Happy Chocolate Cake Day! An Interview with Natalie of Flour Power Bakery

Eye Candy Girl Natalie, courtesy of Terri Jean Photography

Eye Candy Girl Natalie, Courtesy of Terri Jean Photography

January 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day, a day to celebrate your love for this rich, decadent dessert. In honor of this day, we're interviewing one of our own Eye Candy Girls, Betty Buttercream (aka: Natalie), the creator, owner and proprietor of Athens, Ohio's Flour Power Bakery.

Flour Power Bakery will be turning four years old in February, according to Natalie. "I couldn't find good desserts anywhere in town for parties and events so I did it myself! tells us. Offering everything from cupcakes to cream puffs to chocolate covered pretzels and more, Flour Power came about from a love of baking and a need for a good job in a flagging economy. "I really love what it has become and still enjoy baking," says Natalie.


Even though she bakes almost every day, Natalie still has time to devote to other pursuits, including modeling for Terri Jean Photography as one of our Eye Candy Girls. And just like all the flavors of women who read I Feel Delicious, Natalie is always on the lookout for new adventures in her baking life. "[I] am always on the lookout for new flavors or desserts to add."

Flour Power is a small, one woman operation but that doesn't mean they aren't going big places. "My biggest order so far has been 40 dozen cupcakes for the Dairy Barn's New Year's Eve party," says Natalie. She also attends the Athens Farmer's Market each and every Saturday, where you can find her under a pink tent. "The farmers market is stressful but so much fun that it's worth it!" Being "the cupcake lady" also allows her the chance to dress up in a fun and stylish way. "I could wear pearls and pink polka dots every day of my life."

Flour Power isn't just about cupcakes and sweets, though. Natalie is also an active volunteer for the community. Her heart is with the fuzzy things in life, as her own two dogs can attest to. "I love that [the] Flour Power Bakery allows me to give back to the community by providing desserts for
My Sister's Paws Sweet Tea Social and Friends of the Shelter Dogs fundraisers."

"I have met so many people and been a part of so many special events in their lives...weddings, birthdays, retirements, showers.....and it's only been 4 years!" says Natalie, and her pride is obvious and hard-won.

Natalie, Courtesy of Terri Jean Photography

Natalie adds:
"I love seeing photos of my desserts at weddings and parties and surprise deliveries are my favorite! Valentine's Day is my biggest single day, and also my favorite holiday. This year, I will have two days of Valentine's Day Orders!"

You can check out the Flour Power Bakery here on Facebook and place an order. I promise, they're worth it!

Successful Women: Criminal Profiler and Writer Chelsea Hoffman

By Caitlin Seida

Chelsea Hoffman is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a taco shell. Okay, really she's an ace criminal profiler and author, but the above description sums up her personality - a mix of sincerity and humor - perfectly. When asked how she got into criminal profiling, her first answer was "I was visited by three ghosts." The real story is much more interesting.


"I've been interested in serial killers since I was a child." Chelsea tells us. Her grandmother started her on the path of analyzing criminals by reading true crime books a lot. But her interest is also personal - "I've been the victim of at least one sex crime in my life and the victim of domestic violence." Her own experiences with surviving abuse and violence, as well as her life-long interest in how the criminal mind work, shaped her into the well known author, blogger, and advocate the world knows today.

Being fairly well known in her field, Chelsea has been subject to her fair share of online harassment and criticism, including a notable call out by Shirley Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church. "Hiya Shirley!" she quips. It hasn't always been easy, though.

"In the beginning, when I first started blogging about my analysis on different crime cases and disappearances, I didn't quite get the aggression in many people's comments." Chelsea tells us. But eventually it started to click: "Over the past few years, though, I've realized that people who seek out these stories and get offended are likely to *look* for *any* reason to be offended -- therefore, they're looking for reasons to harass someone else."

"Being a crime writer and profiler not only attracts intelligent and interesting people, but it attracts nutbags and weirdos that "get off" on harassing others, especially when sensitive topics like death and murder are at hand."

Chelsea's experience with online harassment isn't unique - writers of all sorts get targeted for their works, and Ms. Hoffman recognizes that. "It's part of the job, I guess."

Criminal profiling has been a pretty traditionally male dominated field - at least in the past. This, too, has been an obstacle for the talented and vivacious Ms. Chelsea Hoffman. ". I think it helps that the most famous and talented of criminal profilers have been women (i.e. Jones, Candice DeLong, Pat Brown, et al)." She told us she's never really felt like she's needed to "keep up" with her male peers, but she has experienced misogyny and sexism from her "colleagues" and those who are unfamiliar with the details of any given case - using her gender to discredit her work because she's just a girl. Roll your eyes with me, folks. As for how she handles it? "I wouldn't say that these experiences have affected me other than opening my eyes to the insecurities of those who don't appreciate successful women."

Speaking of successful women, Chelsea offers this advice for women looking to break into the writing world: "Breaking into writing is easy, contrary to what a lot of people will tell you. Yes, it's also very competitive and it's hard to maintain relationships when you're serious about your craft and devoted to it. But there are always ways to get your work out there to make money and get exposure. Just find your niche, hone your skills and dive in. Just do it."

And for those young women looking to become criminal profilers like Ms. Hoffman? "It takes a special type of person with the gut to stomach crime scenes and other gruesome imagery and details. You've got to be damn sane to handle it without many emotional issues. You've got to have a very literal sense of reality versus what you've seen in movies, television or literature." But it isn't as simple as being able to handle gruesome crime scene details. Chelsea tells us: "At the same time you've got to walk that fine line between total empathy and total apathy to connect with the fact that you are dealing with victims without getting so attached that you end up killing a piece of you each time you cover a murder. To be a good criminal profiler you've pretty much got to know how to turn off your ability to feel sometimes and work on pure analytics, pure brain power." Beyond that, it's education, education and education. The fields she recommends are psychology, criminal justice and related courses.

Chelsea Hoffman's newest book, "The River of No Return: On the Trail of Hannah Anderson and Jim DiMaggio" focuses on the recent case of the alleged kidnapping of San Diego teen Hannah Anderson. "Throughout the book I share the factually known timeline of events as well as transcripts of Hannah's own words with interviews from her family, family members of Jim DiMaggio and experts in forensic pathology." The story focuses on the many inconsistencies in Hannah Anderson's story that point toward the possibility that she may have been a partner in the murder of her mother and brother, or at the very least involved in a sexual relationship with her kidnapper/uncle, Jim DiMaggio.

"River of No Return" is being released by Taylor Street Publishing and will be available November 2nd, 2013 If true crime isn't your bag, Ms. Hoffman has also written a veritable catalog of works, from horror to romance to fantasy. You can check out her works at http://www.chelseahoffman.com.

Caitlin Seida has been writing since 2006, with her work appearing on various websites including Livestrong.com, TypeF.com, Salon.com, Dogster.com and The Daily Puppy. A Jill-of-All-Trades, she splits her workday as a writer, humane society advocate and on-call vet tech. What little free time she has goes into pinup modeling, advocating for self-acceptance, knitting and trying to maintain her haunted house (really!). You can find her on Facebook, on Twitter, and of course here on I Feel Delicious!

Inspiring Women of History: The Wacky WACs

By Kristi Waterworth

Feel Delicious is about empowering women to be all they can be, and I think there's no better representation of that in modern American history than the Women's Army Corps (WAC). This elite group of women served beside the United States Army before women were allowed to be in the army, doing many of the same tasks that had been formerly assigned to men. The WAC faced great opposition, but it also served as a shining example for women and girls of the 1940's and 1950's; no longer did they have only kitchens and infants to look forward to – they could have proper careers, they could have adventures and all because the women of the WAC seized an opportunity when it presented itself.

 

The WAC was the brain child of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, who introduced a bill in 1941 with the expressed goal of establishing a women's Army corps that was completely detached from the Army Nurse Corps. As you can imagine, there was incredible uproar, especially among Southern men in Congress. "Who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself; who will nurture the children?" they asked during the floor debates.




The bill passed, though, largely in part because of a sudden, unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor that dragged America into World War II. The WAC, although working for less pay and receiving fewer benefits than their male counterparts, moved into the jobs left behind by men who were going overseas. WACs were generally well-educated college graduates with extensive office or teaching experience. A few, like my grandmother and the first WAC Major, Oveta Culp Hobby, were journalists.


Despite the positive impact the WAC had on the army, they were violently opposed by the public. Men accused women in the WAC of being lesbians or prostitutes, secretly fearing that WACs would fill up all the safer jobs and force them onto the battlefields. Unlike those men, the WACs who served overseas did so without overseas pay, government-issued life insurance, medical coverage or death benefits – and they didn't qualify for Veterans' benefits when they left the Army. On top of that, a woman even suspected of being pregnant was immediately discharged with no explanation. Times were tough for the WACs.

The going wasn't easy, but that first class of WACs did their duty because they believed in something greater. Standing together, all 150,000 of them, these women followed their brothers and husbands into danger, into a war on a scale like never before. World War II was a total war, complete with all the latest technology – to anyone who witnessed it, it could only be described as a hellish blood bath. Hitler was a very real and very frightening enemy, so much so that every possible hand was needed to defeat him. Even though they weren't allowed in combat, the WACs freed up men to fight by doing vital non-combat jobs that required they gathered information, kept communications open, repaired rifles and machinery and provided secretarial assistance in scattered locations.

Eventually, the tide turned and the WAC became the darlings of the media, but they still didn't get the same benefits as male soldiers. Despite the lack of proper recognition for their work, they plugged away. After the end of WWII, President Harry Truman finally recognized their efforts and signed into law the Women's Armed Services Integration Act that permitted women into the regular army. The WACs had made this possible by showing their grit despite the odds. The WACs continued on as a branch of the military, while playing important roles in Korea and Vietnam, but would be disbanded in 1978 to further efforts of sexual integration in the armed forces.

Kristi Waterworth is a freelance journalist based in Springfield, Missouri with a wide range of interests; her work frequently appears on the web and in print. Waterworth developed a long love affair with the Westerning Experience while studying American history in college. Despite the lies, intrigue and mythology intertwined with fact, the American West was a place and time like no other – the extreme adventure required an extreme response. She now seamlessly integrates her journalism skill with her history background at an irregularly updated site called Fifteen Minutes. You can also catch up with her on Facebook and, of course, here on I Feel Delicious.