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Fond du Lac Arts is a series exploring the stories, creative expression, and craftsmanship of Fond du Lac artists from a range of disciplines.
This project is produced by AMPERS, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities in partnership with WGZS, the Radio Voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
INTRO: You are listening to Fond du Lac Arts: Community through the Creative Arts.
HOST: For Aleyna Morales, her baking business, Baked to Bliss by Laney, didn't start with the bread, the cookies, or even the blueberry lemon scones.
ALEYNA MORALES: When 2022-2023 came around, that was a really dark time in my life. I had really awful postpartum depression, and it got to a very critical point where my partner kind of sat me down, and he was like, “We need to get you help.” We need to find things that help me find my purpose.
HOST: She started taking classes through Fond du Lac's Gitigaan program that got her into cooking. The next thing she knew, she was nursing sourdough starter. Her older daughter urged her to post bread baking videos on TikTok.
ALEYNA MORALES: Yeah, I had a few girls reach out to me, and they were like, "I see that you're making sourdough. Oh my gosh, let me get my hands on some of those loaves.” And so that was where it started was I started baking bread for my community.
HOST: Bread led to cookies, and then she heard about a gathering of Fond du Lac entrepreneurs. The meeting opened a door for her and put her in contact with a neighbor, Jackson Ripley, who was starting a drive-through coffee business, MiigWitches Brew.
ALEYNA MORALES: He was just starting it, little tiny details that he was still trying to fill in before he launched it.
HOST: Like what were his customers going to eat with their maple latte?
ALEYNA MORALES: So I started making like these pumpkin cream cheese muffins for him, and then that was kind of where scones came into the picture. Blueberry lemon was the OG. That was the one that really got us on the map.
HOST: A few years on, Aleyna Morales has found a business, and the bliss that comes from sharing her gift for baking.
OUTRO: Fond du Lac Arts is produced by AMPERS and WGZS, the radio voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.