Faces of the Valley: The Cupcake Girls incorporate inclusivity into their lives and their bakery business

About nine years ago, two sisters started with a mixer and an idea to make small gourmet cupcakes and large old-time cookies served with a mix of fun and inclusiveness.

Courtney Kobelenske and Kylie Lash, both of Lower Burrell, opened Cora Lee Cupcakes, now based in New Kensington’s Feldarelli Square, offering sweet treats for residents and children, especially youngsters who might feel left out.

Keto cupcakes, Keto cookies and tarts are the rage now with low carbs, protein and baked with sugar substitutes. Also popular are peanut butter cup cupcakes, homemade soups and lunches.

Kobelenske, 47, came up with the Keto sweets idea during the pandemic, which would have “kicked our behinds” without it, Lash said.

The sisters, known as the Cupcake Girls among Lower Burrell residents, have built a niche bakery that has served as the hub and springboard for Kobelenske’s activism, creating opportunities and experiences for children who might be a little “quirky.”

Recently, she ran a successful inaugural Alle-Kiski Inclusion Games event featuring activities and games for kids who are normally sidelined in traditional sports.

“Nobody knows they are different until people point it out,” Kobelenske said.

Lash added: “We don’t see children with extra quirks and needs as children with differences. They are just kids. Everybody is a little quirky. If we weren’t, it would be an awfully boring place to be.”

It all started with miniature cupcakes.

Kobelenske, with an accounting background, wanted to open a niche bakery for kids in the area. “We wanted a shop that was friendly and welcomed everybody.”

She enlisted Lash, 43, as a partner. Lash is a professional chef who was happy to apply her culinary expertise and work with a cadre of young customers.

“We are just trying to change the world one cupcake at a time,” Lash said.

Since the business is kid-oriented, small cupcakes seemed to be the way to go.

“We do a lot of individual specialized orders in small batches to make it fresh and we are not wasting,” Lash said.

The Cupcake Girls credit their families, who if they weren’t pitching in and helping, “we wouldn’t be there,” Lash said.

Their mother, Melissa Smith of Lower Burrell, is “a lot of the glue that keeps the place going,” Lash said.

Kobelenske’s daughter, Emma, has been involved in the business and her mother’s events and is now a paraprofessional for Burrell High School in the life skills classroom.

The popularity of the sweets shop, Kob­elenske insists, is because of her daughter, Cora Lee, 17, the namesake of the business, who is on the autism spectrum.

“When Cora comes and hangs out, she is the best greeter,” Kobelenske said.

That is a good thing because many children on the spectrum tend to be shy, she added.

Kobelenske and her sister started fundraisers for school programs, which benefit special-needs students and Burrell’s life skills classroom. Events included bowling, adult comedy night and dances.

One of Kobelenske’s most visible projects is the Huston Middle School Treat Trolley, which is stocked, managed and operated by special-needs students who sell coffee and sweets to school staff and sometimes Lower Burrell officials. Cora Lee Cupcakes provides the sweet offerings.

The Treat Trolley was so successful that its earnings started a coffee cart for the high school.

Both carts continue to be operated by special-needs students as a training exercise where they “learn important business skills,” Kobelenske said.

The Cupcake Girls also ran another successful fundraiser for special-needs students: a cookbook in 2021. Students cooked whatever they wanted for the book. The goal was to sell 1,000 books, and they did, donating the proceeds to the life skills programs at Huston Middle School and the high school.

“Ultimately, you can’t say no to her,” said Gregory Egnor, director of Burrell’s student services and supervisor of special education programs.

“Everything she is doing makes sense,” he said.

Kobelenske bases her projects and fundraisers on what teachers, parents and students tell her they need.

“She has developed a reputation as an advocate for students with special needs,” Egnor said.

Kobelenske’s input at the district helps fill the chasm of student experiences.

“In life skills, academics is a small portion,” Egnor said. “Students need to learn life skills and functional work skills so they have a meaningful existence in the community.”

To have someone in the community like the Cupcake Girls is invaluable, he said.

All of the good will and good eats are the products of living and prospering with physical challenges.

Kobelenske has a muscle disorder that didn’t become prominent until after the birth of her two daughters. The disorder, inherited by Emma, affects their gaits. Kobelenske calls her special way of walking “the swag,” lending sophistication and humor to the condition.

During the Inclusion Games, a little girl strolled up to Kobelenske and asked her why she walked a little differently.

“My muscles don’t work so well,” Kob­elenske told the girl. “Then she gave me a hug and ran off to play.”

That was a positive interaction that Kobelenske appreciated.

If she could wave a magic wand to change the world around her, she said, “it would be that everybody would be kind.”

Being in motion and living with purpose is one of Kobelenske’s ingredients for success and a family motto.

In dealing with her walking issues and helping her children work through their challenges, there is no ruminating on problems and negative people.

“If you are a woe-is-me kind of person, that is how your kids are going to be and that is not our family,” she said.

“Do you cry when your kids have a bad day? Absolutely, but not in front of them,” she said.

Kobelenske just moves on to the next task at hand.