Bess M Charles is an award-winning professional cake artist turned Children’s Author.  Bess has been named SWFL Top 40 Under 40 Business Professional, Recipient of the Elaine G McLaughlin Hospitality Award, SWFL Distinguished Entrepreneur Award nominee, Board Member of the Mighty Mikey Foundation, amongst being a local SWFL Community Volunteer and Speaker.  Bess loves to speak about her passion and humble beginnings to anyone that will listen.  It always has been a dream of hers to write a children’s book and mentor the next generation of successful women!  In 2019, that dream has come true with her first Children’s Book, The Adventures of LadyCakes; Kindness is Sweet.  Bess was born in NJ and raised in Upstate NY, where she graduated from Sherburne-Earlville Central School and went off to Le Moyne College, in Syracuse, NY.  Bess studied with a major in Criminology with a minor in Psychology.  Prior to completing her degree Bess craved finding a more creative and exciting career, so she decided to move in another direction.  After leaving college, Bess worked as a waitress at a local Italian Restaurant where she met her husband Jeff, the then pizza guy.  From Upstate NY the young couple moved to Cape Coral, FL where Bess worked in corporate America before finding her true passion in cakes.  Bess and her husband have two children -Tyler and Katelyne. Creating Tyler and Katelyne’s first birthday cakes really solidified the love Bess has for creating beautiful cakes and the passion continued to grow with each creation.  After some convincing, Jeff, joined the dream and LadyCakes Bakery opened their first location in 2014.  Since LadyCakes has opened, the bakery has achieved national, global and regional recognition for their creative designs, innovations and entrepreneurial greatness.  Bess continues to create cakes everyday at the bakery but looks forward to creating more titles in “The Adventures of LadyCakes” series and working with local organizations to influence the next generations of strong women!