A Tasty Treat: Kaneesia’s Cheescakes

Everyone loves cheesecake. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and rich, with an endless array of potential flavor combinations.  

Picture this, a rich melt in your mouth cheesecake perfectly blended with a fresh peach cobbler, or fresh strawberries or even a classic Oreo.  

If imagining such a combination is too hard, call Kaneesia’s Cheesecakes and give her mouthwatering cheesecake a try yourself.

The Brown Mill Village resident began baking her decadent concoctions in 2020 when she picked up a second job to make additional income.  

“I was working part time at Kroger to make ends meet and when the pandemic happened, I said a quick prayer,” Kaneesia remembers. “I said, ‘Lord, what should I be doing?’ And I just started baking my cheesecakes…I haven’t been back at Kroger since.”

Like most entrepreneurs, her first few customers were friends and family who wanted to support her budding business. Kaneesia received rave reviews almost immediately and word of mouth helped her develop her customer base.  

Although the cheesecake business started as a side hustle, Kaneesia discovered that she loved baking and was inspired by other women entrepreneurs she met at through Vision. Goals. Action. (VGA).

“I took this class last year called Boss Talk, and the women that taught the class were entrepreneurs themselves. They gave us a lot of great advice and techniques to go along with writing our business plan. They sent us templates to help,” Kaneesia said.  

Kaneesia and another homeowner from the course were selected by two of the women teaching the class for one-on-one coaching leading up to the annual VGA Launch! Business pitch competition.  

VGA Launch!, a Shark Tank style business pitch competition where homeowners pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges, who are typically community volunteers, are able to compete for cash to fund their small business.  

Kaneesia was one of two winners from the night and left with tips from the judges.  

“Finances, finances, finances,” Kaneesia repeated. “It can be hard as an entrepreneur starting off because you really don’t know how to pay yourself…because you don’t want to overprice your products and you may lose customers because it could be too expensive when you have another competitor that may have a lower price than you.”

Currently, Kaneesia is working various vendor events and taking orders through her Instagram but she hopes to land a steady contract with one of the production studios in town.  

“Tyler Perry has a lot of events not far from my home, but I do know that he has a lot of events for his employees,” Kaneesia said. “And if I could just get a foot in the door and have him or an employee taste my dessert, that would be awesome.”