For Kimone Ferguson, there was no artistic turn or great search to find herself. The transition of the powerful team leader and general manager of Fortune 500 cleaning agency, Cintas, was always on the cards. “I took the position to gain experience overseeing an operation,” reveals Ferguson. Her entire corporate life was built in the service of what she would come after, Kimone’s Cake Art Studio.
Right now, Ferguson is preparing for his next pop-up event on November 25 and 26 at the Aventura Mall in Miami. She’s buying ingredients from restaurant outlets and farmers markets to prepare for last night’s big bake. “I bake as close to the pop as possible,” she explains. “I have to make sure everything is as fresh as possible for my customers to enjoy.” Ferguson is diligent in tidying up her brand and making sure her settings are correct. “I get a lot of compliments on my setup,” she boasts. “I take pride in making sure everything is organized and looks good for clients to see.”
Throughout the interview, Ferguson alternates frequently between “clients” and “clients.” The self-taught baker (and self-taught salesperson) earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida and immerses herself in business jargon out of habit. This fluidity is also a testament to her unconventional and meticulously planned career path of using a high-ranking position at a Fortune 500 company as a springboard to pursue her dream of baking.
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However, it’s not all business for Ferguson. His childhood was perfumed by the smell of rum and coconut cakes. Born in New York, she remembers living in her Jamaican grandmother’s kitchen when she was a child. “I had the opportunity to watch my grandmother cook and bake different things in the kitchen. I had to try a lot of recipes, ”she laughs herself. Her family moved to Florida when she started high school and she became even more absorbed in the Jamaican culture. She took every baking class she could and experimented with her own flavors in her spare time, creating recipes she uses today.
Now, his heritage is on the menu. “It’s nice to see it come full circle, where I got to watch my grandmother at first, then really learn the recipes, and now I can have it on the menu. It has really come full circle for me,” she explains. Ella’s grandma’s rum cake is a popular seasonal offering amid her artisan cupcakes, decadent celebration cakes, and expertly crafted macaroons.
When she’s not preparing for a pop-up, Ferguson creates custom-made cakes for every occasion and teaches classes. He just taught an interactive cookie decorating class at a local elementary school. The one-woman bakery has even bigger goals for Kimone’s Cake Art Studio. “I always had this dream of opening my own bakeries in New York, Florida and Jamaica,” she explains. “New York, because that’s where I’m from. Florida, because that’s where I grew up. Jamaica, because that’s my heritage.”
