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Business & Tech

RVC's Lisa Gundersen Turns Her Dream to Reality

Honored by Martha Stewart, this RVC entrepreneur warms hearts and stomachs with her home baked goods company.

So, you think it's just pound cake?

Don't tell that to Rockville Centre's Lisa Gundersen. She is the hands, heart and soul behind a simple idea gone wonderfully mad.

Gundersen has taken her passion and her entrepreneurial spirit and combined them to create Polka Dot Pound cakes, her own baked goods company. Gundersen was recently honored by Martha Stewart as part of Stewart's, "Dreamers Into Doers" campaign. Along with a core group of other female entrepreneurs from around the country, Gundersen was recognized as a woman who was ready and willing to roll up her sleeves and realize her dreams.

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"After owning a dance studio for 12 years, I decided to hang up my tutu in 1997 so I could be home with my two-year-old daughter Emily," Gundersen said. "A year later, (my second daughter) Hannah arrived and soon a favorite afternoon activity for the three of us was baking. I decided one very cold January afternoon to hand out samples of my cakes to local businesses and received three orders that day! Then I knew I could build this into a business."

One of Gundersen's biggest supporters and allies is Terry Grahl. Grahl is a spiritually empowered entrepreneur from Michigan and another of Stewart's "Dreamers Into Doers" honorees. Grahl is a firm believer in incorporating charity work into her entrepreneurial ventures and encourages others to make giving back part of their every day business lives. When they met in 2009, Grahl said she saw herself in Gundersen.

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"I noticed her energy right away," Grahl said. "We were pointing in the exact same direction. This (the Martha Stewart experience) was all about women not only selling their products, but sharing their stories. Lisa still helps (with my charitable causes). We're part of the same sisterhood."

Gundersen is a big believer in networking and considers it vital to the growth of Polka Dot Pound Cakes, where her chocolate chip banana bread is a runaway favorite at fairs and festivals. But even ahead of that, Gundersen said she knows the trick is to work closely with her customers every single day.

"Thankfully I have a delicious product and people love to eat cake," Gundersen said.  "However, I treat each fair/festival as If I opened my own bakery for the day. I stand and greet everyone who walks by. I truly think some customers purchase a cake from me simply because I said hello to them with a friendly smile."

Good cake. Good spirit. Good business. Check out www.polkadotpoundcakes.com for more good stuff.

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