Meet Krista Lee | Owner of Krybaby Cakes and Cards | Graphic Designer/Social Media Marketing

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

Hi Krista, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
To answer this I need to give a little context of who I am as a person. My whole life I never felt very confident in myself or good enough in anything. When I was in high school trying to choose what I wanted to major in college I felt so much anxiety because I had no idea what my future should look like. I even wrote one of my college application essays on being mediocre. I’ve spent many years envying my friends for knowing the direction they wanted to go in life and the stability in their careers. To this day, I wish I had that kind of certainty instead of being an overthinker who is VERY indecisive. So as a young and impressionable 18 year old I thought who cares about money and I should just follow my passion which honestly still haunts me today. All the what ifs and could of beens if I had just chosen a better major. I ended up majoring in Graphic Design because I thought I was artsy and it seemed like the most practical out of the art careers. When I attended California State University Long Beach I even made it into the competitive Graphic Design BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) program which took only 20 something students a semester. But I think that is when the imposter syndrome started because my classmates were people who already knew how to use all the adobe programs and were photographers and skilled drawers etc. I remember one girl said she wanted to be a graphic designer since she was in elementary school and in my head I was like at that age all I wanted to do was play tether ball and watch T.V. I spent the whole time feeling very inferior and being stuck in a comparison loop but it was too late to switch majors. After graduating I suffered from pretty bad post-grad depression and my crippling fear of interviewing and not being able to talk highly of myself prevented me from finding a “real” job for a few years. In 2019 I finally got a Junior Art Director job for a sustainable start up fashion brand called “womn.” that I absolutely loved. It was a small team of 8 but my boss, the creative director, was such an amazing person and allowed me to voice my insecurities without judgement. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic the business closed after only a year of me being there – truly one of my biggest heartbreaks. If not for that I would have still been there and well probably not answering this interview. So that was my first layoff and then the darkness I thought I finally got rid of crept back in. In 2021 I finally found a social media marketing job for another small sustainability start up – this time a furniture brand. I loved the mission of this brand so much but over the 2ish years I was there I’d learn what losing work life balance, being overworked and underpaid, and what burnout felt like. And due to inexperienced and terrible management (that gaslit you), I experienced my 2nd layoff mid 2023. That was probably one of the hardest times I ever cried in my life as if my lungs were going to collapse. I had pictured myself working there for a long time because I was the type to get stuck in a routine of something even if my mental health suffered. And I again found myself in that dark place with no idea what I wanted to do with my life. For a whole year I looked for jobs with no success. I turned 30 and got married while unemployed while spiraling about money.

Ok sorry I know I rambled a lot about my 20s but these past years really made me question if corporate life was for me. I never saw myself as a corporate ladder climber and honestly wouldn’t mind a boring job as long as it was healthy. But growing up I always wanted to start a business one day, even if it was just a pipe dream. In my late teens and early 20s I remember saying oh I want to start a streetwear clothing brand (I even did a few iron-on sweaters for fun, which don’t hold up in the washing machine haha), or I want to open up a late night dim sum place with alcoholic boba (which is funny because I am actually allergic to alcohol and now those types of places exist so I joke that my idea in my head was stolen and I missed being a trendsetter). Or I wanted to open a cafe that had a poetry open mic because I used to love writing poetry (still want to write a poetry book someday). But all those ideas were usually just silly things I’d say.

Then in September 2024 I was scrolling on Instagram and kept seeing wedding stationery freelancers/small businesses and I thought hmm I could maybe do that with my graphic design background and plus I had just planned my own wedding. So at first that was going to be the business idea. But then the algorithm started showing me patterned/designed sponge cakes and abstract iced dome cakes adorned with florals. Both styles of cake I had never seen before but they were so cool and creative that I thought I could combine my love of food/cooking and my design experience. And so I just started teaching myself to make cakes. Thank goodness for the internet and social media! For the first time in what felt like forever I finally felt inspired to learn and to experiment. I was excited to try out new flavor combinations and techniques. Now with all the good there are still feelings of what am I even doing, will I make any money from this, I am going to fail before even starting etc. But in the end I wanted to start this business to be my own boss and to prove to myself I can be more than my past. Even though there are still many tears being shed, at least I am the one causing them and not a management team that could care less about me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Krybaby Cakes & Cards is a bespoke dessert and stationery (MEHKO) business for the events and moments that make you feel something. I wanted to shift career paths after a traumatic layoff left me lost and questioning what will make me happy as I mentioned earlier. This business was born out of a dark place but it helped respark something that hadn’t been lit in a long time. I get to use my hands to make beautiful edible art for those that want something that looks good AND tastes good.

I specialize in custom made desserts with many having Asian influenced or fusion flavors as well as savory sweet elements. Those desserts include pies (eg. Hojicha Cream Pie – miso caramel & chili crisp chocolate etc.) and cookies (eg. Corn Cheese, Pork Floss & Maple etc.). But the main focus is cakes – so abstract, ikebana inspired Swiss Meringue Buttercream iced cakes like floral dome cakes (Eg. Mango Sticky Rice Tres Leches, Milk Tea Tres Leches, DTF – chocolate cake w/butter mochi, sea salt cream & dark chocolate pastry cream etc.) and then painted/designed “not too sweet” sponge cakes. Although there are a lot of home cake businesses that exist, I hope my combination of flavors and style provide a unique option for my customers. I do think the designed sponge cakes are rare and I haven’t seen a lot of bakers in the area do them. They always make people ask “how did you do that?”. I actually recently took a master class by Malaysian cake artist Keempossible for this particular cake skill in Toronto, Canada this past March to help refine what I learned on my own. That was probably one the bigger leaps I took and made the idea of starting Krybaby Cakes more real.

In addition to dessert I have a few savory bites such as onigiri (Eg. egg salad with ikura, spicy cod and shiso), focaccia, and Savory Cakes aka the Sandwich Cake which can look iced like a regular cake but are for those that don’t have a sweet tooth. In the future I hope to add a stationery service to be able to provide a wider special occasion package. Krybaby cakes is for anyone looking to pause for a moment and have their cake and eat it too! And for those that appreciate the artistry behind something hand made. I became a certified MEHKO after passing my kitchen inspection in June 2024 but didn’t officially launch on Instagram until November 2024 because I was still recipe testing and also was just scared out of my mind.

I hope to use my business platform to bring a little price/cost transparency for home cooking businesses as well. I think the hardest obstacle so far has been pricing because you realize your business will not be within everyone’s budget and you have to find your target audience and try not to take things personally. Which will be an ongoing struggle for me since I am a chronic overthinker. But what I want to get people to understand is a home business doesn’t have the same wholesale discounts as a bigger business nor do I have the space in my apartment to store large quantities of things. I’m just a one woman show (who also has to pay self employment taxes) and so I’m still learning how to balance the costs and the profit. On a more fun note, I want to use my business Instagram to start a series called “Chatter Batter” where I share random life stories while baking to create some community connection!

With all that said, everytime I give someone their order I still feel my imposter syndrome hanging around and my mind tells me they are going to hate it. But then I get a text saying how much they loved it or I turned them into a cake person and then I think maybe this IS where I’m meant to be.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Monrovia which is next to the 626 area and so I am surrounded by so many good foodie cities. But I am also close enough to East LA or OC!

Some potential eats:
Gs Ethiopian in Covina (love the family who owns this)
Chicha San Chen in Rowland Heights (for milk tea boba)
Yamas Fish Market in San Gabriel (gotta get the California Rolls and sashimi)
Alice’s Kitchen in Temple City (salted egg yolk wings, salt & pepper calamari, brick toast, sweet & sour pork)
Raffi’s Place in Glendale (lamb chops)
Yang’s Kitchen in Alhambra
XianJiang BBQ in Monterey Park (lamb skewers)
Churros Don Abel
Mario’s Peruvian & Seafood in Los Angeles
Tsujita Artisan Noodles in San Gabriel
Pie Trap Pizza in Covina (Lodi Dodi square)
Mo Mo Paradise (AYCE Shabu) in Arcadia
Izakaya Tonchikan in Arcadia
Ocean Bo in El Monte (Dim Sum)
Carne Asada Fries

To dos:
Concert/orchestra/Broadway Show
Smorgasburg DTLA
Museums in LA (Eg. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures)
Disneyland
Titanic Escape Room
Arts District LA
Rug Tufting activity
Going on a walk on a nice trail
Day trip to Santa Barbara to go to Kin Bakeshop for Matcha & Brioche Donuts & hike along the beach

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First I have to dedicate my shoutout to my husband. He has been my #1 supporter (and dish washer/grocery runner/unpaid employee) and believes in me more than I have ever believed in myself.

Secondly my parents, for helping me out financially during my unemployment & this time of transition.

Of course I’d like to thank all my friends and family who supported this little side project of mine from the beginning. Whether it was their words of encouragement, being taste testers or ordering something from me – it has all meant so much more than they know.

I’d also like to shoutout Cook Alliance which is a nonprofit that helped legalize the first MEHKO (Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations) in California and is “working to legitimize and support informal home cooking business so that culinary entrepreneurship is accessible to all, and particularly empowering for homemakers, caregivers, women, people of color, and immigrants.” As well as their education program Cook Academy that helped me learn how to start my own MEHKO business and provided me with a $3000 grant after completion!

Lastly a special recognition to Chantal of Biklun who recommended me for this interview spotlight and who inspires me constantly with her own small food business.

Website: https://kristanicolelee.com/ (My graphic design portfolio)

Instagram: @krybabycakes (https://www.instagram.com/krybabycakes/)

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-lee-a2b08a64/