Pastry Chef Keli Marks is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and she received a full year education at the French Pastry School in Chicago, IL in exchange for being the very first assistant to Jacquy Pfeiffer & Sebastien Canonne, MOF when they opened the school in 1996.

Her background includes having worked for many of the top pastry chefs in the United States at establishments that include some of the most esteemed bakeries, restaurants, hotels, private clubs and culinary schools. Keli was the co-owner and cake designer of a well-known bakery in Chicago from 2003 - 2011 which gained high accolades and was featured in national magazines in the US as well as other respectable publications in France & Germany.

Keli has been on the Food Network on three separate occasions: Sugar Rush, Romance Novel Cake Challenge & The Holiday Baking Championships. In addition, she was on the Chicago chapter’s board for Les Dames d’Escoffier from 2009 - 2011 and was a guest pastry chef at the famed James Beard House in NYC in 2013.

All of these incredible experiences have led her to the opening of her own bakery & custom cake shop, Bakery 28, in Cornelius, North Carolina. Bakery 28 is focused on selling baked goods that have exceptional taste, presentation, quality and service. Chef Keli proudly sources ingredients from local farmers, including several Freshlist farmers, and uses organic, sustainable and/or fair trade ingredients when possible.