This young entrepreneur owner is making big waves with her small business, Cakes By Evangeline, in Potomac, Maryland.
Eighteen-year-old Evangeline Pergantis of Winston Churchill High School was recently awarded the NFIB/DDC Advocacy Young Entrepreneur Award in recognition of her cake business, Cakes By Evangeline. Located in Potomac, Maryland, Evangeline has learned a lot in the few years since she started baking.
“Rather than sit in a classroom to learn about business, what better way to learn about the business world than to be a part of it,” she says.
Pergantis says she found sudden inspiration to bake over one weekend, and after receiving rave reviews from an online posting, she jumped on the opportunity to start a business.
“I learned hands-on about the ingredients and how critical it is to be aware of my supplies, or my hard-earned money would go to waste,” Pergantis explains.
Her business really took off after getting involved with an organization called Fair Goals that began sponsoring her creations. She also began teaching decorating classes with the Girl Scouts of the USA, and her cupcakes were even featured on MTV during a recording of singer Cody Simpson’s tour bus.
“Everyone was wondering who made the cupcakes in that show, and that was me.”
Pergantis says winning the Young Entrepreneur award will advance her education choices at the University of Arizona next year and her future career.
“Because I want to go into entrepreneurship at my school in Arizona, I think it would really show some initiative that I already won an award in the field,” Pergantis says.
After a few years of selling her creations and working with a local frozen yogurt business, Pergantis says she focuses on maintaining the integrity of her product.
“The biggest challenge is how to keep the shelf life of my products because they expire,” she explains. “I don’t use any ingredients that aren’t real. People don’t really know this, but [some companies], instead of using real butter, they use vegetable shortening. Instead of using real vanilla extract, they use an imitation. They’re ingredients are not real, but my thing is that I use real ingredients.”
The experience has given her an understanding of what it takes to start a business, how to be successful and how her work will help her in the long run.
“Success is knowing that you’ve made a difference and you’re genuinely happy with what you’ve accomplished,” she says. “If I know that all these things I’ve accomplished with my cupcake business have given me tiny lessons, an education, it’s like having insight into an internship or a job before getting the job.”
