She’s known for her delicate touch and healing skills for our four legged friends, but mending paws and curing colds is only one thing Dr. Lisa Newell has in her medical bag of tricks. Vet? Baker? How about both?
Whether she’s baking in the kitchen or healing at the hospital, Newell has plenty of stories to tell.
The longtime vet gets paid in cash, kisses and love bites from the many animals she cares for, but she has something even sweeter to give. It’s called Bake-A-Wish, and her goodies have become so delicious and popular she’s turned it into a small sideline business. What she doesn’t sell, she donates. Newell grew up with her grandmother on Old Malibu Road. She went off to school for a couple of years, but says, “Malibu kept calling me back and, once I went back, I never looked back.” She started out as a veterinary assistant for Dr. Nancy Smith in 1990. She not only developed a knack for treating animals, but honed her sweet tooth as well. Now, she’s not only helping her four-legged friends but two-legged kids in need, and what kind of kid in chemo is going to turn down a freshly made cupcake?
“I developed Bake-A-Wish cakes and cupcakes for children with life limiting illnesses,” she explained. “I donate all my time and baked goods to these amazing brave children and their families.” And she gets back what she gives. She said she loves to go to places like Children’s Hospital and see little faces light up.
“If I can just make these kids smile and have tasty happiness for those moments, because of my baked goods, my life is complete,” Newell said.
She said she prides herself not only on how her baked goods are prepared but what goes in them.
“I use organic products and cruelty free dairy and eggs,” Newell described. “I can also do vegan and gluten free.” When she isn’t in the kitchen or clinic, the vet and baker puts time in for the California Wildlife Center and the World Dog Alliance. She gets a little ribbing from her husband Chris, who joked, “Working 50 hours a week is not enough.”
So, after more than two decades in Malibu, between goldies and labs and sugar and spice, Newell said her world is “complete” — and oh so sweet.
