SL_Spotlight_Randi_Leese_1021_Spotlight 11 / 1 / 21 12 : 57 PM Page 1 What was the experience of s being on the show like ? S P O T L I G H T First , we had to be quarantined for five days , get negative COVID - 19 tests , pick our wardrobe and color schemes , and begin working . We started with nine teams , each with a What was it like opening baker and an engineer , as well your bakery 10 years ago ? as a host and three judges . I loved being the artistic person When I am in a crazy or over - everyone saw me as and hav - Sweet whelming situation , I calm ing this creative outlet . Instead myself down by telling myself , of opening a brick - and - mortar “ You can do this ! ” Sometimes bakery , I decided to make - my knees give me problems custom cakes out of my home . and become stiff , but adrena - I got licensed to run a home Dream line is a great fix for this . business and made sure I fol - My lowed all the zoning , insurance , ngineering partner , e Southampton’s Randi Leese takes the cake and health regulations . Then I Jacob Swiezy from Seattle , was on the Netflix series Baking Impossible . reached out to my suppliers and amazing . Everything that he vendors and my new business did was spot on ; everything BY DEBRA WALLACE quickly took off . worked . The members of the teams quickly bonded . The show required 14 hours a day , What do you enjoy most six days a week . Being in the about baking ? studio with all these cameras When I am baking , I am truly around you and feeling the in my happy place . Being cre - pressure of the competition is a ative in a familiar environment great deal to handle . The clock and working with the edible says “ Go ” and you are just on ingredients to create art has your game . It was tough , but it always been an integral part of happened with a really cool who I am . bunch of people . We keep in LEESE WITH HER touch through WhatsApp . How did Baking Impossible BAKING IMPOSSIBLE PARTNER , JACOB SWIEZY come into your life ? My friend , a party planner , told Why should we watch Baking When it comes to talking about too much heat in the me in March 2020 that the Impossible ? kitchen , just ask Southampton baker Randi Leese about Netflix casting agents were It’s a crazy and wild show . In her life - altering experience on Baking Impossible . looking for contestants for a addition to the baking / engi - Leese’s path to fame began at age 15 , when she ignited her passion for new baking show . I filled out neering component , everything baking . Her first job was working at Hesh’s Bakery in Northeast Philadelphia . the application and I sent them had to be edible . … It was the She learned from her fellow bakers and made her first cakes for family photos of my bigger cakes , and most incredible experience birthdays , gaining inspiration and recipe advice from her paternal grandmother . the next day a casting person because it was about a lot more Although she continued to sharpen her skills and deepen her love for the called me . I was interviewed than baking and competing culinary arts , baking was always a side hobby . She spent eight years as a over Zoom . It involved an in - with the best . I learned about teacher — still baking part - time — and 10 years as a financial planner , while depth vetting process . I made my own limitations , being raising her two daughters with her husband , Kenny . Still , she believed baking several producers a toilet - paper pushed and pushed . was her destiny . cake that they liked , and finally I Ten years ago , Leese opened R.L . Cake Designs ( rlcakedesigns.com ) in was invited to compete on the What advice do you have for Southampton . The business thrived , due to her knack for creating artful cakes show . someone who may be reluc - best described as “ one of a kind . ” Some other remarkable opportunities came tant to pursue their dreams ? her way , too . This was a big deal for you in Never give up . I feel like you Baking Impossible comes to mind . On each episode of the new Netflix have to be happy . I went to col - many ways . tflix reality competition , a seasoned baker partners with a bright engineer — lege to have a skill , but teaching Yes . Not only was this a Netflix Ne “ Bakineers , ” as the teams are called — to face a series of outrageous challenges and working in the financial TV show , but I had never been of y that push them to elevate their baked goods way beyond the ordinary : field were not my passion . I away from my family ; my hus - rtes edible floats , dessert miniature golf courses , baked skyscrapers capable of knew I had to earn money and band was always with me cou withstanding an earthquake , etc . The stakes : $ 100,000 and bragging rights . find a way to be productive , when I traveled . So , it was very aph We spoke with Leese about her passion for baking , the challenges of and that drove me . In the end , I scary to me when I flew out ogr producing a TV show during a pandemic , and the rewards that come from t believe it is all about following from Philadelphia to L.A . on ho following one’s heart . your heart . September 13 , 2020 . ? P SUBURBANLIFEMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2021 96 |