Rosanna Ferreira is living her dreams

BY DAY, she is a practicing Information Communication Technology (ICT) Engineer providing technological solutions in a male-dominated world. By night, she puts on her entrepreneurial hat as she whips up her signature cream cheese frosting for her sinfully delicious cupcakes to meet the demands of her clientele.

Rosanna Ferreira is not your typical girl. At 26, she is enjoying the best of both worlds as she fulfills her dream of being an ICT engineer, and simultaneously manages her own business – creating a brand of her own in the cake industry.
Born to Raymond and Susanna Ferreira, Rosanna, fondly called ‘Rose’, spent the first eight years of her life in Alberttown, Georgetown. It was there that Rose developed a love for baking and decorating cakes. For hours, she would watch her grandmother “Agnes Rutherford’ skillfully icing cakes.

“Her designs were so beautiful and carefully made. Each curve, each dot and each surface was carefully and neatly done by grandma’s steady hands. It was something to watch,” Rose told the Pepperpot Magazine as she reminisced about those ‘good old days.’
Her life took a drastic turn at the age of eight. Her family had relocated from Alberttown to a gated community – away from the busy city streets. For Rose, it meant no friends or neighbours to play with or even a light afternoon chat. Before she knew it, books took the place of her friends.

At Marian Academy, she successfully wrote eight subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations – all science related. But it was at School of the Nations while completing Sixth Form that Rose started to develop a knack for technology after being introduced to programming.

“My final year of Sixth Form was challenging being the only girl in the class but it was the first step to realising the love I now have for ICT, as that year I graduated with the Computer Science class prize. It was a mark of my first real achievement in the field and I loved how it felt to accomplish what seemed nearly impossible,” she said. Rose would later move on to reading for her Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science at the University of Guyana. She was 18.

As her love for technology grew, so did her love for baking cakes. At birthdays and anniversaries, and even during the festive seasons like Christmas, Rose would seize every opportunity to show off her baking skills.
“Baking unique cakes easily became my thing. Remembering my grandma, I started practising and trying to do what I had seen her do so many times. I quickly discovered I was good at it and people loved the cakes I made,” Rose said.

“I was encouraged and pushed by my close friends to take my cake talent to the next level. At first, it was quite scary to start my own business. If anyone had suggested that I should open my own business while I read for my Bachelor of Computer Science I would have laughed. Today it is a different story all together,” she added, while smiling with sense of accomplishment.

Acknowledging that the cake industry, though old, remains very competitive and female dominated, Rose said she readily took up the challenge, and like many women across the world now uses her hobby to generate revenue.

“There are always birthdays, weddings, parties and other special events and so cakes are always on demand… However the industry lacks variety and so if you are looking for a character cake, you can find at least three in five cake decorating businesses with similar designs, in either chocolate or vanilla flavour. My aim is to bring my creativity to this industry not only offering the conventional cakes and cupcakes in a wider variety of flavours, but also a wider variety of desserts and personalised packages which will cater toward customers rather than customers trying to fit into limited choices offered,” the baker by night explained.

It was her determination to be outstanding that led to the name ‘Rose’s cupcakes and Unique Delights’ for her business.
For Rose, her technological skills mixed with her baking and decorating techniques will help her to change the conventional way products and services are offered in this industry.
“For the mere fact that ICT is heavily incorporated into the services offered along with the variety and customisation offered to customers makes Rose’s Cupcakes a complete game changer for the industry,” she posited.

But in order to become an effective manager of her business, Rose in September will begin reading for her Commonwealth Masters in Business Administration.
Though having a full-time job as an ICT engineer and managing her own business is no walk in the park, Rose said her love for both professions makes it rewarding.

“It is no easy task working eight hours during the day and then to complete baking and decorating at nights to complete orders made. Some nights I forget what sleep is but seeing happy and satisfied customers makes me feel great and accomplished,” she said.
And while her days can be really hectic, Rose still finds time to cuddle up in her favourite chair to read a novel while sipping on a glass of wine.