Hi, all! Before I formally introduce the guest of honor in our next live chat, just a bit of background on our CookieCon Speakers Series . . . Each year in the run up to CookieCon, the country's largest cookie decorating convention, I like to chat with the keynote speaker and all of the core instructors with whom we've not recently chatted. These people are reliably movers and shakers in the cookie world, which means that their chats are always sprinkled with seeds of wisdom and on fire with blazing-hot insights and ideas. (I know, it's hard to imagine planting seeds when a fire is raging . . . I apologize for the incompatible metaphors, but I think you catch my drift!) 
The good news is: we've already had the honor and pleasure of chatting with several of these folks, both this year and last. (For your convenience, I have links to these past chats at the end of this post.) And the good news is (yes, there is no bad news here!): if we haven't yet chatted with these folks, I'm doing my best to make sure we do, all before CookieCon 2020 starts in February!
To that end, let's get on with the next chat, shall we?! It's right around the corner on Sunday, November 17, at 7 pm central with none other than Cookie Connection member @Le Monnier du Biscuit, aka Karine Lemonnier! And, yes, it's a Sunday evening this time, folks, so please take note! We're trying out a new time slot (at least for this chat) to accommodate busy Saturday schedules.
At CookieCon, Karine will be talking about how to take your cookies "out of the box" with novel presentations, such as platters, cake decorations, and 3-D centerpieces. We'll certainly want to chat with Karine about all of the aforementioned, but those topics are just the tip of the iceberg. Read on to learn more about Karine, and to start formulating your questions.
Karine's chat room is now open (HERE) to receive your advance questions. (This link is also the one to click to join the chat live on November 17.)
Living near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Karine Lemonnier is a passionate person. After a career in nursing, she decided to become a stay-at-home mom, but soon realized that something was missing: the urge of creativity.
Her cookie journey started with a melting snowman decorated cookie seen on Facebook. When she saw it, Karine knew she could do the same. It didn’t take more to awaken a real passion! Back then, she didn’t realize that her self-taught hobby would eventually transform into a flourishing business: Le Monnier du Biscuit. Her business was growing so well that she moved her cookie room outside her home to a cookie workshop in 2019. She then proved to some people that, yes, cookie decorating is a real job! She loves to teach different levels and often collaborates with her talented caker friend, ImaginaCake. She also participates every year in the Sugar Art for Autism collaboration, a dear cause to her.
She attended her first CookieCon in 2015 and has been hooked on the cookie community ever since. Finally there was a place where cookie decorating is a real thing! She particularly loves to take part in the Sugar Show (she placed two times), and, yes, she goes through a CookieCon withdrawal every time!
Above all, the most important thing for Karine is making sure that she can express her creativity every day.
To learn more about Karine, check out her Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as her site.
AGAIN, Karine's chat room is now open (HERE) to receive your advance questions. (This link is also the one to click to join the chat live on November 17.)
**** ADDENDUM: COOKIECON 2020 CHAT TRANSCRIPTS ****
Directly below is an alphabetical list of CookieCon 2020 core instructors (and keynote speaker). If the person's name is pink, then we have already chatted with him/her, and you can read that chat transcript by clicking on the person's name.
- Georganne Bell (keynote speaker)
- Jackie Huebbe
- Karine Lemonnier (transcript coming soon! )
- Nicholas Lodge
- Toni Miller
- Aime Pope
- Tammy Trahan
