Ben-Ishay will transition to president—a title she held before the board installed her as CEO in late 2019—while Sanjay Khetan, the company’s current CFO, takes over as chief executive. In an exclusive Fortune interview with both Khetan and Ben-Ishay, Ben-Ishay said she’d planned to bring Khetan on with the intention of finding someone who could replace her. On her first day of being the President and not the CEO of her company, Ben-Ishay described the move candidly: “I am so freaking thrilled that I am no longer needed in that seat,” she said, “so I can focus on the areas of the business that I can uniquely drive.”
In her first year of being a CEO and during a pandemic, she said the company grew e-commerce revenue roughly 99% year over year. It was also during the pandemic that Ben-Ishay accidentally built what she now calls “a business within my business”—going viral on TikTok not for cupcakes but for her Green Goddess salad recipe, which racked up over 27 million views. Her social following has spawned a brand partnerships division, two cookbooks (including a New York Times bestseller), and collaborations with Oatly, Squishmallows, and Ferrero.
Ben-Ishay’s TikToks are chaotic—food bits flying, kids yelling, smoke detector beeping—with the overachieving-burnt-out-mom energy that millennials have made aspirational. It clearly speaks to a strong contingent: Baked by Melissa has nearly 3 million followers on TikTok alone. On the call with Fortune, the vibe wasn’t all that different; Ben-Ishay took part of the interview from the passenger seat of a car, at one point pausing to hug and chat with someone while Khetan answered questions.
For Ben-Ishay, that comes with territory of being a high-powered, ambitious person. “I am a mom with young kids. I am a creator. I am a cookbook author—New York Times bestselling cookbook author—and an executive co-founder of Baked by Melissa,” she said. “Today, president and co-founder. Yesterday, CEO and co-founder,” which, she said, means she wears “many, many hats. And I have my priorities straight: I think this transition is not only best for Baked by Melissa, but best for me so I can breathe, like, a tiny bit.”
The question of what happens to the brand’s social media presence—arguably its most valuable marketing asset, built almost entirely on Ben-Ishay’s personal content—seems central to the transition. But she said she expects the shift to give her more time to create, not less. She has resisted the label “influencer” even as her following has grown. “I’m not an influencer by trade,” she said. “I have this greater responsibility, not only to Baked by Melissa, but also to my customer.”
Khetan said the partnership works because the division of labor is clean: Ben-Ishay leads brand and creative, he handles operations and finance. “The potential to create more value over the next couple of years is extraordinary,” he said.
Ben-Ishay offered a final thought. “Baked by Melissa—we make bite-sized stuffed cupcakes in a variety of flavors that make you feel like a kid again, and we ship nationwide,” she said. “And hop to it, because Easter is on its way.” Eighteen years in, and she’s still closing.
