Eden baker got start at RCC
Mar 31, 2025Ingrid Talbott McCraw grew up in Eden, the only child in a close-knit family. She graduated in the top 10 percent of the Morehead High School Class of 1994, and had offers from numerous colleges and universities.
“I had aspirations to go to Chapel Hill, but I didn’t really want to go off to college. I didn’t feel like I was ready,” she said. “I had scholarship offers based on my grades right off the bat, mostly from private schools, but I didn’t want to spend $200-300 applying to colleges.”
So McCraw applied to just one: Rockingham Community College.
“We were a one-income household, and my dad worked at Duke Power – he’s an electrician. His father couldn’t read or write. Nobody in my family had ever been to college,” she said.
“I decided I’d do my first two years at RCC. It would be easier than going to Chapel Hill and with 500 people in a class. It’s the same exact education,” McCraw said. She enrolled in RCC’s college transfer track.
“I knew that when I finished RCC and I got my associate degree, that even if something happened and I didn’t finish at my four-year school, I had something on paper that says I went to college and completed something,” she said. “What happens if you go to a college and hate it? I had friends who got married and dropped out of college. I used to tell my best friend, ‘Get your education because that’s something nobody can take away from you.’”
McCraw pointed out that it was much cheaper to do her first two years at RCC. She started off with a scholarship through the RCC Foundation her first year and then worked on the student orientation staff in her second year to cover tuition. She also tutored Spanish and English on campus to offset expenses.
“I really only had to pay for my books, so I got my associate degree for a few hundred dollars,” she said.
McCraw paid careful attention to the list of classes that would transfer to Carolina. When she did transfer, she had about 62 credit hours behind her – about half of what her degree required. She enrolled in Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“When I got to Carolina, I had smaller classes. I had some with 200-300 people, but it wasn’t frequent,” she said.
“When you walk into some of those classes at a big university, they don’t know you. If you have questions, you have to go through a TA (teacher’s assistant),” she said. “At RCC, the professors know your name. You have classes with 10 or 12 kids. That makes a big difference, especially if you’re a small-town kid. I think my biggest class at RCC might have had 30 students.”
McCraw said the culture shock at Carolina was overwhelming.
“I was like a fish out of water. It was like walking into another world and trying to adjust. I came home every weekend,” she said.
In 1998, McCraw earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies with a minor in History.
“I’m glad I did it, I’m glad I got my education,” she said.
“I tell people all the time that I got my first two years of college for free, and that you can get the same education at RCC for a fraction of the price and still be able to live at home and work,” she said.
The Cakewalk
Cake decorating was on McCraw’s bucket list. She was out of college, married, and working. She signed up for a Wilton Level 1 class that Elree’s Bakery taught through RCC. She then took Levels 2 and 3 elsewhere, since Elree’s didn’t teach them.
“I wanted to learn how to pipe a rose. Gina Carter taught me how to decorate cake,” she said. “I loved it. It was a hobby that I never would have thought would have turned into a career or an income.”
Besides, McCraw was already working in corporate America… until she and her husband Dale had twin preemie babies and she had to quit.
“They were 29-weekers and spent two months in the hospital. They couldn’t go into daycare until they were at least 4 months old, and I didn’t want to put them in daycare. And nobody was going to hold my job for four months,” she said.
“I had worked since I was 16. I didn’t know what it was like not to work. We went from two incomes and two people, to one income and four people. It got hard,” she said. She looked for opportunities to make money from home when the boys turned 1.
“People used to ask me to make birthday cakes and cupcakes, so I thought, I’ll do cupcakes. They don’t take a lot of time, and I could do it while the kids nap,” she said.
McCraw immediately looked into a business name. Ingrid’s Cakes was already taken, so she opted for Ingrid’s Cupcakes and Confections. She started at home and then moved into a small commercial space when her boys started kindergarten. She’s now located at 238 W. Kings Highway in Eden, across from O’Reilly Auto Parts, and she’s in her 12th year – the baker’s dozen.
“It’s funny how you don’t know where life is going to take you. You just have to go with it,” she said. “It’s great for reflection to see where you’ve been and see those footsteps and how your life has changed.”
The Community
McCraw has been involved in a multitude of programs in Rockingham County that help youth, from Junior Achievement to the Power of Money to job shadowing.
“I tell them if you want to own your own business, at least go to RCC and get a business diploma or a two-year associate degree, so you know how to file your taxes and run your business. Even if you’re taking over your daddy’s business, do that work for when the time comes. For me, it’s not just baking cake, right? I’ve got to make sure my income and sales taxes are filed. There are legalities I have to handle, and file my LLC,” she said.
“If someone wants to start a business, I think the best place to start is getting some accounting and business information. Maybe in the process of going through that you’ll figure out the direction you want to go… a restaurant, clothing store, an HVAC business. You have to figure out the costs, and cover yourself, your labor, you gas, your work vehicles, and figure out what you need to charge,” she said.
“The same goes for cake. Eggs are now a dollar a piece. How much do I have to change my pricing so I don’t lose my shirt? People wonder why that cake costs so much, but you have to pay for a lot of things. You have your business overhead – your rent, insurance, the internet, and all the things you have to do to be a legal entity.”
The Trades
McCraw recognizes that not everyone needs a four-year education.
“I’m a huge proponent of the trades, because I own a bakery. I don’t have to have a four-year education for this,” she said.
McCraw and two other local movers and shakers, Leslie Wyatt and Sandra Meadows, started a non-profit foundation, RoCo Is Home,” which has held several fund-raisers in the past few years.
“A lot of what we want to do is promote trade programs. It’s hard to find a plumber or an electrician to come out because [those career paths] weren’t pushed in my generation. Four-year schools were pushed, so there’s a big gap in the trades area,” she said.
“One of the things that we want to do are scholarships,” McCraw continued. “I was a blue-collar kid. Not every blue-collar household has the funds to send their kid to a four-year school. But you can send them to RCC and get into a wonderful program for HVAC or so many other things the College offers and go into the workforce with little to no debt. You’ve got kids coming out of four-year schools with $100,000 in debt. How in the world are they going to pay that off? That’s a mortgage!”
Not long ago, McCraw had a high-school intern at her bakery who wanted to enter a four-year university right when she graduated.
“I said look, it’s not for everybody. If you get there and you are miserable, finish out the semester. Come home, go somewhere else, go to RCC or UNCG. Find somewhere else that fits you better. Never be afraid to come home. There’s no shame in saying this was not for me, right? Not everywhere is for everybody. And that’s what she ended up doing. She made it one semester,” McCraw said.
“Find your place and be okay with it. If that’s not your place, find your next place that aligns with your morals, values, and educational aspirations,” she said.
