5 things to know about Ally Burnett, better known online as SugarPusher

Sugarpusher ally Burnett — She’s famous online for her creative, sweet creations. (Sarah Gronberg / Hville Blast)

Scrolling through TikTok or Instagram, you may have run across a fun personality (with hundreds of thousands of followers) who makes some of the cutest baked goods.

She’s known online as SugarPusher, but her name is Ally Burnett—and she happens to live right here in Huntsville.

We talked with Ally about her passion for baking and her experience as an online sensation—and here’s what we found out.

1. Baking was one of two passions for Ally growing up

Seeing Ally’s enthusiasm for baking on her social media channels makes you think that it’s been a lifelong passion for her. It definitely has, but there’s another passion that brought Ally to center-stage before the days of TikTok.

“I had two passions as a kid—one was music and the other was baking.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

She pursued her passion for music, starting out very young.

“I performed for the first time when I was four. It was life changing.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

After that, her life became consumed with music—listening to it, writing it and everything in between. She had a natural gift for both writing and singing, getting her poetry published at just 10 or 11 years old and becoming more and more visible in the music industry as a singer/songwriter.

As she got older, she came to a crossroads—go to culinary school or make music? As she made the decision, her dad was there to support her either route she took.

“I had a dad, rest his soul, who really believed in me. He gave everything he had to make my dreams come true.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

With that loving support, she chose music. She joined bands, gained experience, decided she liked being on her own, got discovered by a coordinator from MTV and landed a contract with them. Yes, Ally Burnett had her music on the MTV.

But, the music industry had its negative aspects, too. She went through some horrible experiences, and got burned badly by the industry.

After leaving music, she returned to her other childhood passion—baking.

2. She became a pastry chef and gained lots of experience

After leaving the music industry, Ally became a pastry chef at a fine dining restaurant here in Huntsville, Cotton Row.

Her experience in baking (starting with an Easy Bake Oven when she was young) continued to develop and grow. She completed two courses with Ecole Chocolat and worked as a cake decorator.

However, she found that she “didn’t like being in someone else’s kitchen,” and started a cottage baking business out of her home.

She also tried the “normal career path” with an 8-5 job, working as a litigation paralegal.

However, when the pandemic rolled around, all that changed. With her autoimmune disorder, she needed to stay home. So, she quit her job as a paralegal—and this is where SugarPusher starts to enter the scene.

3. She’s built a whole brand with the name SugarPusher—here’s the inspiration

In the early days of the pandemic, Ally had a friend who told her, “You should try making baking tutorials on TikTok,” but she dismissed the idea (at first).

“I had been so burned in the music industry…I was really afraid to be creative again.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

But, after some thought and with “nothing to do at home,” she went for it. She thought, “What do I lose by doing this?”

And she certainly didn’t lose anything. Instead, she gained hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

Within just a few months of posting her first fun baking video, she had hundreds to thousands of views. Then, it was millions. SugarPusher just kept growing.

But let’s rewind for a second. Where did the name SugarPusher come from?

Ally always brought baked goods to people wherever she went—including the hair salon. Her hairstylist would say, “Here you come pushing sugar on us.”

So, she trademarked the name and started building a whole brand around it.

With that brand, she’s gotten to work with Yolanda Gamp from How to Cake It and huge companies like Amazon and Betty Crocker.

And she loves every bit of it.

“I cannot believe what I do…I feel so happy now and at peace. I’m doing what I was meant to be doing.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

But she’s not done growing her brand.

4. SugarPusher has big goals for the future

Ally is an ambitious person with inspiring, big dreams.

“My goals have always been on the loftier side of things…Even if the goals seems really lofty to everyone else, it seems possible to me.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

So, what are her next lofty goals? One, a book. Two, a TV show.

She’s often asked to compete on baking shows, but turns down the inquiries because she doesn’t like competing.

“I’m not a competition person…I would be the first person to cry.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

Instead, she wants to have her own show (and we’d watch every episode of it!).

But, for now, she’s loving the brand she’s built and the community that’s resulted from it.

5. She loves the community—online and in Huntsville

Ally’s favorite part of being SugarPusher is getting to interact with people and share her passion. She loves how people share knowledge information with each other in the online community.

“It’s such an awesome, welcoming community…it’s just so wonderful and supportive.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

But that’s not the only community that Ally loves being a part of. She has lots of love for the Huntsville community.

She’s lived here for almost 20 years, “a lot longer than I expected to be here.”

She’s lived in many places, including San Diego, Hawaii, Arizona and the Midwest.

“I didn’t think I was going to like it here but I do like it…Huntsville has a way of getting people here and keeping people here.”
Ally Burnett, SugarPusher

She listed off lots of reasons why she and her husband love Huntsville—the variety of people, the small-town feel and the proximity to bigger cities. She says Huntsville has “such a charm” to it, with places like Big Spring Park—her favorite spot.