There is nothing more important than community to Reina Marcelle, known as the “Cake Lady” of Humboldt Park. 

Marcelle, 52,  began selling cakes from a cart in the spring of 2021, but is now the owner of Reina’s Cakes, a shop in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, located at 2550 W. Division St.

Prior to selling cakes, Marcelle worked at different grocery stores decorating cakes to make ends meet, but she said her experience was negative.

“My manager just did not like me… she made my life miserable. She made me feel inadequate. She made me feel like I didn’t know what I was doing,” Marcelle said. 

After resigning from her job, with only $25 and the support of her loved ones, she decided to launch her own cake business. She decorated a cart and sold her cakes to community members.

 Marcelle said that the beginning of her journey was difficult. 

“My little butt was out there for hours – in the rain, in the cold, in sunshine. No matter what, I was out there, pushing my cart, determined to sell my cakes,” she said.

She would often give away most of her cakes for free, as samples. By doing so her business gained popularity and she became a recognizable figure in the area, she said. People from the community would watch Marcelle, pushing her cart in the park, week after week.

“It paid off,” Marcelle said. 

Six months ago, she opened a storefront in her beloved neighborhood.

Neighbors volunteered to help run the store and they also donated everything inside the store. Marcelle said she feels blessed to be in a neighborhood that will always protect and help her.

Marcelle has made many friends along the way to becoming a business owner, she said.

Margarita Vázquez, 58, is the founder of The Marinated Kitchen, a food blog for sharing her family recipes and selling her garlic paste and sofrito– a Caribbean and Latin American mixture of vegetables and herbs used to season food. 

Vázquez and Marcelle met in August of 2023, after Marcelle catered cupcakes for Vázquez’s niece’s birthday party. The pair have been great friends ever since.  

“I immediately just loved her because her energy is just contagious,” Vázquez said. “She has a heart of gold.”

As an entrepreneur Vazquez understands the difficulty of launching a business. She has dedicated herself to doing promotional work for small businesses in the community, including Marcelle’s.

“We help each other out, no strings attached,” Vazquez said.

Marcelle recalls when a family anonymously donated $8,000 to her business because they felt she was a hard worker and a good woman. At the time, she was having trouble going to and from work events because she did not have a car, she said. 

The money was enough to buy a vehicle, install a ramp to load her cart and travel to see her family for the holidays. 

“The moral of the story is you never know who’s watching [over] you,” Marcelle said. 

Sustaining the shop alone proved to be challenging. Marcelle’s children live in North Carolina, both her parents have passed away and she is divorced after 25 years of marriage.

Nonetheless, she persists for the sake of her children. 

She has two daughters and one son, all of whom she homeschooled. They remind her of the joy that baking brought them, inspiring her to keep going, she said. 

“There were times when we couldn’t afford a birthday cake. So why not make them their own cake?” Marcelle said. “Even though it was such a struggling time, it was meaningful for them.” 

Marcelle said her shop has become a safe place for kids in the neighborhood to hang out and volunteer. Her cake decorating classes provide families with a friendly environment to bond. 

“I’m tired that every time you hear about Division, it’s always bad,” she said. 

Her goal is to help the members of her community by demonstrating that they can become anything they want, she said. 

“It doesn’t matter how old you are. You could be 20 or you could be 50 or you could be 70. If you still dream and want to become something, you can,” Marcelle said.

She said she believes that if she can inspire at least one person to follow their hearts, she has done her job.

“She’s showing the community how to come together as a family,” Vázquez said. 

For Angelina Moyeno, 18, a first-year student at Wilbur Wright College, and an assistant at Marcelle’s store, Marcelle is like a second mom, she said. 

Moyeno met Marcelle in March of 2024 after attending one of her cake pop-up events, and began working with her shortly after. 

“She welcomed me into her world,” she said. 

Moyeno said she has seen Reina’s Cakes positively impact the community’s youth firsthand.

“That kept me off the streets and doing things I shouldn’t have been doing,” Moyeno added.

In her short time of selling cakes, Marcelle already feels she has made a difference. Though she is happy with her shop, she hopes to open more locations. 

She dreams that her cakes will be distributed all over the world one day. But most importantly, she wants to continue helping others in any way she can.

“I know I can love, and I can give,” she said. “It has nothing to do with money, it has nothing to do with fame… I know what I’m supposed to do.”