Most people look at a 40 lb. block of cheddar and see an ingredient. Vicki Janisch sees a canvas and a way to stay rooted in dairy, even after her family stepped away from milking cows.
In the last few years, the Wisconsin native has built a one‑of‑a‑kind career as a professional cheese carver. Her work has shown up at weddings, college sports announcements, major dairy events and even tied into the NFL Draft.
But if you ask her, it’s less about the spotlight and more about staying connected to the industry that shaped her.
The Day Carving Found Her
The idea first took shape during a normal day at the office. Janisch was working at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin when Sarah Kaufmann, a skilled cheese carver from California, stopped in to carve for a project.
Curious about how it all worked, Janisch asked if she could come over and see the process for herself. Watching the carving up close stopped her in her tracks. Seeing the tools, the technique and the transformation from a simple block of cheese into a detailed sculpture lit a spark inside her that she couldn’t quite shake.
“I fan girled hard,” Janisch says with a laugh. “I was just in awe of what she could do and what she starts with. I thought, ‘This is the coolest thing ever! You get to carve cheese?’ I mean, cheese already tastes good, but now you get to put your artistic spin on it. That’s sounds like the best job in the world.”
Watching Kaufmann work, Janisch began asking all sorts of questions: What tools do you use? What cheese do you use? How do you turn this into a business?
After a steady stream of questions, Kaufmann smiled and offered a simple solution.
“[Sarah] goes, ‘Well, why don’t you come and carve with me tomorrow?’” Janisch recalls. “It was my birthday, and I had already taken the day off. So, I thought, ‘Yeah, why not? I’ll go.’”
The next day, Janisch spent several hours carving alongside Kaufmann and quickly realized how absorbing the craft could be.
“You can really lose track of time when you’re doing it,” Janisch says. “It’s such a fun medium to work with, and I loved just getting the chance to try it for myself.”
That night, she went home and ordered her own tools.
“I didn’t really tell anybody that I was doing it,” Janisch laughs. “I just wanted to carve for fun. I ordered some clay carving tools off Amazon and played around with some cheese I had in the fridge. I had no idea it was going to escalate as quickly as it did.”
A Carving Career Takes Shape
After that first experience, carving became something she kept returning to. Before long, friends and family started to hear about her new hobby. One of those conversations turned into an unexpected opportunity.
“A friend of mine came to me and said, ‘Hey, I know you’ve been doing this. Do you want to do my niece’s wedding? Would you be up for making a cheese wedding cake?’” Janisch remembers. “And I’m like, as my first project, this sounds awesome. But I have no idea what I’m doing.”
After saying yes, she sourced a 40 lb. block of cheddar and some wheels and built a tiered cheese “cake.” The display quickly became a major hit with guests and showed Janisch just how much excitement a carved cheese centerpiece could bring to an event.
“As things kind of progressed and friends and families started hearing what I did, I started to get more requests,” Janisch says. “It was all through word of mouth, and the list of projects continued to grow.”
As more projects came her way, Janisch’s late-night hobby grew into something bigger, and with it came a larger time commitment. After a while, it became clear if Janisch wanted to keep carving, she would need to make some changes.
A Leap of Faith and an LLC
“Two years ago, I made a big leap of faith and decided I needed to change my routine,” Janisch says. “I have two really active kids who I wanted to spend more time with, and I was ready to create a new path for myself.”
After some reflection, Janisch left her 9-to-5 job to launch her own business, Janisch Creative, where she works as a creative and digital communications director. That change gave her the flexibility she needed while staying connected to communications, and her cheese carving business became the creative outlet that balanced everything else.
Originally, when she made the big jump, she promised her husband the cheese carving projects would stay small. But now, she jokes her definition of small has changed.
“I told him, ‘It won’t get out of hand.’ But I think our perspective of small keeps changing,” she laughs. “But it’s been so fun doing all of this as a family. Having my kids around to see what their mom can do has been pretty cool.”
Respect for the Product
Janisch now runs her cheese carving business with a producer’s mindset: Respect the product, respect the people behind it and don’t waste what they’ve made.
“When you think about the craftsmanship that goes into cheese, it’s already so good on its own,” she says. “And then I’m blessed to be able to put my creative spin and artistic stamp on it.”
But it also means she has to carefully manage the product to keep the cheese fresh. That started with her first business purchase.
“My first business expense was a refrigerator,” she laughs. “Most Midwesterners have a beer fridge. We have a cheese fridge, and it’s stacked with insane amounts of cheese just waiting to be carved.”
While carving the cheese, she also had to figure out what to do with the scraps. It was her firm belief nothing should go to waste.
“When I’m carving for an event, I’ll box up some of the scraps for people to eat on a charcuterie board or for the company to utilize,” she says. “But if I’m doing a living carving, those scraps can’t be eaten. So, I bring them back home and feed them to my chickens.”
Of course, mistakes still happen, and sometimes a piece of the sculpture doesn’t turn out as planned. Luckily, the cheese makes for a tasty medium to work with.
“If I mess up, we eat it,” she laughs. “There is no waste. We just have grilled cheese for a month.”
As her carving career continues to grow, Janisch has made a point to stay connected to the local cheese crafters who inspire part of her work.
“I’ve made it a really solid goal to work with cheese companies in Wisconsin,” she says. “I worked with over 20 cheese companies last year, and I’ve gotten to form personal relationships with those who are making the cheese.”
Those relationships have also helped her learn an important lesson. When it comes to carving, the type of cheese matters just as much as the design.
Her Favorites
Even after years of experience, not every cheese behaves the same. Different textures and inclusions means Janisch has to adjust her approach.
“There are some cheeses that are more difficult to work with than others, but I just have to adjust how I handle it,” she says. “The tools I use are different for different cheeses. For some of the flavored cheeses, like pepper jack, where there’s items mixed in, you have to handle things differently.”
That’s where her relationships with Wisconsin cheese makers becomes critical. Texture, moisture and aging all influence whether a design holds its shape or begins to crumble.
“Cheese makers can make low moisture and aged cheeses. But if they’re aged too long, they don’t work as well for carving,” she explains. “I’ve found my sweet spot is usually a 90-day aged cheddar.”
Having conversations with cheese makers allows her to plan each project with the right product from the start.
“Because these cheese makers have it so dialed in, we can talk the science behind the cheese that I need. I’m not having to source just a random block of cheddar. I can go and find cheeses that I know are going to hold up for the project.”
Fortunately, Janisch has yet to meet a cheese she doesn’t like and is willing to give just about anything a try.
“Blue cheese is on my bucket list,” she laughs. “But I don’t think I’m ready to chase after it just yet.”
Over time, finding her favorites has become less about a single variety and more about matching the right cheese to the right project. Whatever the choice, she’s thinking about both the carver and the consumer.
Connecting Farmers, Cheese and Consumers
While cheese carving has become a new adventure for Janisch, her connection to the dairy industry runs deep. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm in southern Wisconsin, participating in 4‑H and showing animals at local fairs. That hands‑on experience and dirty‑boot roots instilled in her a natural sense of advocacy and a pride in the industry that now helps her connect with consumers through her cheese carving.
“I love having the opportunity to tie it back to the farmers,” she says. “Growing up on a dairy farm, I understand that once you ship milk, it becomes products like cheese. But a lot of times, farmers don’t talk about what happens after that.”
For Janisch, that connection between the farm and the finished product is an important part of the story she hopes her work helps tell.
“Consumers want to know that they’re supporting dairy farmers, and they do that through the products those farmers help produce. I can talk to consumers about the farmers, the cheese and the cheese makers,” Janisch explains. “It’s one thing to be able to talk about cheese carving, but I’m able to tell more of the dairy story when I go to some of these events.
Her role, as she sees it, is to bridge the gap between the people who make the milk and the people who enjoy the finished product. And even though her family no longer milks cows every day, Janisch says cheese carving keeps her anchored to a larger purpose.
“This lets me be part of something bigger than myself,” she says. “When we were dairy farming, it wasn’t just about our farm, it was part of a larger story. Cheese carving helps me stay connected to that.”
Craft and Connection
Today, when Janisch picks up her carving tools, she’s doing more than shaping cheese — she’s celebrating the craftsmanship behind the product and the farmers who make it possible.
Her client list now reads like a seasoned professional’s portfolio rather than a hobbyist’s. Some of her standout creations include:
- The Lombardi Trophy for the 2025 NFL Draft
- The University of Wisconsin Men’s Basketball schedule
- Musical notes for events at the Grammys
- Showpieces for state food festivals
- Custom carvings for major industry events
What began as curiosity has grown into a creative way to stay connected to the industry that shaped her.
“I never would have imagined that any of this was possible,” Janisch says. “But I leaned into the power of saying ‘yes.’ And it’s been the most amazing journey.”
And with every block of cheese she transforms into something special, Janisch knows she’s helping tell a story that starts long before the carving ever begins.
