Buddy Valastro Quote

Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. (born March 3, 1977) is an American baker, reality television personality, and businessman. He has taken his small, family-owned bake shop, Carlo's Bakery, and turned it into a baking and restaurant empire. Valastro is best known as the star of the reality television series Cake Boss, which ran on the TLC cable channel from April 2009 until April 2020. He has also starred in Next Great Baker (2010), Kitchen Boss (2011), Buddy's Bakery Rescue (2013), Bake You Rich (2013), Bakery Boss (2013), Buddy vs. Duff (2019), Buddy vs. Christmas (2020) Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (2023–present) and Legends of the Fork (2023–present)
Valastro was born in Hoboken. He grew up there and in Little Ferry, New Jersey. His mother, Mary Tubito (1948–2017), was born in Altamura, Italy. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants Nicola and Maddalena Tubito. They moved to New Jersey when she was six years old. His father, Buddy Sr., was born in Lipari, Italy. Valastro grew up with four older sisters: Grace, Mary, Maddalena and Lisa.
He attended Ridgefield Park High School and took baking courses at the Bergen County Technical High School, Teterboro Campus.
Valastro began working at his family's business, Carlo's Bakery at age 11, alongside his father. When his father died in 1994, Valastro was 17 and began to take over the family business. In the fifth episode of the first season of Cake Dynasty, he explains that his oldest son, known as Junior, is the first "Buddy Valastro" to graduate from high school.