Gig Glow-Up

How four Adams County women are forging their entrepreneurial paths

By Karen Hendricks

Maybe you’ve had a light-bulb moment and thought about launching a small business. It’s happened at least 1.1 million times in Pennsylvania: That’s how many small businesses are located in the Keystone state—and nearly half of them (47.8%) are owned by women. Meet four Adams County women who not only had those light-bulb moments, but followed through, founded their businesses and persevered through hardships to find sweet success.

Cecilia “Ceci” Pinera: Macs by Ceci

Ceci Pinera didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur when she made her first batch of macarons—she was just trying to make a special birthday gift for her sister Melissa, who adored the little French treats. 

“I was always the little sister who wanted to impress her all the time—and she was so impressed,” Pinera recalls. 

What exactly is a macaron? “They’re like a baked meringue cookie,” Pinera describes, “almost crunchy on the outside but chewy, with filling in the center. They have to be stable enough to hold their shape.” 

But how they taste is everything. 

“They kind of melt in your mouth—it’s an experience,” she says. “They seem so simple, made with fresh ingredients—nothing hidden—including almond flour, butter and eggs.” 

Pinera, 37, of Abbottstown, baked that initial batch back in 2018. Her baking talents and reputation have grown exponentially in the past seven years. She whipped up more macarons for her sister, experimenting with new flavors, then began receiving requests and online orders from friends, coworkers and family. It became a side hustle to Pinera’s roles as a certified nursing assistant, a wife, and mother to
four sons. 

Pinera honed her talents, making her macarons look beautiful—in classic pastel-colored flavors such as chocolate and lemon, as well as surprisingly bold and sprinkle-laden flavors such as birthday cake and blue Cookie Monster varieties. 

“I’m particular to a fault,” she says, “because they have to look good in the box.” 

Her 18-year-old son has a special name for Pinera’s macarons. Ever since Pinera began baking them—when he was 12—he called them “fancy cookies.” And those fancy cookies soon became the focus of her life. 

“There weren’t many people making them in this area, so I thought it was an opportunity,” Pinera says. “2020 came, and a lot of people got ambitious during Covid, so I said, ‘Let me trust myself and make a business—I’ll give it a try.’” 

With the help and support of her husband, Pinera created “a little mac trailer,” and began selling her colorful treats at events, including the Adams County Farmers Market, which she still does, bimonthly. For several years, she also had a stand at York’s Central Market. 

“I slowly started to gain a following and confidence in what I was doing,” Pinera says. That’s why, about two years ago, she began looking for a small storefront. She found the perfect location on East Berlin’s West King Street, and Macs by Ceci opened its doors in October 2024. 

Customers can customize boxes of macarons, choosing from an ever-rotating slate of about 30 flavors. “It’s fun to watch what kind of vibe they are going to get—classic macarons or fun and colorful, wacky flavors,” says Pinera. 

“There are so many people like my sister who are enthusiasts—people who come into the shop and say, ‘Give me one of each.’” 

Pinera estimates that she creates between 1,500 to 2,000 macarons weekly—between the shop, farmers market, orders for special events such as weddings, plus several area coffee shops, including New Oxford’s Deja Brew and Gettysburg’s Bantam Coffee Roasters.

Even Pinera has a hard time choosing a favorite flavor.

“I would say classic dulce de leche caramel cream, but sometimes I want a little sprinkle, so cake batter macarons are a sweeter vanilla with sprinkles and they’re blue. Or, white chocolate raspberry is such a good balance between a sweet white chocolate that blends so well with the raspberry,” Pinera says. 

She’s overcome many challenges, from equipment breaking down to the price of eggs shooting up to $40 per case. Even the weather presents problems: It’s notoriously difficult to bake macarons so that they rise properly in rainy weather. Even on good days, Pinera describes making macarons as “a tedious process” that involves many steps—baking, cooling, pairing them up with cookies of the same diameter and filling them. Baking days stretch 10 to 12 hours. 

But the smiles on customers’ faces make it all worthwhile, she says. She’s developed many regular customers, including those who appreciate the fact that macarons are gluten-free. 

“Seeing people who come in weekly for their weekly treats—that’s the best feeling,” Pinera says. 

Now that she looks back on her career path, Pinera can see how many of her life experiences developed the skills she now uses as a small business owner. For example, she worked at 81 Diner, owned by her father during her teenage years. Her mother, a registered nurse, was Pinera’s role model during her own medical career. 

“Both careers gave me lots of opportunity to build my character,” Pinera reflects. “The restaurant gave me the capacity to talk to people—it helped me develop my personality, and you can’t have a quiet personality in a restaurant. And being a nursing assistant at a nursing home opened up this empathetic, caring side of me, to know that everybody’s going through something.” 

Additionally, she credits her father for developing her work ethic during those formative teen years at the diner—skills she now puts into practice at Macs by Ceci and skills she’s sharing with the next generation. 

“I’m the dishwasher, bookkeeper and baker, so I’m grateful to be bringing in team members—my nieces who come help me at the shop or farmers markets,” says Pinera. 

Her vision for the business is to continue growing and increasing production. That means bringing more people through the doors of Macs by Ceci by diversifying as well. Just this year, she opened a side business—East Berlin Eatery—which Pinera describes as “a little lunch/brunch spot” that utilizes more of those skills she learned from her father’s restaurant. 

Her family, in many ways, has brought her full circle in life. 

“I’m a people pleaser,” Pinera says. “That’s the whole reason I got into this—I wanted to put a smile on my sister’s face. My sister likes to take credit, because if it hadn’t been for her liking macarons, I wouldn’t be in business today.”     

Eve Baum: Military Apparel Company, Beehive Cookie Company and more

Eve Baum’s first grade teacher predicted her future. 

“She told me, ‘You’re going to be a business owner when you grow up—you’re so bossy,’” Baum says with a laugh. “But I like to call it being a natural born leader.” 

Baum, 44, of Gardners, launched her first business about 20 years ago, shortly after moving to Pennsylvania from her native Canada. She designed and sewed purses for friends, drawing on skills she learned by studying fashion design and growing it into a “purse party” home party business. But there was competition: The company Thirty One emerged nationwide with a similar concept. 

Baum headed to Haiti for a mission trip and “prayed for a big idea” guiding her next steps. 

“When I came back, there was a box on my steps,” Baum explained. Inside, she found the military uniforms of a serviceman and a letter asking if Baum would make purses out of the uniforms. 

“I had an all-over chill,” Baum describes. She realized her next business had literally landed on her doorstep. 

“Military uniforms are issued so they are service members’ own property,” Baum explains. “But once they’re discharged, people don’t want to get rid of them because they’re sentimental.” 

Her homegrown handbag business transformed into Military Apparel Company, through which she’s creatively crafted handbags of many shapes and sizes—along with other products such as teddy bears—for about 20 years. 

Like many businesses during the pandemic, Military Apparel Company shifted focus. Baum pivoted to creating fabric face masks by the thousands. At the height of the business, Baum employed 21 seamstresses around the clock, she says. 

But 2021 was a tough year. Baum’s main seamstress needed open-heart surgery. And when Facebook and Instagram merged into Meta, the company closed down social media accounts with 16K or more followers. Military Apparel Company’s platforms fell into that category, and Baum lost contact with “genuine people, genuine fans who had purchased from me.” 

“There was a grieving process,” Baum says, “But we’re still doing really well in our Etsy shop.”

With Military Apparel Company still flourishing on the side, she cooked up a new idea—a cookie decorating business. Baum launched Beehive Cookie Company nearly three years ago, and “it’s been wildly successful,” she says.

Not only does Baum fill orders for beautifully decorated sugar cookies, but she teachers others how to do the decorating themselves—and she supplies everything needed. In any given month, Baum teaches classes at other small businesses and shops from Hanover to Carlisle, Waynesboro to Camp Hill, including Biglerville’s Hollabaugh Bros.

As Baum switched gears from sewing to baking, she also began writing a curriculum to help children launch their business dreams. As a mother of three daughters who home-schools, Baum recognized the need for how-to-start-a-business plans.

“I launched it last year and taught it for a whole year at a local co-op,” Baum says. “So that’s up and running too. It all keeps me busy—I have no time to get in trouble.”

Her own family is integrated into her business models. Middle daughter Nora, 15, now manages Military Apparel Company, works for Beehive Cookie Company, and founded her own sewing business. Youngest daughter Camille, 12, also works for the cookie company—plus she founded a dog treat business and a ramen-themed play dough business. Eldest daughter Charlotte, now in college, previously ran her own Charlotte’s Cupcakes business.

“I’m very passionate, not only about women, but kids having their own businesses,” says Baum. “It’s an opportunity for them to build a bottom business. You can make it into something more, or do it on the side for supplemental income.”

Today, Baum focuses most of her time on Beehive Cookie Company, baking between 300 and 400 cookies a week, filling orders and teaching classes. She enjoys playing “a small part” in celebrations such as birthdays, weddings and baby showers. She’s even created Hawaiian shirt-themed cookies for a retirement party. And she’s made a name for herself by creating “edible business cards”—sugar cookies she customizes with business logos. 

As a result of all that baking, she says her house always smells like delicious warm cookies—and she still loves helping families hold onto military memories too.

“Honestly, I’m living the dream—I love Military Apparel Company, but it’s very demanding because every product is different,” Baum says. “But it’s so meaningful. There are so many stories, but the fallen hero stories will always have my heart.”

Where does her love of businesses and entrepreneurship come from? 

“Both sets of my grandparents were entrepreneurs,” she says. “It skipped a generation with my parents. My grandpa always said to pick a career that you love. And my grandma—she’s 89 years old, living in Quebec—I talk to her every other week, and she’s very proud.”

Hannah Zimmerman: The Gettysburg Dog Walker

For Hannah Zimmerman, the opportunity to become an entrepreneur fell right into her lap.

At the time, in her early 20s, she was working full time at a convenience store. It wasn’t exactly her dream job.

“It wasn’t really going anywhere,” she recalls. “And my dad mentioned a family friend who did dog walking and pet sitting who was looking for help.”

That family friend, Walker Woods, had developed a clientele as “The Gettysburg Dog Walker,” and he was looking to sell the business.

It made perfect sense to Hannah, who describes herself as an animal lover who grew up surrounded by furry friends—family pets including dogs and rabbits, as well as chickens and goats. She participated in 4H. For her senior project, she worked at the Adams County SPCA. 

“I just love taking care of all animals,” says Zimmerman, who jumped at the chance to make dogs—and an assorted menagerie of other animals—the focus of her new, self-employed career. She learned the ropes from Woods and never looked back. In April, she celebrated 10 years as “The Gettysburg Dog Walker.”

Today, at the age of 33, Zimmerman says she’s found “contentment and a comfortable career”—and every day is filled with colorful stories about her clients.

“Dogs’ personalities are so awesome,” she says. “So many of them are funny—like Howard, a yellow Lab who always had this goofy grin on his face. His owners had this electric fence, and he thought it was a game to go out and come back in, even though it would zap him.”

There’s Dixie, a tiny Yorkie Zimmerman describes as spunky. Zoey is a Pit Bull who’s “a little diva.” Rebel, a Golden Retriever who recently passed away, gave funny side-eye glances. There are St. Bernards, Boxers and Great Danes. Even a bearded dragon named Gizzy. Plus farm animals—alpacas, horses, pigs, goats and cows. And cats, oh my!

“Before I start any job, I do a meet and greet and talk about each client’s needs,” says Zimmerman. “Everyone has a different situation, and it’s fascinating because I learn lots of interesting facts about people too.”

One client is about to give birth, and Zimmerman will take over puppy-walking duties. Other families have her stay overnight at their homes while they’re on vacation to take care of their pups in the comfort of their own homes as an alternative to boarding. Some dogs need to be let out into their yards. Others need medications like insulin shots. 

As The Gettysburg Dog Walker, Zimmerman has racked up some serious stats with hundreds of clients over the past 10 years. About 50 to 60 dogs are in her care monthly. She regularly takes care of pets between Gettysburg, Waynesboro, Hanover and everywhere in between.

“I have walked four dogs at one time, but that was in the beginning when I was first learning what I can handle—now I usually walk two or three at a time,” she says with a laugh.

Organization skills are one of keys to her success.

“I’ve always been an organized person, but I feel like with this job its especially important,” says Zimmerman, who keeps a meticulous scheduling calendar. “Definitely being organized and also being on time are important, as well as being professional and kind, with a general background in all animals.”

But ultimately, she credits her father Stephen Zimmerman for inspiring her entrepreneurial skills.

“He started his business [Zimmerman’s Azalea Gardens and Landscaping, in Gettysburg] in ’92, and I was born in ’92, so I’ve literally grown up as his business has grown too—and I wanted to follow in his footsteps,” says Zimmerman.

As The Gettysburg Dog Walker, she has.

Kennedy Brown: Inside & Out

Kennedy Brown, 19, came up with the name of her business—Inside & Out—before she developed the business itself.

“It means being beautiful, inside and out,” says Brown, a Gettysburg native who now lives and attends college at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. “You want to look cool on the outside, but it’s also about being the same kind of beautiful on the inside. It’s really important to me, to be equally as good a person on the inside and not just on the outside through fashion.”

Brown says she’s always had a love of fashion and art, as well as social media marketing. The Gettysburg community nurtured her artistic talents throughout her childhood and teen years—through summer camps at the Adams County Arts Council, then art classes with Julie Myers at Gettysburg Area High School, including an independent study. 

When Brown began college, she decorated her dorm room with her own artwork—and fellow students took notice, asking how they could buy her artwork. At the same time, she began a side hustle, doing her dorm-mates’ nails—and saving the money to finance her future small business.

She hit upon the idea of turning her artwork into phone cases. Every design begins with a hand-painted canvas. Next, she photographs her artwork and adjusts the colors in Adobe Photoshop. 

“Cases are rectangular, so I focus on horizontal artwork—I recently did ‘the lucky girl phone case,’ and the whole phone case is a license plate,” Brown explains. Other popular designs include a sunset design, dollar bill and an American flag. But many of her designs include her original artwork and phrases, such as “Don’t sweat it,” and “Mind over matter.” She describes her designs as “very bright and playful.”

A marketing major with a social media minor, Brown says she’s fascinated with the entire process of developing a brand.

“Even before I started college, I knew I wanted to be involved with big social media marketing campaigns and photo shoots—that’s what I enjoy best,” says Brown. “Building a brand that other people want—it’s the experience of creating a challenge for yourself: You create this product and then you create this demand for it.”

During Inside & Out’s first year, Brown developed about 45 different phone case designs and hit nearly 20,000 in sales. Now, during her second year, she’s branching out into bikini and beach towel designs and adding sweatshirts this fall.

“I want to stick with phone cases because they are what helped me initially be successful, but I’ve always wanted to own a clothing brand,” Brown explains, “so I want to expand into apparel.”

Developing relationships with manufacturers has been challenging and time consuming. Brown began with online research. Then she ordered samples from a variety of manufacturers, “differentiating between response times and product quality,” she says. “It was all trial and error.”

Much of Brown’s marketing is on social media—Instagram and TikTok. She credits much of her success to one TikTok that racked up 1.5 million views—primarily, she believes, because she based it on a trending song by Billie Eilish.

“I use marketing tactics that would work on myself,” she says. And a lot of her customers are fellow college students—“they’re so supportive and happy for me,” Brown says. In fact, Brown’s been so successful that she hired an employee—a fellow classmate.

One of the challenges they’ve faced is not always being able to respond to customers’ emails right away.

“A lot of people don’t realize it’s two college students learning how to run a business on our own,” Brown says with a laugh. 

She’s guided by a quote she once read: “Make it exist first. Make it good, later.” 

To Brown it means, “Start now and do the best you can, and progress the business into the future,” she says. “I feel like a lot of people will hold back because they can’t make it perfect from the beginning. But making it good will come.” 

Macs by Ceci
104 W. King St., East Berlin
macsbyceci.com 

The Gettysburg Dog Walker

facebook.com/TheGettysburgDogWalker

Military Apparel Company & Beehive Cookie Company

militaryapparelcompany.com beehivecookiecompany.com

Inside & Out

insidenout.shop