February is the month of love and what better way to celebrate than with Mery Ciok an innovative and brilliant Italian baker who pours her heart in everything she creates! The extra special thing about her? I get to call my friend! This woman has been through a lot, yet her passion for baking has helped her get through everything.
It is a pleasure sharing her story with you. I asked her to share whatever she’d like with our readers and this is what she had to say:
My name is Mery, I’m 34 years old and I’m Italian [originally from Pozzuoli, a small town in Naples]! I have been married to one of my countrymen for 13 years and we have 2 children, the first of 12 years and the second of 10 years.
I have always liked being in the kitchen and this passion for cakes was born several years ago when for the first time I saw the 3D Barbie cake on the web, there I felt something inside that I can’t explain, and on the same day I tried to make it for my princess [it was a normal day, no anniversary and she was very happy] the next day I tried to make another one for my son for the simple pleasure of experimenting! And it was there that I discovered the cake boss Buddy Valastro on TV and since then he was my idol.
For any occasion I ventured without fear to always create new things, which unfortunately were not much today with the tools and techniques and that little extra practice and experience lead me to create cakes that are not yet 100% perfect but quite eye catching ❣Internet and my willpower have brought me this far! My job is what makes me proud!
When I arrived here, my colleagues told me that I had talent and that I should take this path! I lost almost all my hopes when someone told me that not everyone in this country can do the job they love … I got sick but the following year, with my stubbornness I found a job in a pastry shop in the area where I worked for a few months learning techniques that were different from those of my country. I was super happy and incredulous that someone was paying me for something that I thought was a game!
Already I had started making small advertisements and so I was also working on weekends at home, until I reached a point where I only dedicated myself to this❣My little pastry at home is called Mery’s cake and I am proud of it❣ I don’t have millions of customers, but the ones I have [for them] will never change me and this makes me even more proud! I love my job, I love to create, I love to amaze and I love to surpass myself❣It is a great satisfaction for me [after my children and my family there is my job].
Even this work like many others is subject to imitations , before I got a little angry because I am always there to think about what news to present to update my page day by day, because I don’t like being one of many but I like to excel and I I like to update the designs of my cakes, follow the trends and keep the page updated with new and interesting things! Then someone else comes and copies my idea! That’s not very nice … but today I am not angry anymore, on the contrary, I consider them my fans … and because in the end they can copy a photo, imitate an idea but they cannot copy what you have in your heart, that comes from inside and belongs only to you, and they are not the same hands and the same passion that unites us!
I always like to think about the words of a loved one who disappeared despite having fought so much against a bad disease, Richie Morris [my husband worked for him] last said to me “hey girl, you have the hands of ‘oro “He was a good person and I had more than once sent him cakes as a sign of appreciation and affection! The day before he left this world he asked me with a hint of voice for a special cake, a 3d baseball with a chocolate flavor … a race against time … [I felt under pressure because it was a desire openly expressed … I did not know it would be the last but for sure it had to be fulfilled❣ The next day I brought it to him and after a few hours I left him! I will always remember his words with affection! I carry this sweet memory in my heart! Thanks Richie for giving me this sweet and indelible memory! This is often my way of showing my affection I like to give cakes!
In recent years I have given many of them … starting with the teachers in the first school that my children attended here … to people in need! Or I remember that my children were included in the afternoon tutorials the first year … which helped them learn the language better … their friends waited for me with open arms every time I went to school 10 minutes before the tutorial ended and I brought them cupcakes or cakes of different themes ️ and they were crazy about it! I believed in my potential and I’m happy to do the job I’ve always dreamed of!
I have always been an all-rounder in my house in Italy from painting the walls, changing the look of the furniture and learning to sew to change the look of the house with custom-made doilies and curtains! I also dyed my hair by myself and got my nails done with the gel! I was pretty good at everything that had to be done y hand. However, my weak point is the glitters I still love them today maybe more since I use edible ones❣ It was not easy … like every beautiful thing you have to have tenacity and obstinacy … because yes I had a very hard head ❣
To my work I owe a lot … it literally saved me this summer … back from the spontaneous abortion of my twins, it was the only thing that gave me strength and courage to go on and not to fall into the tunnel of depression! I don’t hide that I worked crying for both physical and mental pain … but there I did it! And I have to say thank you to my customers [and not] that at that time they kept ordering me cakes … and I, not knowing how to say no … I checked and completed my job! Thank you thank you very much! You saved me without knowing what was happening to me! I believe there was the hand of the Lord in all of them! Thanks also to some good friends [Elizabeth Davila, among these]. And today, after almost 7 months, it is still my job to keep me mentally busy and to give me different goals to want to achieve!
Soon for those who already follow or decide to follow me on my page Mery’s cake there will be an important novelty that will concern a new area … but we always talk about cakes ❣I knew that I liked the manual skills, but I didn’t know I received this great gift … my parents are very proud, my father looks at my incredibly wrapped cakes and asks me: Is it a cake?! I am happy with this great opportunity … I am happy because only 5 years back I looked at Buddy and thought: how much I would like to work making cakes. It would be wonderful …. and now here I am ❣ I am always me but with the job of my dreams❣ I have a long way to go, I’m starting out .. but I hope to go higher and higher with the support of God, my family, and all of you!
Finally, some advice I’d like to share with women out there is that my life has not been easy at all, but my passion for baking opened up my heart again and gave me hope to keep going.
God had a plan for me and I will continue to follow it.
Now for the women that have gone through the difficult moment of loosing their baby, I want to tell you we are mothers here on earth and in heaven. As cliche as it may sound it is definitely true, “God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers”
Final Thoughts
As you already now our Woman of the Month always provides our MamiThinks readers with a freebie.
This month, the freebie is your chance to be entered in a raffle. The prize is a small cake baked by the very own Mery Ciok! You get to pick the design and flavor you want!
In order to be entered in the raffle, you have to:
- like Mery’s Cake & MamiThinks pages on Facebook
- invite your friends to like the pages
- Comment done on this post or on the business pages so we can add your name to the raffle
Winner will be picked at the end of this month and you can get your custom cake as soon as the beginning of March!
Winner must be able to pick cake up from Katy, Texas
My Ko-fi button
If you can donate a few dollars to help us develop this site, I would really be grateful!
WOW eres una gran mujer y un ejemplo de que todo se puede felicidades
estoy deacuerdo!
GREAT READ!!!
Thank you!
Definitely an inspiration!
Indeed!!