Julie Fox Is on a Mission to Raise Awareness of Icing Smiles

Read heartwarming stories this Sugar Angel and former cake scheduler shares about Icing Smiles at local events.

Hundreds of kids and their families — along with some mascots, princesses, and superheroes — gathered at a high school in Scottsdale, Arizona. Booths offering arts and crafts, face painting, balloon animals, food, and games lined the track. 

Over the shrieks of joy and excitement, one might hear Julie Fox ask if they’ve heard of Icing Smiles. “Give me a minute of your time,” she’d say. “This is one of those too good to be true stories — but this one is true.”

Julie has been an Icing Smiles Sugar Angel since 2019. Recently, she’s been setting up booths for Icing Smiles at events around her home in Gilbert, Arizona. This one is HopeKids HopeWalk, a 5K to raise money and support for families who have a child with cancer or other life-threatening medical conditions.

“Not enough people know about Icing Smiles,” Julie says. “This is such a good way to get the word out. I really believe in Icing Smiles — and if I believe in something that somebody does, then I could talk about it forever.”

The Sweetness of Giving

Brian Fishman of Sweet Karma Desserts and Julie Fox at CookieCon

Julie has a lot of stories she likes to tell about Icing Smiles. She volunteered as a cake scheduler for New York bakers for over two years and got to hear impact stories from both Sugar Angels and the families they served. She remembers one Sugar Angel who drove three hours one way just to deliver a cake!

But her favorite story comes from CookieCon, where she was once again representing Icing Smiles at a booth. Her phone rang — she was still helping schedule cakes for the state of New York — and it was a mom who was requesting another cake for her 2-year-old son. “This child was not supposed to be alive,” Julie says. “He was not supposed to get to his first birthday. Now they’re celebrating his second birthday.”

It just so happened that the Sugar Angel who baked the kiddo’s first cake — Brian Fishman of Sweet Karma Desserts in Oceanside, New York — was at the Icing Images booth at CookieCon. 

“I hadn’t met Brian yet, so when I went up to the booth, he was trying to sell me the printer,” Julie recalls with a laugh. “‘I don’t need a printer,’ I said. ‘I work for Icing Smiles.’ He stops and goes, ‘Are you Julie Fox?’”

Julie told Brian about the phone call she’d just received, and he jumped on the chance to make the cake for family for a second time. “He was so excited,” she says. “It’s very obvious there’s a lot of emotion in these cakes.”

A Break From Reality

Now Julie’s stories come from her time spent tabling for Icing Smiles. At a vendor show last year, a family approached the table with their child. “‘See this little guy,’ they said. ‘He just received one of your cakes. Your cakes are a break from reality,’” Julie recalls. “What a way to put it.”

At the HopeKids HopeWalk, which supports families who have a child with a life-threatening illness, Julie got to meet many families who have received Icing Smiles cakes. “One said, ‘Oh, my son received a cake in June.’ I asked if he was going to get another cake next year. She said he passed away, but she was so grateful for Icing Smiles.”

Unleashing Talent

The other type of person Julie connects with events is the at-home baker who is curious about being a Sugar Angel but doubts their capabilities. 

For years, Julie was an instructor for Wilton’s cake decorating classes. “I really enjoyed trying to show people that they have talent that they don’t know they have,” she says. “So I try to convince people who think they can’t do it or aren’t ‘good enough’ bakers — trust me, if you do a cake and you do it with care, people will think it’s beautiful.”

When Julie isn’t being a vision carrier for Icing Smiles at vendor shows and other events, she still bakes cookies for the Icing Smiles Cookie Club. “I like the creativity,” she says. “When I was doing cakes, I made 225 cakes in a couple years and never made the same cake twice.”

Share the Icing Smiles Story

Founder and Executive Director Tracy Quisenberry says vision carriers like Julie are critical to Icing Smiles’ growth and impact: “A vision carrier is someone who tells our story and makes an impact on another individual. Whether you share your cake on Facebook, talk about Icing Smiles at a cake show, or meet a medical family in need and recommend them for a cake, you are carrying the vision of what Icing Smiles is and does and are a part of growing the organization. It is incredible through word of mouth who this organization can reach. You never know who could be our next cake recipient, sponsor, or donor.”