Johannah Emmons walked into 216 Coworking nervous enough to admit she was sweating through her mic check, and by the end of the conversation host Logan Lewis had heard the whole arc of her life: a childhood on a farm behind the Iron Curtain, a marriage that brought her from Ohio to Georgia, and a bakery business built out of pure necessity that turned into one of the most recognizable names at the Cartersville Farmers Market. Johannah is the owner and baker behind Foreign Chicks Bakery, and for the past 12 years she has been the reason locals line up early for strawberry shortbread and sourdough. This episode is less a business interview than a life story, and Johannah didn't hold much back.
A Childhood on the Farm, Behind the Iron Curtain
Johannah grew up in what was then Czechoslovakia, on a farm with her grandparents, tending animals and riding horses with no other kids around. "I was so lonely," she told Logan. "I was never around any friends because it was nobody there. So I was always like outside by myself with animals." Looking back, she says the isolation taught her to observe and learn on her own, even if the loneliness itself wasn't fun. She also described the harder edges of growing up under communism: smuggling goods across the border into East Germany, her mother hiding money in the hollowed-out barrel of a marker, and being terrified of the guards and German shepherds at checkpoints. "We are just here for chocolate and almonds so we can bake something good for Christmas," she remembered, along with the rare treat of pineapple at Christmastime. Those scarce, hard-won ingredients are part of why her family's Christmas cookie traditions still mean so much to her today.
A Farmers Market Table Born Out of Necessity
Baking wasn't originally her identity. Her mother and grandmother cooked and baked from scratch, but Johannah says she "never done it growing up." That changed after she married and moved to Goshen, Ohio, where money was tight. "I just started this tiny farmers market that was just starting," she said. "I would have my son on the counter, a little baby, as I'm mixing stuff." Baking let her stay home with her kids instead of paying for childcare she didn't trust — a decision reinforced, she said, after a babysitting situation where she came to pick up her daughter and found the sitter outside mowing the lawn while the kids were left inside. When her husband's job with a plastics company transferred the family to Cartersville, the farmers market habit came with them, and it never stopped.
The Name That Stuck: Foreign Chicks Bakery
The story behind the bakery's name is one of the episode's best moments. When Johannah first moved to the U.S. and struggled with English, she noticed people already labeled her "that foreign chick" behind her back. Instead of fighting it, she leaned in. "I figured, you know, people gonna call me that foreign chick anyway," she said. "So why not to kind of like make fun of myself or like go with it and call my bakery that Foreign Chicks Bakery?" Logan called it a marketing genius move — memorable in a way "Johannah's Bakery" never would have been. The logo itself came from two college students she met at Starbucks and paid $150, a bargain compared to the $2,500 quote she'd gotten elsewhere.
Twelve Years of Community at the Cartersville Farmers Market
Logan realized mid-conversation that he and his wife had unknowingly bought from Johannah years before they ever formally met — his wife waited in a long line for "this foreign bakery" without knowing the name behind it. That's the kind of loyalty Johannah has built market season after market season. Her best sellers include Czechoslovakian strawberry shortbread, dense European-style sourdough, and ginger snaps that "kinda everything sells, but yes" tend to disappear fast — the same traditions rooted in the from-scratch Christmas baking of her childhood. But for Johannah, the draw isn't just the product. "I crave the connection," she said. "I love the farmers market so much because I cannot always wait to see people and talk to them."
An Evening in Europe — and a Hard Year Behind Her
Johannah used the episode to promote her second annual "Evening in Europe," a paid ticket event at the Goodyear Clubhouse featuring European appetizers, a DJ, raffles, and a Prague-themed photo backdrop, sponsored in part by Styles Autocare. She was candid that the first year didn't turn a profit — she over-catered and sent guests home with extra plates — but it gave her something money-driven events couldn't: connection with a community she otherwise misses being far from family overseas. That community mattered even more this year. Johannah opened up about finalizing a divorce and calling it "the worst season of my life," crediting her farmers market customers and fellow vendors with helping her get through it. "They literally helped me overcome the worst season of my life," she said, adding that even small acts of kindness ripple further than people realize.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Johannah Emmons's story is proof that a bakery table can hold a lot more than pastries — it can hold a whole life story, from communist-era Czechoslovakia to a farm-to-table dream in Cartersville. Hear the full conversation, including her rapid-fire personal questions, her Costco obsession, and all the details on Evening in Europe, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Listen to Episode #457
Catch the full conversation with Johannah Emmons on Your Morning Drive, wherever you listen.
