Life

A piece of cake

Accountant, midwife and now this — Warren woman has changed careers several times

Many people think about switching careers in their lives, but Dannielle MacDuff did more than think about it -- she changed directions several times as she learned more about herself and what she considered important.

MacDuff, 51, of Warren, grew up in Miami, Florida, and Missouri. She graduated from Wentzville High School in Wentzville, Missouri.

After high school, she attended Missouri State University and graduated with an associate's degree in accounting and business administration in the 1990s.

Her accounting career began in high school as she did the taxes for her coworkers at McDonald's.

"All my coworkers had me do their taxes, but that was a very long, long time ago when I only had to go to the library to get a form," she recalled with a laugh.

MacDuff decided to get her bachelor's degree and began taking online accelerated business courses at the University of Phoenix. She admitted it was difficult working and doing the course work.

"I was already in the business and I thought if I had more education, I would get more clients and bigger paychecks," she said.

She continued courses at Phoenix and graduated with her master's and doctorate degrees in accounting.

MacDuff admitted, "I decided to take on the extra hours for the programs before my brain kicked in."

Unfortunately, she said although she was much busier, things did not go as planned.

"I never saw my kids from November through May unless they were in my office," she said.

Heading into healing arts

In her 20s, MacDuff said she was forced to make some lifestyle changes because of the pressure and exhaustion she was experiencing. She said that after visits to multiple doctors who prescribed supplements and told her, "things were all in her head," she began investigating alternative therapies.

MacDuff said naturopathic medicine helped her heal from her "adrenal meltdown" and helped her to move out of her depression and exhaustion. Describing her recovery, she said it took "eight months of very severe symptoms."

She said she realized that her diet of "fizzy sodas" and sweet foods were killing her. MacDuff admitted it was exceedingly difficult changing her diet.

"I love food and I lived on sodas and sugars," she said.

It took about three months following the naturopathic program before she said she even felt a little like herself. Her experience with the naturopathic medicine diet led her to online courses at the Trinity School of Natural Health, where she earned her doctorate and business degrees and became a Board-Certified Naturopathic Doctor (BCND).

MacDuff was quick to point out that she is not a physician, but she has a doctorate in natural medicine. While working for a chiropractor, she found she enjoyed working with people and helping with their health issues.

"The lifestyle spoke to me; it was making a difference in people's lives. As an accountant, I never felt that," she said.

Becoming a baker and midwife

While working at a call center, her love of food and creativity led her to bake cakes.

"I always volunteered to make the cakes for the monthly birthday parties for employees there," MacDuff said. "Soon, my coworkers asked me to bake cakes for their celebrations."

She continued baking as a sideline as she began the course of becoming a midwife.

MacDuff's natural tendency to help others was strong as she started on the path to become a midwife. Working with her doctor, she started on the path to becoming an actual "direct entry midwife."

She said beginners start being midwife assistants, "basically gophers to help the midwife with deliveries." After that, she said she progressed through the stages to finally become an actual direct entry midwife. She said she performed her first solo birth in 2015.

During all these careers, MacDuff continued to bake cakes.

"I keep a Kosher kitchen and so therefore, my cakes are Kosher," she said.

MacDuff said she learned techniques from watching the TV show, "Ace of Cakes." She said that show inspired her and showed her how to make unusual decorations for cakes. She credited Charm City Cakes owner/chef Duff Goldman with being her "classroom." She said Goldman "sold me on design" and that making things "feeds my soul."

MacDuff said she also learned a lot from television, internet searches and YouTube.

She added that she loved being a midwife but noted "babies get born between midnight and three in the morning sometimes. I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to make a cake."

MacDuff said she enjoys making carved cakes.

"I've made football helmets in the groom's team colors and a fish because the groom was a fisherman," she said.

Her favorite wedding cake was one she made for an older couple who was getting married.

"The wife said her husband-to-be was a big hunter, and he hadn't gotten a deer that season."

MacDuff made a cake of an eight-point deer's head and inscribed it, at the bride's request, "The One who Got Away."

MacDuff is licensed as a "cottage baker" by the state of Ohio. She explained she only does Kosher cakes because "I keep Kosher at home and home is where I bake." Sometimes, MacDuff said it can be difficult to get a couple to decide about their cake, but she loves to see "the joyful expressions when they see the cakes and go 'WOW!'"