Lady Ashton

After graduating from FIT, she combined her love of baking with her design …talent and launched her start-up concept, 2 Birds 1 Stone: a one-stop shop for custom dresses and wedding cakes. Like many young entrepreneurs, she continued her part-time job, working as a hostess at one of TriBeCa’s most sought after restaurants, Marc Forgione. Unable to ignore her love for baking, she trained with top bakers at Cake Atelier and attended classes at the Institute of Culinary Education. Lady Ashton turned her hostess job at Forgione into an opportunity to nurture her passion and flourish as a chef, and she jumped at the first opportunity to move into the pastry department. Rising quickly to the challenge, she eventually assumed the role of Head Pastry Chef.

During her tenure as Forgione’s Pastry Chef, Lady Ashton single handedly revolutionized the restaurant’s dessert concept, creating lavish, original concepts like Lady Ashton’s Chocolate Cake and local favorite Tattoos & Strawberries – a selection of fun and unique homemade ice cream flavors served tableside in five mini-cones; it’s namesake a tribute to her stunning body art and red hair.

The culinary world soon became unable to ignore the mark Lady Ashton was making on the world of original dessert concepts. Her Banana Pecan Bread Pudding landed her a segment on the Food Network original series Sandra Lee’s Restaurant Remakes, was featured on season one of Amazing Wedding Cakes, and was invited to showcase her now famous chocolate cake and other treats at the New York Food & Wine Festival.

Upon leaving Forgione to explore new opportunities, she was approached by the owners of another TriBeCa mainstay, Duane Park, to overhaul and revitalize their dessert menu. She accepted the challenge and was their pastry chef for a year and a half. She still maintains a thriving custom cake business, and is in the planning stages of opening her own bakery & ice cream parlor in New York City