When Nancy Crosby isn’t on the job on Mercer University’s Macon campus, she’s often whipping up delicious desserts in her kitchen. In March, her banana pudding turned heads — and satisfied stomachs — at the 2026 State Banana Pudding Festival in Milledgeville, where she was declared the individual contest winner.
Crosby has worked in Mercer’s Auxiliary Services office for 21 years and serves as associate director. She enjoys cooking and baking, passions that weren’t passed down through her family but developed over the years through practice and experimentation.
When her three children were growing up, she began dabbling in cookies and cakes. Once she became an empty-nester and her husband took a nighttime work shift, she devoted her extra time to baking and “fell in love with working in the kitchen.”
“I think it’s great to just unplug,” Crosby said. “My coworkers say it’s my spiritual gift to feed people. I enjoy to cook and serve.”
She makes a lot of cookies, including chocolate chip and sourdough chocolate chip; old-fashioned cakes, including chocolate, caramel and red velvet; and, of course, banana pudding. Crosby formed an LLC called Side Hustle Sweets last year. With a full-time job at Mercer and a part-time position with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, she doesn’t advertise her baking business much but fulfills orders for her regular customers and the Mercer community.
“I’m afraid if it becomes work, it won’t be fun. I can pick and choose what I want to make and how I want to make it,” she said.
Crosby said the 2026 State Banana Pudding Festival was the first baking or cooking contest she’d ever entered. She didn’t know the event existed until her brother-in-law shared a flyer in March. By that time, the deadline to enter the banana pudding contest had passed, but she kept her eye on the festival’s Facebook page. A week before the contest, the festival reopened applications because an entrant had withdrawn, and Crosby applied and was accepted.
“I make my sugar cookies from scratch, which is the base,” Crosby said of her banana pudding. “So when you eat it, it still has some crunch. I top it with toasted homemade Italian meringue, and I think that’s what sets it apart. It almost gives it a marshmallow taste.”
Crosby “went in with no expectations” and came out as the individual contest winner. She was awarded a custom apron and a $500 cash prize, which she plans to reinvest back into her business.
“I’m just kind of winging it. I’m not really searching for anything. I’m just seeing what the Lord offers,” she said.
Crosby recently started a service initiative called “Make it Matter Monday.” She asks people on an internal Mercer email list to vote on baked goods and takes orders for the winning item. Then, she donates the proceeds to a local charity. For instance, April’s beneficiary is the Sailing Center, which teaches adults and children with special needs to sail on Lake Tobesofkee.
“As a community, Mercer is very strong,” Crosby said. “I believe in the ripple effect. I’ve seen people rally. My husband went through some medical issues and the community rallied and it made a huge effect on my life, and I feel like it can have a ripple effect.”
