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Cake it with Chloe

Posted on February 23, 2026 2:00 AM

Chloe Paulk believes everything in life is worth celebrating. Some people do it with champagne, but she prefers to celebrate with cake.

Chloe has always loved sweets. So much so that when she was in high school, she started a business selling her own baked goods. Cake it with Chloe earned enough for her to purchase her first car at 16. 

Soon after, her business hit a roadblock. In 2020, Chloe realized she had a gluten allergy.

“It’s not fun when you’re a baker and can’t eat what you’re making,” she said. “But then I realized there were people like me who can’t enjoy cake because of dietary restrictions. I started to offer gluten-free options and realized that’s where I wanted to take the business.”

During her senior year in high school, Chloe applied for the Georgia Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneurship Experience (FLEX). This statewide program is designed to promote entrepreneurship among rural students by helping them learn the skills needed to operate a small business, including strategic planning, marketing and selling their products.

“For me, Cake it with Chloe was just something that started as a hobby with no real plans for a business because I didn’t think I was capable of that. However, by seeking mentorship and taking advice, now this hobby has the potential to be a real career for me,” she said about FLEX.

The program had such an impact on Chloe that now, as a soon-to-be graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Chloe works as an intern at FLEX. She gets to share her experience and knowledge to help younger students get their start.

As for her own progress in business, when she started college, Chloe realized that dorm-room baking was not possible and so she pivoted her business model to cake mixes, which she sells online at cakeitwithchloe.com. 

With her business based in her small hometown of Ocilla, Chloe is part of the Georgia Grown network. 

“I’m very passionate about keeping my operations in rural Georgia. I know how important that is and what a need it is for small communities, because it creates jobs in the future. While none of my cake mix ingredients are sourced locally, I am truly a Georgia Grown business and plan to keep it that way,” she said.

Majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship at Mercer, Chloe had the opportunity to further connect to her rural roots with an internship at Georgia Farm Bureau in 2024.

“I love getting real-world experience in business and I’d not yet experienced anything in a corporate setting. I grew up in the world of agriculture. My dad is a farmer, and I was in FFA in high school,” she said. “I interned in the marketing department at Georgia Farm Bureau, and loved seeing how different departments of a major organization all work together.” 

With her college graduation happening this spring, Chloe plans to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree, which will allow her more time to focus on entrepreneurship while still being a student. 

She hopes to grow Cake it with Chloe to include additional gluten-free products, while continuing to push sales online. Ultimately, Chloe wants to make it as easy as possible for everyone to enjoy a piece of cake. She’d like to create tutorials on how to make cake at home and grow her brand into an educational experience focusing on different dietary restrictions and catering to people who are gluten free.

“I have a firm belief that everyone deserves a piece of cake. That sounds simple at the surface level, but what I really mean is making sure everyone around your table feels welcome, because I know what it feels like to be left out at dessert time. I believe that everyone deserves a seat at the table and I’ll show you how to create that environment in your own home,” she said. “Life should be celebrated and cake is my favorite way of doing that. I hope that sentiment encourages people to choose to celebrate the small things and to celebrate with all your friends, regardless of dietary restrictions.”