Anna Echols is a cake artist, designer and bakery owner who creates life-like cakes celebrating every occasion. With painstaking attention to detail, her goal is to produce a cake that is hard to decipher from the real thing; almost too good to eat. Anna was born in Wilmington, NC in 1984 to Douglas and DeLonna Echols. She has one brother Douglas Echols, Jnr., a custom home renovator. Her father, who passed away in 2006, was a Commercial Real Estate Developer and entrepreneur who loved cooking, and Delonna, a stay-at-home mom. Her father once owned the shopping center where Anna’s bakery business is now based although he sadly did not live to see her business develop. Anna attended Cape Fear Academy for pre-k-12th grade in Wilmington and Meredith College, Raleigh, NC for her bachelors degree before she went to Orlando Culinary Academy for the Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking Program. It was while she was there that she took part in TLC’s “The Ultimate Bake-Off”, which Anna says was a defining moment in her career. In 2011, she returned home to Wilmington to her mother’s house where she started her bakery business and operated for the first two years. One Belle Bakery took off and she expanded her space for customers and, which now, has eight full-time staff whom Anna considers her family. Anna's creativity has attracted celebrity clients, including the late Country Music singer Charlie Daniels who gave her a cowboy hat in return. https://www.onebellebakery.com Instagram: @onebellebakery Anna’s favorite women artists: Liz Marek Natalie Sideserf Maggie Austin Brooke Helton Brooke Lupton Jennifer Rose Playlist: Faith (with Dolly Parton ft. Mr. Probz) Wake Me Up (Avicii) I Just Wanna Shine (Fitz and the Tantrums) Take a Walk (Passion Pit) Sugar, Sugar (The Archies) Host: Chris Stafford Produced by Hollowell Studios Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram AART on Facebook Email: [email protected]