WICKER PARK — Formerly with TipsyCake, Naomi Levine has joined The Goddess and Grocer as its director of special events, catering and cake sales.
"My passion is for cakes, cakes are what I know, who I am," said Levine.
Levine said she has known Debbie Sharpe, the owner of Goddess and Grocer — a deli, bakery, and caterer with locations in Wicker Park/Bucktown, Old Town, Downtown and O'Hare airport — "for a long time and she is a goddess."
Levine's new gig, announced in a news release issued by Goddess Restaurant Group, will include leading new business development and sales initiatives and coordinating special events and private on and off-site parties.
Most visibly, Levine will also be leading a series of cake-making and design classes to be hosted at the Goddess and Grocer, 1649 N. Damen Ave., this summer.
Originally from Australia and nicknamed the "Cake Aussie" by friends and fans, Levine moved to Chicago in 1999 and started TipsyCake in 2004. It was initially an online Humboldt Park-based business that sold baked goods to local restaurants and hotels and also specialized in creating custom special-occasion and wedding cakes.
Levine added a Bucktown retail storefront for TipsyCake in 2011 and has designed former Chicago Bears' Coach Mike Ditka's 70th birthday cake and a replica of Wrigley Field to surprise a sportscaster's husband-to-be, according to her biography.
While at Goddess and Grocer on Tuesday morning, Levine said she loves that her new job enables her to stay in the area, where her son is a student at a local neighborhood public school.
"I love Bucktown, the community here and Goddess and Grocer is a great local business," Levine said.
TipsyCake, still in operation three blocks north, at 1944 N. Damen Ave., is owned by Maria Kokinakos, according to state records. On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for TipsyCake said Levine sold her business to Kokinakos in 2013 and stayed on as a consultant there.
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