DALLAS — There is so much change in our world these days, and one small example can be found on Dara Mascianica’s front porch.
It's now pulling double duty.
"This is my storefront," she said.
It happened after the pandemic turned her life as a wife, mother and CPA on its head.
"It has been….just a shock," said Mascianica.
With the new and strange free time she found when she stopped shuttling her girls to school and activities, she returned to a source of comfort: Baking.
"Over the years that’s just been my creative outlet," she said.
Then, a little more than a month ago, the family was eating an average cookie cake. Her husband said hers was better, and he meant it.
"I was making cookie cakes so I was like, 'We’ll see if I can sell some,'" she said.
Mascianica’s stress hobby became a side hustle, named Butter Bar Bake Shoppe.
The menu features cinnamon rolls, cookie cakes, butter bars and brownies. In just a few weeks, she secured her logo, word-of-mouth marketing, online ordering and contactless payment and front porch dropoff techniques.
It’s taking off in a way that Mascianica never thought possible, because in her busy life before the virus, it honestly wasn’t.
"Yeah, I don’t know that I would have had time to think about it, and then to really consider doing it," she said.
Not all change is good, but from it can come good things. Delicious things.
"Just something to eat and feel better or give to somebody else and make them smile," Mascianica said.
The spelling of Dara Mascianica's name has been corrected.