Meet Our Instructors
Our hands-on classes are taught by a wonderful team of instructors with years of real-world experience, allowing us to create experiences that are informational, interactive, entertaining and above all, delicious.
Katie Kring
Owner & Head Instructor
Katie is the founder and owner of Pickwick & Cherry and has been teaching baking and cooking classes professionally for over a decade. She is the winner of numerous awards for her baking, including being named Best Pastry Chef & Best Bread Baker by Feast Magazine and receiving numerous Best In 417 accolades.
Beyond her culinary accumen, Katie is known for her humor, storytelling, and quick wit. She is also an award-winning professional composer, and an avid amateur mycologist.
Ryan Mihalik
Cheesemaker & Instructor
Ryan is a professional cheesemaker with over a decade of professional experience working at dairies across the US, Europe and Australia. He most recently spent five years as the head cheesemaker at a sheep dairy in California and selling at high-end farmers markets across the Bay Area, before returning to his native Ozarks to teach.
Ryan is also a passionate gardener, cook, and fermenter and brings his knowledge, experience, and charm to all of his classes.
Micah Whalen
Cookie Decorator & Instructor
Micah has worked at Pickwick & Cherry since 2019, and has worked his way up from dishwasher to Head Cookie Baker and Decorator. Micah is a current student at Missouri State University studying Geography and Sustainability. He is also pursuing a minor in music, and is an avid clarinetist and saxophone player.
In addition to school and work, Micah enjoys cooking and baking at home and has a passion for sustainable gardening, LGBTQ+ rights, and cute animals.