Rad Joy Updates/March Madness
Pop-ups, custom ordering, and what's to come
Chicago cake pop-up/preorder: Hello! It’s been a while since I dropped a pastry box or did a pop-up. I think I’m ready to come out of hibernation and invite you all to come out and play with me. I’ll be at Casa Cactus in Albany Park starting at 10 am next Saturday, April 13 with your pastry box preorders and 2-3 different cake slice options for walk-up ordering. If you’ve been wanting just a slice (or two) of cake, here’s your chance!
As a newsletter subscriber, you are the first to know, and get the ordering link from me — peep that here. Bring your friends, siblings, mothers, and lovers for coffee, cake, and oxygen-rich vibes in this super cozy spot. Also, say hi to me, but only for a bit because I am more shy in real life than you would think…
Custom ordering: If you’ve been on my IG, you may have seen (or not because I’m algorithm blocked due to posting about Palestine) that I recently opened up my custom orders for April, May, and part of June.
The custom order page is for your super extra special celebrations.
Maybe your hard-working sister is graduating from her residency program and you want her to feel celebrated. Or your girlfriend and her cat just moved in and it’s time for an intimate housewarming because she is definitely the one. Or maybe — like two of my very stylish friends — you are throwing a moody, high femme joint Taurus birthday bash and want an espresso martini sheet cake adorned with bows and florals that is classy, memorable, and so-on-theme.
Whatever the reason, I will spend dedicated time and energy with your project. In the spirit of beauty services like hair, nail, and tattooing, you’ll put down a $75 that goes towards the cost of your final order, you’ll fill out an intake, and then schedule a 15-minute chat with me where we’ll work on the plan for making your dreams come true.
If you’re interested, here’s the link to the custom inquiry page with more details.
What I’ve been up to/ICYMI: To be honest… March was wild. I flew back to my hometown to attend a wedding and did a little travel vlogging while I was there.
I also did my thing in some fancy office buildings in Chicago last month! Being in these spaces pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I always welcome that. Through it, I learned how to better talk about myself and the business. Engage with people in genuine and meaningful ways, and try to have fun too.
Cake decorating workshop. Here I am at a cake decorating workshop for LGBTQIA+ people. The group was awesome. We started off by sharing our astrological signs (big 3) which turned out to be an amazing icebreaker that got everyone’s creative juices flowing. What was meant to be a demo ended up with everyone asking lots of questions and wanting to help decorate. Truly, I live for moments like this!
Rad Joy for breakfast. After that, I had the honor of being asked to make pastries for some hungry office workers. With the help of my friend Kelly, we made 250 pastries that were gobbled up in just an hour and a half. There were trays full of focaccia, salty choco chunk cookies, mushroom patê sô, and blueberry olive oil cakes. I don’t usually get to see people eating my food and coming back for seconds, so that was pretty cool.
Mutual aid for Humboldt Park. Lastly, with the $1,278 I raised through the Rad Joy mutual aid network, Kelly, our friend Alvis, and I spent a day making hearty ham and turkey sandwiches and vegetable minestrone for the good people over at Casa Hernandez/Humboldt Park Solidarity Network. We supplemented the hot meals with apples, oranges, and tote bags for folks to carry things in — and we even had enough money left over to buy $450 worth of eSIMs for Gazans.
Being in Kelly’s childhood (queer-friendly!) church with Alvis, having another chef friend drop off disposables, and interacting with and meeting with people that have been living in my neighborhood for generations is probably the highlight of my year so far. There is something about calm, caring, repetitive movements around people you love that is really nourishing for the soul. Treat your neighbors kindly, take care of them. Our joy, our pain, our growth, it’s all interconnected.
I’m hoping to work a little less hard this month, but who knows? Business seems to be picking up via word of mouth, and I’m so grateful. I only take on projects I want to do lately, and that’s exciting!
I’m off to make a cake now. Thanks always for reading. Maybe I’ll see you around?
xo, V