Christina Miller
Café Owner & Custom Baker
For years Christina Miller has been known around RVA for her side business making custom cakes. Now, with her new brick-and-mortar Cameo Cakery & Café, she’s baking full-time, to her customers’ delight. “When I formulated my own recipes, I didn’t realize people were going to react as they did,” says Christina, once a full-time nurse, of the intense demand for her one-of-a-kind buttercream frosting and other confections. “I get so much satisfaction hearing how customers love my products.” In addition to sweets (homemade fudge!) there are charcuterie boards, pork rinds with pimento, and Christina's Savory Cake, a personal-sized bundt that eats like a meal. And the cafe? Besides the usual grab-and-go fare, try coffee flights, tapped beer, wine, mimosas and more, all in a warm, social ambience with cozy indoor and outdoor seating options.
cameocakery.com
W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr., DDS
Artist and Art Patron
W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr., worked as a dentist for 50 years and has done art for almost as long. Inspired by his artist wife, he took an art class from a neighbor as a young man and from there, it was practice makes perfect. He built his dentistry practice by day (he founded Virginia Family Dentistry), and did his art at night. Forty years later, his paintings are on display at the new arts center in the heart of Chester – the Baxter Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education. “You won’t find someone who loves art more than I do,” says Dr. Perkinson, who says the art center actually honors his father, who was active in Chesterfield life and government and who shares his name. “Chester needed it,” Dr. Perkinson said of the new arts center, “and it was a chance to name it after my daddy. He meant a lot to me.”
perkinsoncenter.org
Sunny Stack Goode
Contemporary Artist & Colorist
Sunny Stack Goode is a contemporary artist and master colorist. You may know her from her LOVE street art (see the mural at Grove Avenue and Strawberry Street), but also for her wearable art – scarves, masks, and infant swaddling blankets, the LOVESwaddle®. Each swaddle comes with information connecting parents to The One Love Foundation, an organization dedicated to health education. Five Virginia hospitals gift each new baby and their family a Love Swaddle. During Covid Sunny’s passion met its purpose with this mission. “Even in my earliest memories, color was my primary voice,” Sunny says. “I have always used art as therapy, so making the visual connection with love art to the emotional connection of relationship health feels natural and serendipitous." To learn more, visit the headquarters at River Road II Shopping Center or lovevolve.com.
Annette Wingo
Custom Quilter
For more than 33 years, Annette Wingo has been quilting – everything from baby bedding and T-shirt quilts to custom designs with separate border motifs. Operating as The Finishing Touch out of Moseley, Annette uses a top-of-the-line Gammil/Statler Stitcher to create the custom quilts for her customers, some of whom have come to her for multiple quilts over the years. “The joy I get from quilting comes from giving each quilt the perfect “finishing touch, and from helping others create beautiful heirlooms for their families and loved ones,” Annette says.
thefinishingtouchquilting.com
Jacqui DePas Schlosser
Boutique Photographer and Businesswoman
Jacqui DePas Schlosser is a second-generation professional photographer with two decades of experience in her craft. A Hofstra University grad, she interned under several top Washington, D.C., and New York City photographers and developed a unique signature style. Jacqui and her team at By Jacqui Photography have photographed over 1,000 weddings, mitzvahs and social events, and also offer corporate, food and boudoir photography. "Cultivating relationships with clients is the cornerstone," says Jacqui. "My team and I passionately care about our craft, our clients, and the memories we are privileged to document." Midlothian Lifestyle magazine is thrilled to partner with Jacqui as staff photographer.
byjacquiphotography.com