Sarah Fox Is Named “Woman of the Week”

The Kansas Office of the Securities Commissioner has named East sophomore Sarah Fox “Woman of the Week”. This recognition, which is connected with Women’s History month, was extended to Sarah because of her cake pop business, Great Expecaketions.

“It was a really great honor,” Sarah said. “It kind of came out of the blue and I think it’s great [that] they wanted to give me recognition for what I was doing and how I was helping the community at a young age.”

Sarah started the business in February of 2011 by catering to her brother’s Valentine’s Day party at Prairie Elementary School. She and her parents then went about the process of obtaining a license, ordering inventory and getting the word out via Facebook and her website. Great Expecaketions offers seven flavors of cake, from chocolate to confetti, coated in milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate. The treats can be bought in single orders, but Sarah also caters to large events and weddings.

Business was slow at first, until a spread over cake pops in the KC Star during the summer of 2011 featured Sarah and her business. Since then, Great Expecaketions has gone viral, earning orders from around the state and praise from around the globe.

“When her story went out [in the KC Star] last year, it went all around from one end of the country to the other,” Sarah’s mom, Sybbie, said. “We had requests coming in from other states, we even had comments from people in the UK saying, ‘When are you gonna start shipping?’. That was just crazy to me.”

The Office of the Securities’ Commissioner is a department of the state government concerned with business, finance, and investments. They had been searching the area for businesses run by women to be honored with the “Woman of the Week” award, and Sarah was the first and may be the youngest woman to be selected. The family was very surprised to receive a call on March 19 from Shannon Stone, a spokeswoman from the Securities Commissioner’s Office, informing Sarah that she had been selected for the award.

“I had never really heard about it, since it was a new project.” Sarah said. “I was really lucky, I was a little surprised that they had found me, but it’s been great for me and great for business.”

Sarah and her mom admit that they sometimes forget that many high school sophomores aren’t in charge of their own business. The “Woman of the Week” award reminded the entire family that their situation is unique and that Sarah is an “exceptional young girl”. Sarah hasn’t decided whether she will maintain the business after high school, but at the moment, she is determined to continue filling orders and baking cake pops.

“Since I’m only a sophomore, I really have no idea where I want to go, or what I want to do yet,” Sarah said. “I’m hoping this will help to lead me towards what I want to do in the future.”