ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH
Fort Worth women are making headlines daily as business owners, entrepreneurs, top management officers, and political leaders. So, here at Fort Worth Woman, we are selecting one of our city’s shining stars each month. These are the movers and shakers you need to know, and we are proud to honor their accomplishments as our WOMEN OF THE MONTH.
Tareka Lofton
Owner of Loft22 Cakes
From the beginning my goal was to have the free spirit of creativity and sophistication to take our client’s vision and event to the next level. I love innovation of design, using vintage southern charm.
Meet July’s Fort Worth Woman!
Tareka Lofton is a true Fort Worth gem. Born and raised in Texarkana, Arkansas she originally started off her career as an award-winning visual artist in both painting and sculpture. After years of refining her talent and developing a growing love of the culinary arts, she relocated to Fort Worth and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu in Dallas. This risk and journey to culinary school was a massive change for her but shortly after graduating in 2013, her journey started and her dream began to unfold.
Dreams can be funny though as they don’t always have the picture-perfect beginning we imagine. Tareka explains, “I was learning my dream career path, on the beginning of an incredible pastry journey. This was the craziest risk- to quit my job and go to Le Cordon Blue at age 30 but something in my gut told me it would be worth the struggle and that it would be okay. This was the best decision I ever made.” Tareka was prepared and eager to learn her everything about her craft so she began an unpaid internship at Stir Crazy Baked Goods under Robbie Werner. This was by far the hardest economical journey she had faced to date but she baked, cleaned, and soaked up every business detail like a sponge. Tareka states that she would be given “tips from the tip jar at the end of the day and that was often just the gas money I needed to get back home and grab a $1 burger somewhere. But how bad do you want your dream?”
As Stir Crazy Baked Goods moved over to their new location on Magnolia Avenue, they left their original kitchen behind, which was the perfect shell for Tareka’s dream of owning her own business to fill in the gaps.
Now fast forward to 2016 and this is where Loft22 Cakes was born. “From the beginning my goal was to have the free spirit of creativity and sophistication to take our client’s vision and event to the next level. I love innovation of design, using vintage southern charm.”
You can now find Tareka’s bakery storefront on Daggett Avenue in the Near Southside Fort Worth. She has been hard at work designing cakes that are both artistic and beautiful to look at while also having a taste that is reminiscent of time spent in your Grandma’s kitchen. Her social media is covered in spectacular cakes that will make your eyes pop open in amazement of her creativity and flavors that will cause your mouth to uncontrollably drool.
What Tareka loves about our city of Fort Worth is “the comradery and sense of a close-knit community. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like it anywhere else.” The love, support and selfless nurturing she has witnessed as local business owners have supported her and others dreams has made an impact on where her business is today. “The way business owners help each other here is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in another city!”
Her word for her impact as a business woman on our city is unity which when you think about a cake at a celebration, wedding, or event is all too fitting. The eating of the cake is when an entire room gathers for a joint cause and stops to enjoy the moment. Tareka is the center of that unity and the talent behind the beauty that is displayed.
“We are a very small company, but growing each year. Right now I have a few future ideas but am going to ride the waves of our growth and see what is meant to happen next. I am so grateful!” Loft22 Cakes focuses on specialty wedding couture cakes, cakes for all celebrations, pastries, cupcakes, cakeballs, and cookies with flavors ranging from Raspberry Chambord, to Lemonberry, to Maple Bacon, to Sprinklefetti. The flavors, taste, and custom creativity make any occasion worth celebrating! To chat with Tareka and order your custom, delicious creation, e-mail her at Loft22cakes@gmail.com.