Bronx woman turns baking hobby into business, helping with depression, anxiety

One Bronx woman juggling grad school, mental health issues and a job has made her hobby her own business!

News 12 Staff

Oct 2, 2019, 11:41 AM

Updated 1,666 days ago

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One Bronx woman juggling grad school, mental health issues and a job has made her hobby her own business!
Kianni Johnson enjoys making her cake creations tasty and look beautiful because she knows not everything in life is sweet.
“There’s so much bad in the world, so many things that we can't control,” says Johnson.

Baking has helped her with some of the things she's been going through like anxiety and depression, and she says she wants to pay it forward.

“When I get messages from people like ‘OMG you inspired me to bake’ or ‘you inspired me to go to therapy’ that feels really good,” says Johnson.

Johnson, also known as The Cupcake Queen, decided to take her baking hobby seriously by starting a little business out of it two years ago.

After teaching herself how to bake cakes, cupcakes and doughnuts from scratch and posting it all on Instagram, the orders started rushing in.

“It's come a long way, like when I see the first cakes, I’m like ‘ahh,’” says Johnson.

She is also transparent on social media about exactly what she's going through.

“Helping people, like you never know how much you can impact a person with just a post, whether they say it or not,” says Johnson.

The process of baking and creating, she says is calming and never wants it to feel like a job.

“It's really helped with my anxiety, it's really calming. It’s such a stress relief from grad school,” says Johnson. “You need to find something you love and make time for it because that'll be the only thing to keep you sane in this crazy world.”


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