What motivates a busy baker to dedicate his or her talents to The Pixel Project? In this interview series, we find out! All Paint It Purple Ambassador Cupcakeries/bakeries were invited to share with us the reasons they chose to take part in the Paint It Purple campaign and the inspiration behind their unique twist on the classic Paint It Purple cupcake design. The first interview is with Two Cousins Bakery in Coventry, England whose 2-week Paint It Purple Bake Sale in benefit of the Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (CRASAC) and The Pixel Project.
Two Cousins Bakery is… you guessed it… two cousins, Leigh Ashby and Andrea Daly! Being so close in age we’re actually more like sisters. Two Cousins Bakery comes from our mutual love of baking, creating and eating cakes! We bake fun and funky cakes and cater for all dietary requirements. We will sell Paint It Purple Cupcakes for 2 weeks from 8th October. A box of six cupcakes will cost £12.00 and we will donate £6.00 to the Paint It Purple campaign to be shared by Coventry Rape and Sexual Assault Centre and The Pixel Project.
Tell us about Two Cousins Bakery and why you decided to take part in this year’s Paint It Purple campaign.
We feel privileged to have been able to turn our passion for baking into a successful business. Being women and mums in business we are involved in a community of independent businesses and outstanding women entrepreneurs. Every woman should be able to fulfill her passions and dreams and not be suppressed by the violent actions of others. We could name a hundred reasons why we decided to take part, but couldn’t come up with one reason for not supporting it because of the importance of the work it is doing.
Tell us about the special Paint It Purple cupcake you have designed for the campaign this year.
The cakes will be vanilla or chocolate sponge to give people a choice. They will be topped with a light purple vanilla buttercream swirl. We wanted to keep the symbol of the campaign, so have decided to re-create the purple/white ribbon on the cupcake in edible sugarpaste. The cakes will also be decorated with white butterfly sprinkles. Butterflies go through a transformation and become beautiful butterflies from a caterpillar. On our cakes the butterfly will be a symbol of hope that the work of the campaign will support many women to be free of violence, who can then go on to transform their lives.
What do you think independent businesses such as Two Cousins Bakery can do to help with efforts to prevent and stop violence against women in communities worldwide?
Being a cupcake bakery our key customer group is women of all ages. In our daily business we use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with our potential customers. We can use these sites to help promote charities such as The Pixel Project and hopefully raise more awareness of violence against women, as well as hopefully providing somewhere to go for information for women who are looking for help.
In your opinion, how can we encourage people (especially men and boys) to take an interest in and step up to help stop violence against women?
Men need to be involved in the campaign promotion. Although we are well-placed with our customer group being women, the campaign shouldn’t just be promoted by women at women. We need to relate the campaign messages to how violence against women could affect any woman…men’s sisters, daughters and so on.
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About The Pixel Project’s Paint It Purple campaign
The annual “Paint It Purple” campaign raises awareness about Violence Against Women (VAW) by getting a global audience to “paint” the internet purple during the campaign using social media. The campaign also raises funds for The Pixel Project, our partners and participating VAW nonprofits worldwide through cupcake bake sales and “Paint It Purple” parties. For more information, visit http://paintitpurple.thepixelproject.net