Above: Baker Sara Maggio with her friend, Lucas Magnelli. Some of the proceeds from Saralicious cupcakes sales have benefitted Lucas, who recently completed a long round of cancer treatment. Submitted photo

By Robert Sprague

It is hard enough to balance a part-time job with school work – imagine running your own business. East Greenwich High School freshman Sara Maggio takes it all in stride, managing a successful baking business with all the pressures of being a high school student. Sara is the owner of Baked by Saralicious and her mission is to provide delicious homemade cupcakes to local customers with the goal of donating all of her profits to charities she cares about.

Using one of her mother’s friend’s recipes, Sara started baking during the Covid lockdown in 2020 to keep busy and started her business a year later. 

“I started baking during Covid when I was really bored and had nothing to do, and I found it to be a very fun hobby.” Her mother inspired her to launch a home bakery business, helping her formulate a business plan. Her father came up with the name, Baked by Saralicious. “When I was little, my dad always called me Saralicious, and I thought that was a really cool name for a bakery.” Baking cupcakes from scratch and to order can be time consuming and demanding, but she manages to balance her business with her school work, by putting her “school work first.” She also does not take huge orders during the week so that she has time for school and baking for her customers. 

The “icing on the cupcake” of Sara’s Baked by Saralicious business venture is that she donates her profits to local charities. 

“Working with charities has been a great experience. I’ve donated to one of my friends at Cole who has cancer, I’ve donated to the North Kingstown food pantry, and my church.” Donating to her friend with cancer was important to her based on a personal experience. She wanted to help them because “someone in my family had cancer and having a friend around my age who is experiencing that is eye-opening.” In total, Baked by Saralicous has donated about $6,000 dollars during the last year, spreading support and comfort for local people in need. 

Sara has learned a lot since starting her business last year. She likes the flexibility of owning her own business because she gets to work when she wants and can choose what she wants to do unlike working for someone else. Although running mostly everything herself, Sara’s mother runs her Facebook group. For others who might want to do the same, she would encourage them to “go for it,” advising that “there’s nothing that can go wrong, if [your business is] something that you like to do….” In her experience, if it is something you like to do, people will support you as much as they can.

To support Sara’s charitable efforts and enjoy some delicious cupcakes (chocolate and lemon are her favorites), contact Baked by Saralicious through Facebook Messenger, or by email at [email protected]. Further instructions are listed on her Facebook page, which will be linked here.

Robert Sprague is a senior at East Greenwich High School.