Zoë Lukas

Whipped Bakeshop is the brainchild of Philadelphia artist Zoë Lukas. Zoë's love of baking was born as a child among her food-loving family. Her father traveled frequently and used his special bakery-radar powers to seek out deliciousness across the country (he has an encyclopedic memory of food establishments, and recently was able to name at least 35 bakeries from memory in Baltimore city alone). All family gatherings revolve around food, talking about what was eaten, what is being eaten, and what will be whipped up next. Zoë has a degree in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and her paintings have appeared in numerous shows. Zoë's love of art and baking combined when she moved to Philadelphia in 2003 and worked for three of the top bakeries in the city, all the while continuing to create her own treats for friends and family. In 2007, she decided to take the plunge and start Whipped Bakeshop. Zoë vows never to work in a cubicle again!

Jenn Hall

Jenn gets "Under the Sea" with it.

Besides being our store manager, Jenn is best known at Whipped for her overconfidence in her ability to become a Navy Seal. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania, Jenn is perhaps best described as a rogue artist. She leads a double life, by day decorating your cakes and cookies, by night painting dinosaurs for museums, and whenever possible fighting crime with her vicious attack chinchillas. Jenn's biggest dream for the future is to have a team of lady assassins with awesome super ninja powers to do her bidding. Until then, you can find her driving around Fishtown on her scooter, or at her home with a sour ale in one hand, a piping bag in her second hand, and a vinegar-based condiment in her third hand. You can apply to be one of her lady assassins by visiting her website. Ninjas only, please.

Ann Wilson

Ann adds fresh flowers to a wedding cake at TRUST in Old City Philadelphia.

Ann Wilson first learned to bake at the apron strings of her mother, Norma, who is best known for having raised 10 -- count ‘em, 10 -- children, Ann being the youngest. After earning a degree in English and Piano and working in a variety of jobs in the fields of art administration, grantmaking, and social services, she found herself at Petit 4 Pastry Studio in Old City, Philadelphia, where she learned all she knows (well, everything Norma didn’t teach her) under the tutelage of the legendary Joe Moorhead. She is thrilled to be baking once again and finds few things more satisfying that a bakery rack full of fresh cupcakes and cakes ready to be ravished by the hungry masses.

Brennen Lukas

Brennen is Whipped Bakeshop's co-founder and general big idea nerd. He likes cool things before they are cool, but he himself is not cool. Every day he dreams up several can't-miss marketing schemes that are soundly rejected by the rest of the staff. He remains optimistic and undeterred because he gets to eat more cupcakes and brownies than you can possibly imagine. Meanwhile, you can't run a bakery without proper bookkeeping. As a fancy lad with a masters degree in creative writing, Brennen is terrible at bookkeeping, but that's his job anyway. He's better at writing poetry and shooting video game zombies. Also, he washes dishes.

It Takes a Village

It wasn't easy opening up a new bakery in the midst of the biggest economic meltdown since the great depression, but somehow we did it. Even flagrant cupcake bribery couldn't procure a bank loan, so we did what any self-respecting entrepreneurs would do -- we hit up our friends and family for money, expertise and moral support. Heartfelt thanks go out to Russ Lukas, Jeff Lukas, Russ Kapustensky, Rawle Anders, Lynda Lukas, Ryan Lukas, Ed and Barbara Kalendek, Jeff, Jason and Julie Kalendek, Roger Estes, Ann Torockio, Caroline Todd, Cheryl McCarthy, John Freeborn, Jason Smith, Eric Smith (no relation), Ann & Kert Wilson, Bryan Czibesz, Casey Ray, Kurt Schlenbaker, AJ, Warren and crew of Bahdeebahdu, The Hostile City Rollers, Chris Ruggiero and Courtney Apple. Without you guys there would be no Whipped Bakeshop. Seriously.