Michelle Schrank earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a licensed architect in the state of New York. Michelle’s interests and skills are diverse – ranging from photography to scrapbooking to cake decorating, and she even managed to win third place in a schoolwide poetry competition in college. She appreciates good design, almost as much as a good pun.

Michelle somehow managed to seamlessly integrate cake decorating into the perpetual stress and time demands of architecture school for 5 years, and was lucky enough to land a summer job with Joan at her Cake Chateau in upstate New York in 2009. That marked the beginning of the Tales of a Cake Apprentice blog where she provided step-by-step photos and commentary on the cakes she was creating, so everyone could become enlightened about the secrets and inner workings of a cake shop.

Michelle bought her first digital point‐and‐shoot camera in 2005 and switched to a Canon DSLR in 2007, just in time for a semester abroad in Rome. Since then, the number of pictures she takes has increased exponentially and she is currently in the market for a bigger external hard drive. Since moving to New York City in 2010, her personal photography projects have focused on capturing unique views in an urban context.

She is usually caffeinated on coffee, tea, or Diet Coke* and is always seeking the next creative outlet.

* currently trying to drink less soda and more seltzer & water (even though these are not caffeinated beverages)

experience

> currently
Design Director 2022 – Present
Project Manager 2018 – 2022
Designer / Strategist 2015 – 2017
ICRAVE | New York, NY

previously
Project Manager 2014 – 2015
Intern Architect 2010 – 2014
caseworks architect, PLLC | New York, NY

Architecture Intern 2008-2009
Ekman & Arp Architects | Warwick, RI

Photographer / Media Consultant 2007-2010
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy, NY

Cake Decorator 2009
Joan’s Cake Chateau | Latham, NY

education

Bachelor of Architecture 2005-2010
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy, NY

whereabouts

> currently
Brooklyn, NY

previously
Warwick, RI | Troy, NY | Rome, IT