Melissa Ben-Ishay (born Melissa Bushell) is the CEO and co-founder of

Baked by Melissa Baked by Melissa is a chain of bakeries founded by Melissa Ben-Ishay in 2008, specializing in "bite-size" miniature cupcakes. As of 2024, Baked by Melissa has 14 locations in the New York City metropolitan area and Boston. History Baked by Melis ...

, a

cupcake A cupcake (also British English: fairy cake; Hiberno-English: bun) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations such as frui ...

company headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which specializes in bite-size cupcakes.

Early life and education

Melissa Ben-Ishay was born in

Hillsdale, New Jersey Hillsdale is a borough in the New York City metropolitan area in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,219,Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

from 2002 to 2006, receiving a Bachelor's of Science degree in Child and Family Studies. She has an older brother, Brian Bushell.

Career

After graduating from college, Ben-Ishay worked at an advertising agency in New York City. In 2008, she was fired from her job as an assistant media planner at Deutsch, and was encouraged by her brother to go home and bake her cupcakes, and they would start a business together. Ben-Ishay's first flavors were tie-dye, inspired by the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, s'mores, peanut butter cup, and cookies and cream. The next day, she sent cupcakes into work with her best friend's sister, who was interning at Alison Brod PR. They received rave reviews, and Brod connected Ben-Ishay with her caterer. Ben-Ishay and Bushell quickly came up with the "Baked by Melissa" name, with their childhood friend creating its tie-dye cupcake logo. The Baked by Melissa operations moved into the basement of Cafe Bari in late 2008, selling cupcakes at the holiday markets at

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Privately managed, it is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. The e ...

. In March 2009, Ben-Ishay, her brother, and three other co-founders opened a

pop-up window in the

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. At the beginning, Ben-Ishay served as President & Chief Product Officer, with Bushell as CEO of

until 2015. In 2019, Ben-Ishay was named CEO. Baked by Melissa opened its first walk-in store in 2010 in

. It currently has 14 retail locations in the NYC metropolitan area and ships its bite-size cupcakes nationwide. Ben-Ishay still develops every flavor. In addition to leading Baked by Melissa, Ben-Ishay gained a significant social media following on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

in 2020 when she began posting salads and other recipes she was making at home.

Books

In 2017, Ben-Ishay released a cookbook titled ''Cakes by Melissa: Life Is What You Bake It'', published by William Morrow Cookbooks. The book features 120+ recipes for Ben-Ishay's favorite cakes, icings, and fillings.

Cultural influence

Ben-Ishay gained popularity on TikTok in 2020 when she began sharing the meals she was cooking for her family. In 2022, her version of the

Green Goddess The Green Goddess is the colloquial name for the RLHZ Self Propelled Pump manufactured by Bedford Vehicles, a fire engine used originally by the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS), and latterly held in reserve by the Home Office until 2004, and a ...

Salad went viral, eventually becoming the number 6 searched recipe on Google.

Personal life

Melissa is married to Adi Ben-Ishay, who also works for Baked by Melissa. The pair met at Cafe Bari, where he was bartending, the day the Baked by Melissa pop-up window opened.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Ishay, Melissa Living people American chief executives of food industry companies American cookbook writers American bakers American women food writers American women chief executives Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Year of birth missing (living people)