be doing WIZARD OF OZ of all musicals! This was my chance. Even if I had to VOLUNTEER to make these cupcakes, I would do it. I wanted to be a part of it SO badly.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t desperate or anything. I didn’t see it as my chance to be “discovered” and suddenly I’d be Bravo’s official cupcake-maker. I just simply wanted to be a part of it. As an entrepreneur, as a self-employed business owner, if you don’t constantly push yourself to improve—no one will. Setting these small goals encouraged me to push myself to talk to people I wouldn’t normally talk to, to do something differently and to get different results. So what if the director didn’t respond to me? At least I tried.



I e-mailed Sarina, introduced myself and literally said, “Hi I’m Jenn and I’m a friend of Jon’s (you know, the scarecrow)”. YES, that is exactly what I said. Never in a million years did I ever think I’d start an e-mail stating that I was a friend of a scarecrow. But that’s “so me” Luckily, she responded and wanted me to make cupcakes for their finale party. I was so excited that she was taking a chance on me. I wasn’t expecting much—I didn’t want to set my hopes too high just in case the answer was, “no”.

I wanted to train myself to seek out opportunities and make things happen for myself instead of “waiting to be discovered”. So many of us wait for the perfect opportunity to come knocking at our doors but life doesn’t work like that. The happiest people are the ones who go out to find those opportunities and make something of their lives. If they don’t, they will spend their whole lives waiting and sadly, they will never get that time back.

WAY OFF BROADWAY premiered three weeks ago and I’m so addicted to it. In an interview when Sarina was looking for her performers, she said, “My show is going to have a lot of HEART” and that line stuck out to me. I try to live every day of my life with a lot of HEART whether I am sculpting fondant bears or e-mailing clients back on cake designs. I believe that if you have HEART, it will show through everything you do.



Three years ago when I was still living downtown, my friend and I were chatting on MSN and I asked him what was ONE quality his future wife had to have. Without hesitation he said, “She has to have a BIG heart”. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for this “heart” in others as well. I get so excited when I meet people with this “HEART” because I think, “Wow! This is what TRUE HEART looks like!” There is something so different about this show. It’s not just an 8-week production, it’s a journey. The way Sarina interacts with these performers really shows that she cares for them. She is passionate about helping others discover their inner performer and she will go the extra mile to do whatever it takes to help that person.

Here’s a link to watch all the episodes of WAY OFF BROADWAY on Bravo. Enjoy! xoxo