When Christina Edwards was in the fourth grade, her ambition was to become the first female astronaut to land on Mars. It’s the sort of lofty goal you might hear from the average fourth-grader.
But Edwards was not your average fourth-grader.
By then, she was an accomplished baker and elementary-school entrepreneur. Her carrot cupcakes, then her specialty, were an in-demand item at the Huron Lake Front Farmer’s Market. Folks would wait in line, anticipating her arrival after school, and she consistently, quickly sold out.
![]()
Bryan EdwardsChristina and Angie Edwards“People would always ask her what she was going to do with her money that she was making from all the stuff she was selling,” says Angie Edwards, Christina’s mom, who started her along Christina’s baking journey. “And it was, ‘I want to go to Mars.’”
So far, the Mars expedition has not materialized. But now 19, Christina Edwards is the founder of Christina’s Creations, a thriving, home-based family bakery that serves up cookies, cakes, and just about anything Christina’s still-scientific, experimental mind can bake up.
Baking is clearly a passion, but being a young businessperson also seems to suit Christina.
“It’s a little bit of both,” she says. “There are definitely days when I’d rather sleep in and not work on anything. I’m 19, so of course I want to sleep in and not do anything. But last night, I was up till midnight baking because I’ve got to get my orders done, and it was fun.”
Baking at midnight might sound hectic to most, but Christina’s schedule is actually somewhat
less chaotic now than it was even just a couple of years ago. She’s a 2023 graduate of the Erie Huron Ottawa Vocational Education (EHOVE) culinary program and at one time was enrolled in college courses, high school classes and EHOVE culinary school.
All that was after COVID-19 hit in her freshman year of high school and shut down her weekly jaunts to the farmer’s market, forcing her to switch business models and launch a
Christina’s Creations Facebook page. The page, which now has more than 2,000 followers, took off.
Angie stepped in to help fulfill orders as Christina juggled a burgeoning business while attending classes. Christina’s younger brothers and sister were recruited to help and became familiar with packaging up the baked goods and answering the door for people picking up orders.
“It was craziness,” Christina says.
Bryan Edwards, Christina’s father, is a marketing director and handles that end of the business, which includes a website, various social media accounts and employs Google Analytics to drive customer traffic.
Christina’s Creations might be the most social media marketing-savvy, 19-year-old-owned family business as you can find.
For her part, Christina is an award-winning baker, officially. As a high school junior at EHOVE, she won Ohio ProStart’s 2022 Creative Cakes first-place award for a cake inspired by the Disney film “Up.” She’s won at least three other awards for her efforts, and she definitely has evolved since her carrot-cupcake days at the farmer’s market.
![]()
Courtesy of Christina's CreationsBridal shower cookies with edible glitterCut-out cookies are probably the company’s mainstay these days, as custom cookie designs seem to have supplanted cupcakes in popularity among schools and organizations hosting events. This past summer, Christina started doing wedding cakes, progressing from simple-but-elegant to more elaborate, professional creations.
“I love sitting and decorating cakes,” she says, mentioning the cake awards she won while at EHOVE. “I just think, by far, it’s fun to sit and decorate cakes.”
The family has five electric mixers in the household – “that sounds obnoxious because it is,” Christina says – and recently purchased a commercial 20-quart Hobart model, a significant investment. There’s also a commercial oven sitting in the garage, poised for the day when or if Christina’s Creations moves to its own brick-and-mortar location. That’s a goal but not one the family is eager to immediately discuss.
As a home-based kitchen for now, Christina’s Creations strictly adheres to Ohio’s Cottage Food laws. Those laws dictate what food products can and cannot be produced in a home-based business and how they can be prepared. Christina is a stickler when it comes to food safety and professionalism, which should come as no surprise.
As a high school junior, she was certified as a handler by the food safety program ServSafe, the industry standard in Ohio and beyond. Recently, Christina earned ServSafe manager status. That designation allows her to work professionally in any establishment nationwide.
It’s a big accomplishment, perhaps especially for a 19-year-old who, just five years ago was selling cupcakes at the local farmer’s market. And, perhaps as many 19-year-olds would, Christina took to Facebook to announce the news. The post garnered more than a hundred likes and comments, understandable given the following she has within the community and online. But one comment about her certification stood out in particular.
It was from somebody Christina doesn’t really know but whom she recognized from years ago, one of her most reliable, loyal cupcake customers from the farmer’s market. Somebody who supported her endeavors from the start and who seemed to know the fourth-grader was going places. The Facebook comment was a single, important question:
“Is that certificate good for Mars, too??”