TASTE 2025 miaminewtimes.com 1212 W hen Miami na- tive Kathryn Saks started her home bakery in 2010, she knew there was something special about her. From a very young age, she’d had a passion for baking and a natural talent for decorating beautiful cakes, cheesecakes, and cupcakes, but growing up wasn’t always easy. Classified as having a learn- ing disability, she was placed in special education classes all the way through grade school and high school. But despite the challenges, there was always something she knew she loved, and that was baking. When she came home from school, she’d rush to turn on the Food Network to watch Paula Deen, her favorite celebrity chef, and soak up all of the inspiration she possibly could. She soon began experiment- ing with cakes of all kinds in her family’s kitchen. “When I was a kid I was very creative,” she tells New Times. “I was always baking, drawing, and I was very into art.” When she graduated high school, she resolved to open a bakery of her own. Although this career progression may seem ordinary, for her it was only the first step in an inspiring process that would take a significant turn a decade later, when a diagnosis imbued her life and her business with deeper meaning, one that might inspire the lives of many others in her own community. Saks’ journey to entrepreneur- ship began in 2009, when she graduated from South Miami Senior High School. “I started thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’ Then I suddenly started getting all of these letters in the mail about culinary school and I go, ‘I didn’t sign up for this?’ But I guess my sisters signed me up,” she says with a laugh, adding that she feels blessed to have grown up with an incredibly supportive group of women around her: her mother, America Blanca, and her two sisters, Kelly (a Miami-based fashion blogger) and Kristen. She promptly enrolled in a culinary arts program at Miami- Dade Public Schools’ Robert Morgan Educational Center & Technical College near Zoo Miami and took every Wilton cake decorating class offered at Michaels craft store. It was chal- lenging at first, but Saks practiced diligently until she felt prepared to open a bakery of her own. In 2010, with help from Kris- ten, who created a website for her, she launched Kathy’s Kakery out of her mother’s Cutler Bay kitchen. At the time, she was one of the very first to use Yelp to advertise her small business. “I was like the only home baker on Yelp — and one of the only home bakers in Miami,” she says. “Now everyone does it, so it’s hard to get business now.” Her first desserts were fon- dant cakes — despite having zero knowledge of how to do fondant. “My first fondant cake was my sister’s 21st birthday cake. I cov- ered it myself,” she recounts. “My mom goes, ‘Your cake is burning! Take it out!’ but it turned out cute.’” She soon added delicious cheesecakes, cupcakes, and other desserts to her repertoire, baking custom orders for family members, friends, and, as word got around, other customers. In November 2022, a dozen years after starting her business from scratch, Saks’ therapist rec- ommended to one of her sisters that she look into getting a proper diagnosis of her learning disabil- ity, suspecting that Kathryn might fall on the autism spectrum. Sure enough, her therapist was right. “I just found out two years ago, so it’s all new to me still,” Saks says. “I found out when I was 31, about to turn 32. I had no clue. I mean, when I was little, I had learning disabilities and I was in special classes, but I had no clue.” Because Saks had never knowingly interacted with classmates on the autism spec- trum, she’d grown up believing her challenges stemmed from a learning disability. “Some people are like, ‘Oh, I used to hang out with people who are autistic and I feel like I’m just like them.’ I had never hung out with anyone with autism. At South Miami Senior High, there was a kid who had As- perger’s. He was super-smart but I never hung out with him. I never hung out with anybody who had what I had. I always as- sumed I had a learning disability — that’s what I thought I had.” Now she’s using her bakery and the platform it provides to spread awareness about entrepreneurship for people on the autism spectrum. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term that can include challenges with social interactions, communication, and sensory processing, and other complications. It’s a lifelong disability and presents itself in myriad forms, from A Miami baker recasts her autism diagnosis into a source of inspiration. BY NICOLE LOPEZ-ALVAR Flour Power Kathryn Saks Kathy’s Kakery photo >> p16 “I found out when I was 31, about to turn 32. I had no clue.”
