Meet Kelley Douglas | Founder

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

Hi Kelley, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Growing up, my dream jobs were fairly creative-focused. I was interested in party and wedding planning, baking, and musical theater. However, when I entered college in 2008, the recession and job market made me nervous! I’m pretty risk-averse and decided to focus on a career that had good job stability: accounting. While accounting might seem like the furthest thing from a creative career, I’ve really loved it as my day job. I’m a production auditor, and get to visit sets, travel the world, and meet all kinds of amazing people. However, with my day-to-day focus on numbers and policies, I knew I needed to explore another creative outlet. Baking has always been a passion, and after baking for friends and parties, word spread outside of my circle about my treats. Creating Sugarly has been a whirlwind of fun, learning, and, of course, lots of baking! Having a balance of my more analytical day job and my more creative “night job” has been a great way for me to express myself and feel fulfilled.

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.
Even though Sugarly started as a way for friends-of-friends to find my treats and contact me about baking, I’ve loved the ride it has taken me on. I’ve really enjoyed the social media aspect of starting a brand, and love exploring social media to find other creators and inspiration through other forms of art. I’ve also loved broadening Sugarly through various series I post through my Instagram stories, including coverage of my annual Galentine’s Day party, a series on small acts of kindness called Sugarly Sunday, and a series about my wedding planning (#covidbride). Expanding the type of content I share on Sugarly has been so fun for me.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my best friend, sister, or mom comes to visit, we have a few places we always go! I absolutely adore Sugar Paper (they were a huge inspiration in both my brand and Sugarly’s name!), so we always take a peek in-store at the Brentwood Country Mart. A trip is also not complete without a meal (or two) at Sugarfish, and trying a new restaurant from my list of places I want to try! LA has no shortage of awesome food. We also love to shop, and will typically check out the beautiful Century City mall to walk around, enjoy great food, and browse the shops.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are SO many talented bakers out there. I was particularly drawn in by cookies and credit Holly Fox (@hol_fox) for my main inspiration in cookie decorating and style. I absolutely adore her work.

Instagram: @sugarly_