{"id":290413,"date":"2026-07-08T16:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/290413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:11:51","slug":"icing-on-the-cake-queens-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/290413\/","title":{"rendered":"Icing On The Cake – Queens Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Neighborhood<\/a><\/p>\n

Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens (NHSQ) celebrated the gradua\u00adtion of the second cohort of its \u201cIcing on the Cake\u201d Baking and Entrepreneurship Program, recognizing 18 aspiring entre\u00adpreneurs who successfully completed the eight-week training program designed to transform a passion for baking into a pathway to economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens (NHSQ) celebrated the graduation of the second cohort of its \u201cIcing on the Cake\u201d Baking and Entrepreneurship Pro\u00adgram, recognizing 18 aspiring entrepre\u00adneurs who successfully completed the eight-week training program designed to transform a passion for baking into a path\u00adway to economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

Held at NHSQ\u2019s community headquar\u00adters, La Casita, the graduation ceremony was filled with pride, inspiration, and cele\u00adbration as graduates showcased beautifully decorated cakes while sharing their entre\u00adpreneurial journeys with family, friends, community partners, and elected officials.<\/p>\n

Originally launched to create new eco\u00adnomic opportunities for local residents, Icing on the Cake has quickly become one of NHSQ\u2019s signature workforce and entre\u00adpreneurship initiatives, equipping partici\u00adpants with both technical baking skills and the business knowledge needed to launch and grow successful ventures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat began as a passion for baking has blossomed into something much greater\u2014 confidence, courage, and the first steps to\u00adward new dreams,\u201d said Yoselin Genao-Estrella, Executive Director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens. \u201cAt NHSQ, we believe entrepre\u00adneurship is a powerful pathway to eco\u00adnomic mobility. This program demonstrates how investing in people\u2019s talents can trans\u00adform lives, strengthen families, and create more resilient communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Congresswoman<\/a><\/p>\n

Congresswoman Grace Meng with Yoselin Genao-Estrella, Executive Direc\u00adtor of Neighborhood Housing Services of Queen as graduates showcased beauti\u00adfully decorated cakes.<\/p>\n

Throughout the program, participants mastered cake-decorating techniques while also learning essential entrepreneurial skills, including food safety, pricing strate\u00adgies, branding, marketing, customer serv\u00adice, financial planning, and business development.<\/p>\n

Special guest Congresswoman Grace Meng congratulated the graduates and praised the program\u2019s impact on the com\u00admunity. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of all of you,\u201d Meng said. \u201cThis is an extraordinary idea. It\u2019s not always the biggest projects that transform communities, but the everyday opportunities that empower people to be\u00adcome independent, pursue what they love, and support their families.\u201d She also en\u00adcouraged community members to support local small businesses and the newest en\u00adtrepreneurs emerging from the program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens (NHSQ) celebrated the gradua\u00adtion of the second cohort of its \u201cIcing on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-290413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}