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WOW!! I can hardly believe we are actually a GO on the United Kingdom sister website. It seems like only yesterday that I sent the "Have you absolutely lost your mind?" email. Here's the story...
Back in 1999 when my friend Gina moved from Georgia to the UK, I was still working full-time for her brother's company. We emailed regularly and - despite the miles between us - became even closer friends. In April of 2006, after not hearing from Gina for a few months, I got an email that absolutely broke my heart. As I read, a little voice kept saying "teach Gina to make the diaper cakes". I didn't give it much thought because it seemed so impossible. Still, it haunted me and, as the days passed, the little voice turned into a loud yell. As fate would have it, one of my corporate customers needed a diaper cake gift shipped to a client - IN THE UK! I called FedEx for a quote to ship the 8 pound, 3 tier diaper cake to London and was floored to learn it would cost $200 FOR SHIPPING ALONE. I began searching companies in the UK to see if I could find one whose diaper cakes were similar to our Kel's BabyCakes. I thought if our client could purchase the diaper cake directly from a UK company, shipping would be minimal. I located three UK companies whose diaper cakes were lovely, though slightly different from ours. I emailed the websites I'd found to our client, who said that she appreciated the effort, but "they just aren't a Kel's BabyCake". It occurred to me that if Gina knew how to make our diaper cakes, I could have just taken the order, and trusted her to take care of it. Immediately, I emailed Gina with a detailed description of the nutty idea. Much to my surprise, she was excited about the thought of having her own business. Within a few weeks, she had booked her plane ticket back to the States and signed on for The Baby Show in London. Once we began working together, Gina looked as though she had been putting together "nappy cakes" her entire life - even coming up with some brilliant fresh ideas of her own. She has a natural talent for design and is just as much of a perfectionist as I am! By the time she flew home, she knew how to make all versions of our Kel's BabyCakes, including the new Blooming Babies line, and Hidden Treasure Nappy Cakes was born.
On October 15, I will be boarding a plane to leave the US for only the SECOND time in my life. I have my passport and mp3 player, no liquids in my cosmetic bag and a suprisingly good fake British accent to be the cousin of "King Redneck". Hopefully, I'll fit right in at The Baby Show in London on October 20-22. And just to think, it all started with that still, small voice whispering God's inspiration.
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