Meet Gillian Cheek | Entrepreneur & Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gillian Cheek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gillian, how has your background shaped the person you are today?

I was born and raised right here in Colorado. But my upbringing was one that forced me to grow up fast. My parents divorced when I was a preteen, and being the youngest of 3 kids my mom used me as a pawn. My mom remarried and became so focused on her new husband it felt like she forgot about the child she still had at home to raise. She forced me to stop talking to my dad at 13 years old, she also forced me to get a tattoo at age 12 and legally change my name at age 18. During my high-school years I pretty much raised myself, my older siblings taught me to drive and I went to my sister for the motherly advice I wanted. When I graduated from high school my mom told me I needed to move out. So college was never an option for me.

I felt like I always had something to prove and that is what pushed me into taking risks and starting my own businesses at a young age. My mom passed away not too long after my high school years and I would like to think that she is proud of me now. I’ve become a strong and independent woman. Life has gotten the best of me at times, but it only has made me stronger.

My first highly successful business I started when I was newly married. My husband at the time got laid off from a job, and he didn’t allow me to work, so I turned a hobby into a business to make extra money while he looked for work. Within 6 months I had become a household name in my community, and by the one year mark I was internationally recognized for my work, which later led to a t.v. appearance and additional t.v. opportunities that I turned down. My bakery was booming and I was known as the MacGyver of the cake world. But behind closed doors my life was a complete opposite.

My marriage was a toxic one and because of it I closed my bakery and became a stay at home mom, I finally got the courage to leave my marriage and after a long drawn out divorce, and in 2021 I finally was 100% free from my ex.

Pretty much having to start my life over yet again, but this time with 2 kids in tow, I made a vow to them that I would still be the involved mom I had been but never needing someone else to support me. I created my new business in fall of 2021, but didn’t really market it until the first part of 2022. From the day I started marketing it, it has blown up and in just a few months it has become highly successful.

Growing up with a mom always doubting me and me feeling like a burden in her life, to having a husband that was the same, I always had someone telling me they didn’t think I could do it. My driving force isn’t about money or fame. It is about setting a goal and crushing it. Pushing myself to the limits of what I think I can do and crushing it. My kids have seen me on tv, they have seen me break down in front of them, and they still inspire to be just like me and own their own business someday, so if I never have a successful business ever again, just the fact that my children look up to me and I inspire them to set their own goal and crush them is success enough for me!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Unlike most people, my art is edible. I remember watching all of these cake shows on tv years and years ago, and thought to myself… Well, that doesn’t look too hard! I grew up cooking with my mom when I was little, and with my grandma when she would watch me. So it was only natural that I put my artsy/crafty side together with my love for baking and cooking.

When I first started, I taught myself everything I know. There were a lot of doubters, including members of my own family but when I would get done with a sculpted cake and I stood back and admired it, I knew I was doing something right. I dove into testing the limits of what cake could do, because the more I pushed the limits meant the more time I spent away from my toxic marriage.
When I was sculpting cake, I was in the “zone” nothing else mattered, my anxiety, my fears, my stress, everything went away and I was focused on the task at hand. I hid my own insecurities behind the success of my creations, and it worked for me. I always remained humble, and it wasn’t about making money, it was about pushing my own self of what I could accomplish. My new Business, Coyote Ridge, is a full service event business. So one week my staff might be working on a wedding, and the next hosting a full blown festival.
People ask me how I came to the name Coyote Ridge, and I explain it like this…
Coyotes are known for being fearless, they are known for being opportunists, skilled hunters, and scavengers. Throughout my whole life, I have had to be fearless, I have had to learn to adapt and overcome anything and everything life has thrown at me. I am skilled at what I do, and I saw a need for this type of business and took a chance, poured my savings into it and rounded up some of my very skilled friends to come work for me. The coyotes howl unlike any other animals, that’s why their nickname is “song dogs” so, wanting to be a host for some amazing concerts as well, the name Coyote Ridge just fit.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Unlike most people, my art is edible. I remember watching all of these cake shows on tv years and years ago, and thought to myself… Well, that doesn’t look too hard! I grew up cooking with my mom when I was little, and with my grandma when she would watch me. So it was only natural that I put my artsy/crafty side together with my love for baking and cooking.

When I first started, I taught myself everything I know. There were a lot of doubters, including members of my own family but when I would get done with a sculpted cake and I stood back and admired it, I knew I was doing something right. I dove into testing the limits of what cake could do, because the more I pushed the limits meant the more time I spent away from my toxic marriage.
When I was sculpting cake, I was in the “zone” nothing else mattered, my anxiety, my fears, my stress, everything went away and I was focused on the task at hand. I hid my own insecurities behind the success of my creations, and it worked for me. I always remained humble, and it wasn’t about making money, it was about pushing my own self of what I could accomplish. My new Business, Coyote Ridge, is a full service event business. So one week my staff might be working on a wedding, and the next hosting a full blown festival.
People ask me how I came to the name Coyote Ridge, and I explain it like this…
Coyotes are known for being fearless, they are known for being opportunists, skilled hunters, and scavengers. Throughout my whole life, I have had to be fearless, I have had to learn to adapt and overcome anything and everything life has thrown at me. I am skilled at what I do, and I saw a need for this type of business and took a chance, poured my savings into it and rounded up some of my very skilled friends to come work for me. The coyotes howl unlike any other animals, that’s why their nickname is “song dogs” so, wanting to be a host for some amazing concerts as well, the name Coyote Ridge just fit.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My area is known for its tourism. We have the world famous Royal Gorge Bridge, we have world class rafting, and amazing hiking trails all within miles of each other. Our community is made up of amazing mom and pop shops, antique stores, and some pretty amazing breweries. Ask my kids what one of their favorite places to go to and they will both say Gooseberry Patch in Penrose. If you ask them why it is because they have homemade pies that they can normally talk me into getting for dessert! It is also the restaurant where they can talk their Papa into buying them suckers on the way out. It is a family owned/family dining restaurant. I started going there as a kid with my grandma and my dad. She loved their gooseberry pie, and my dad loves the strawberry rhubarb, he says there is always just the right amount of strawberry! Being a country girl, when it is nice out and I’m not working you will find me at one of the lakes around here fishing, or some other outdoor activity!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My kids are my driving force. They have been by my side when I owned my bakery working 80 plus hours a week, having to get up early just to ride in the car all day while I deliver cakes all over Southern Colorado or having their own play room in my bakery because they were there so much. They have started over with me after my divorce and built this new life together right alongside me. They love the business I have now because they get to be a part of it as well! I like to say that success isn’t how much wealth you have but how worthy you are to those that mean most.

Website: www.CoyoteRidgeCO.com

Instagram: @CoyoteRidgeEvents

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coyoteridgeevents