Juliette Wang

13-year-old business owner Juliette Wang recently won several awards for her baked goods at the Orange County Fair. The Fullerton Observer formerly covered Wang’s online business, jhwsweets88, and now she is propelling her business even further with an assortment of accolades. Her business has now moved from Instagram to an online website, jhwsweets88.com, and onto the streets of Downtown Fullerton. 

Over the summer, Juliette took her business a step forward by participating in the Downtown Fullerton Farmers Market. During her stay there, Wang said she was initially “very nervous” since it was a completely foreign environment to her. Also, business was initially slow since the baked goods at her stand were mostly desserts. But, her nervousness soon morphed into worry at the post-dinner rush. Once guests had finished their meals, Juliette was met with an overwhelming amount of customers, eventually selling out her stand. Juliette was accompanied by friends and family who “loved supporting” her to help her throughout the rush, Wang said. 

Wang’s ambitions did not end with the Farmers Market; her baking prowess has also been recognized at the Orange County Fair. After expressing interest in new baking opportunities, Wang discovered the OC Fair culinary arts competitions. Juliette entered the competitions for cookies, cheesecakes, and pies, where she submitted s’mores cookies and a sakura jelly cheesecake. The cookies are inspired by Juliette’s passion for healthy baking, with a less sugary recipe than commonly expected for s’mores cookies. Her cookies placed second in the youth division. 

The Sakura jelly cheesecake is an Asian-inspired cheesecake that caused more strife than the cookies. When making the cheesecake, Juliette was hit with some “minor issues,” said Wang, since there was no way to guarantee that the cheesecake would not crack when taken out of the cake mold. Also, Juliette worried that the Asian flavor profiles would not be as appealing to the judges with a lighter and less sweet cake and salted cherry blossoms and jelly. However, all of her worries soon drifted away when her sakura jelly cheesecake won first place in the youth division for cheesecakes and pies and was the first-place winner for youth overall against over more than 100 competitors. Winning was a surprising and exciting experience for Juliette; she was so surprised when her name was announced as a first-place winner. She was not expecting to place and did not expect to win three different awards. 

With the newfound confidence from her winnings, Juliette feels more confident about the future of her business and is excited to push herself further. Now Wang hopes to challenge herself to make more technical desserts and maybe look into competitions for healthy foods. Juliette is still taking orders from her website, jhwstweets88.com, and her Instagram, @jhw_sweets88, and is fully set for the bright future that lies ahead.

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