It started as a Christmas gift gone wrong.
Stella Buckley ’22 never asked for an ice cream maker — but that’s what she unwrapped on Christmas 2022 after her boyfriend and his mother accidentally bought her the same gift: a pasta maker. Scrambling for a replacement just days before the holiday, her fiancé, Noah Backman ’22, made a quick switch — and landed on the ice cream maker.
“It was a super happy accident that I ended up getting that gift,” Buckley says.
It eventually led her to launch Stellie’s Ice Cream in Madison, Wisconsin. The ice cream that Buckley first made in her apartment kitchen for family and friends is now a business that includes catering for weddings and special events, sales at America’s largest farmers’ market, and a brick-and-mortar store that opened in June 2025. The ice cream is also sold in Wisconsin supermarkets.
Spotlight Recipient
Stella Buckley ’22
Owner of Stellie's Ice Cream