Amy Mercer, founder of Lulu's, got her start baking beside her mother in their kitchen in Pennsylvania, baking in tiny pans in a hand-me-down play oven heated by a light bulb.  Amy came to Virginia for college and spent a few years after college overseas in Russia- where everything is baked fresh.  When she returned to the U.S. she had trouble re-adjusting to processed baked goods and began experimenting with baking bread, cakes and cookies.  in 2003 a friend asked her to bake her wedding cake, and although Hurricane Isabelle hit that weekend, knocking out power all over town, the cake made it to the wedding and was a hit.  Over the next several years she made many more wedding cakes for friends.   When her own wedding rolled around, her husband-to-be wisely convinced her to let a friend bake the cake (although in those early years of marriage he did learn to smooth icing and help engineer multi-tiered cakes).  They settled in Charlottesville after the wedding and are now blessed with a son, a daughter and a foster son.  All three, but especially their daughter (nicknamed Lulu), love to help in the kitchen.  After years of encouragement from friends and family, Lulu's was born of Amy's love of bringing good, wholesome food to people who care about it.  Amy also has a degree in Social Work and worked as a Child and Family Therapist.  Lulu's Cake Therapy is the marriage of her love of cakes and experience in the mental health field.