Shownotes
Ideas For Creative Business & Careers
- Take the journey to hone in on who you really are.
- Accept the risk of putting yourself out there so people can accept who you are.
- There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your side hustle a side hustle. It’s also okay to make your side hustle a full-time career.
- Don’t stop learning. It opens new opportunities for growth and success.
- Take classes to improve your skills. There’s always something new things that you can learn out there.
- Sometimes you just need to look at the people in your life for help.
- Stay motivated to constantly search for what’s next that would make you fulfilled in life.
- Pick out one thing that is worth pursuing.
Resources Mentioned
- Free classes at HandmadeHealsTheWorld.com
- Connected! 2022 Social Media Scheduler
AnnMarie's Contact Links
Website | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedinJoin Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 356.
Speaker:Sometimes It takes a long time just to come back to
Speaker:recognizing who you were all along.
Speaker:Attention. Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hello, welcome to the podcast today.
Speaker:If you haven't yet seen the classes that we did in
Speaker:honor of national bakers,
Speaker:crafters bakers day,
Speaker:they're still available for viewing six 20 minute classes covering things
Speaker:that enrich your life.
Speaker:Overall non-business topics like pie,
Speaker:crust, making yoga,
Speaker:meditation, and breath,
Speaker:work, gift design,
Speaker:salsa, dancing,
Speaker:and artistic journaling.
Speaker:You may ask why on a business development podcast,
Speaker:I coordinated these classes.
Speaker:Where's the fit.
Speaker:Well, I believe that feeling great on the inside radiates outward
Speaker:to everything you do,
Speaker:including your business.
Speaker:So for a celebration of handmade creators,
Speaker:it fits right in.
Speaker:You can see all the classes on demand for free and
Speaker:no opt-in required.
Speaker:You'll find them over@handmadehealstheworld.com.
Speaker:Now, with regard to today's show,
Speaker:I'm looking forward to sharing this interview with you,
Speaker:because it's a really good example of how you can extend
Speaker:your love for a handmade product above and beyond the making
Speaker:and selling.
Speaker:What I'm talking about is applying the skills and knowledge you've
Speaker:developed with a handmade product and using it for a career
Speaker:in the same industry,
Speaker:but from a different angle.
Speaker:Do you ever wonder how people get into the careers that
Speaker:they have today in this case?
Speaker:How did Ann Marie go from thinking she'd be a professional
Speaker:ballet dancer and end up as a writer,
Speaker:editor and recipe developer in the baking industry.
Speaker:It definitely wasn't a straight line,
Speaker:but nor are most journeys in her story.
Speaker:I think you'll be inspired and maybe even see parallels to
Speaker:the twists and turns your taking and be motivated by the
Speaker:potential of where your path will lead you Today.
Speaker:It is my pleasure to introduce you to Anne Marie Madela.
Speaker:Ann Marie is the managing editor at American cake decorating magazine.
Speaker:She's also pastry chef and food content creator focused on the
Speaker:sweet side of life.
Speaker:Baking after graduating from the Institute of culinary education,
Speaker:she spent more than a decade as a freelance baker and
Speaker:cake decorator before returning to school to focus on media.
Speaker:She earned her master's degree in food studies from New York
Speaker:university and began her writing career with pastry art magazine.
Speaker:She is a co-founder and editor and a recipe developer for
Speaker:pastry at home,
Speaker:as well as a freelance writer for other food media outlets,
Speaker:Ann Marie,
Speaker:welcome to the gift biz on podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:So I am so excited that you're here and I have
Speaker:to tell all our listeners how we met really quickly.
Speaker:We were at the ultimate sugar show and you came up
Speaker:to my booth and we were chatting back and forth a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:You were sharing some of your experiences.
Speaker:And then I said,
Speaker:okay, stop.
Speaker:Don't tell me anymore.
Speaker:Will you come and be a guest on the podcast to
Speaker:what you said?
Speaker:Yes. Yes.
Speaker:I'm so glad that we had that moment going booth to
Speaker:booth with a mask on and trying to introduce yourself to
Speaker:people. I felt,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it was just perfect timing and kizmat so I'm glad that
Speaker:you have,
Speaker:Yes, I'm excited to share your story with everybody.
Speaker:And like I said,
Speaker:I stopped you.
Speaker:So I don't know the whole story either.
Speaker:That's the way I like to roll.
Speaker:So when I'm learning things about you,
Speaker:it's very genuine.
Speaker:It's not like we're repeating something that we've already talked about,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:But I am going to delay that conversation for a short
Speaker:second, because I'd like you to share with us how you
Speaker:would describe yourself through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to create a candle that really just
Speaker:speaks to you by color and a saying,
Speaker:or a quote,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:Okay. My candle would definitely be lavender.
Speaker:I am a huge fan of purple.
Speaker:Purple's my birthstone.
Speaker:It's just always been my favorite color.
Speaker:So I would go lavender because it's calming,
Speaker:which I need because I am not.
Speaker:Then I would say it took me a bit to figure
Speaker:out what I would write on my candle,
Speaker:but I'm just going to go with the quote that I
Speaker:actually wrote in my high school yearbook many years ago.
Speaker:And it is kind of snotty,
Speaker:but it is one of my favorite quotes of all time.
Speaker:And it's from Andy Warhol and it is,
Speaker:it takes a lot of work to figure out how to
Speaker:look so good.
Speaker:And the reason I chose that is because at first it
Speaker:comes off of,
Speaker:oh, it's me.
Speaker:I want to look the best I can look,
Speaker:but that's actually not the case.
Speaker:I feel like when you're in a creative industry,
Speaker:especially doing the things that I do,
Speaker:it actually does take a lot of hard work to figure
Speaker:out and to produce something,
Speaker:to look so good.
Speaker:A lot of people don't see the behind the scenes actions
Speaker:that it takes a creative person to do.
Speaker:And so I feel like this quote has more than one
Speaker:meaning, and you can really look into it,
Speaker:which is so Warhol.
Speaker:So for Sure.
Speaker:Well, and as I'm thinking of the quote,
Speaker:when, as you've said it,
Speaker:it said two things to me too,
Speaker:but one more cautionary and one more motivational,
Speaker:the cautionary one is as makers,
Speaker:we can spend so much time perfecting what we make and
Speaker:production time is dollars.
Speaker:Absolutely. So at some point you just have to say,
Speaker:this is beautiful as it is moving on.
Speaker:Right. So yes,
Speaker:you can spend a lot of time making it look good.
Speaker:And there comes a point when it looks really good,
Speaker:but your critical eye and you just need to stop.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:That is a lesson,
Speaker:a hard learned lesson and it is a constant struggle.
Speaker:Yeah. You just have to stop,
Speaker:but you can stop and move on to other creative things
Speaker:then too.
Speaker:It doesn't mean you have to stop your creativity.
Speaker:Exactly. So that was the first thing.
Speaker:The other thing that I was thinking of that just the,
Speaker:both of these things came to mind just as you were
Speaker:saying, this is,
Speaker:it does take a long time to figure out how to
Speaker:look so good in terms of your style.
Speaker:If you're creating something,
Speaker:it's the style of how you make your cakes or design
Speaker:your jewelry,
Speaker:what you're bringing that's different from anybody else.
Speaker:And that is an evolutionary process.
Speaker:And it does take some time.
Speaker:Absolutely It does.
Speaker:And sometimes it takes a long time just to come back
Speaker:to recognizing who you were all along.
Speaker:There are some things I think about the way I am
Speaker:and about my type of creativity that has always been there.
Speaker:But sometimes you just have to take this journey long journey,
Speaker:which I have had just to come back to,
Speaker:oh, this is me.
Speaker:I will always choose purple.
Speaker:I will always choose a Warhol quote.
Speaker:I will always choose this,
Speaker:but sometimes it does take a lot of time to just
Speaker:hone in on who you are.
Speaker:That is really,
Speaker:really smart advice.
Speaker:Very wise.
Speaker:I think everyone needs to just sit and think about that
Speaker:for a minute because you're so right when I got married,
Speaker:peach was like the color,
Speaker:everything you saw everywhere would speech.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:well, that's not really my color,
Speaker:but it is pretty.
Speaker:And so if you want to believe this,
Speaker:I got all of my wedding,
Speaker:China, everything.
Speaker:Then my registry and everything.
Speaker:I picked a design that was peach.
Speaker:I'm not a peach girl by a long shot.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I like the color,
Speaker:but I'm not.
Speaker:So that was the craziest thing.
Speaker:So now I have all this peach China that I never
Speaker:used because it's not my color.
Speaker:I was lucky.
Speaker:I got my China just when they had released a lavender
Speaker:edged piece,
Speaker:which we'll get to in a second,
Speaker:it's called ballet ribbons.
Speaker:So that spoke to me.
Speaker:And then they came out with this lavender edge piece of
Speaker:China. And I was like,
Speaker:that's me.
Speaker:This is me in China.
Speaker:Would you know,
Speaker:I did not take it out of its box for 10
Speaker:years after my divorce,
Speaker:I'm divorced.
Speaker:And I never took it out of its box until like
Speaker:10 years later,
Speaker:it finally revealed.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:God, I picked the right thing.
Speaker:This is so me and it's now discontinued and I don't
Speaker:care. It is me.
Speaker:And I will track down every piece of discontinued piece of
Speaker:ballet ribbons because it is so me and I'm so glad
Speaker:I made that decision,
Speaker:at least with my China.
Speaker:But it just goes back to what you were talking about.
Speaker:So, so smart,
Speaker:recognizing who you were all along,
Speaker:like who you are.
Speaker:Absolutely. And it does sometimes take a struggle to diverge from
Speaker:that and just come back to that.
Speaker:And I constantly still do that in my life and I
Speaker:don't think I will ever stop doing that.
Speaker:You know what I think another angle of this is too
Speaker:is we are with ourselves all the time,
Speaker:obviously. And so who we are feels like it's not new
Speaker:news, right?
Speaker:So when you're doing something where you're putting yourself out there,
Speaker:you're getting visibility,
Speaker:you feel like you have to be something greater than who
Speaker:you are when really the best thing to do is just
Speaker:be who you are already.
Speaker:That's where you're most comfortable anyway.
Speaker:Absolutely. A thousand percent.
Speaker:And I think the big risk is just putting yourself out
Speaker:there. The risk isn't being,
Speaker:who you are,
Speaker:the risk is putting yourself out there and making sure that
Speaker:people accept who you are.
Speaker:That's I think one of the hardest pieces of,
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:Being confident enough in who you are to put yourself out
Speaker:in a genuine way.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:We don't have to be someone that we think our audience
Speaker:wants to see.
Speaker:We need to be who we are.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right.
Speaker:So let's take a step back.
Speaker:I want to hear about your journey,
Speaker:but it's been now what,
Speaker:five or six months since the show,
Speaker:and I've been waiting in suspense this whole time or your
Speaker:story. I definitely have an interesting story.
Speaker:I think everybody does,
Speaker:but when I tell mine,
Speaker:people are like,
Speaker:wow. Okay.
Speaker:Yeah. All right.
Speaker:So you get to choose where we start with the story.
Speaker:Well, I will,
Speaker:I guess start at the beginning when I was younger,
Speaker:just because it's come up a few times or at least
Speaker:once in the fact that when I was younger,
Speaker:my dream was to be a ballet dancer.
Speaker:I am a bonehead.
Speaker:I still have a bun in my head.
Speaker:I think actually my first logo when I got into caking
Speaker:was a silhouette of me with a bun on my head
Speaker:holding a cake,
Speaker:because that was just who I was when I was younger.
Speaker:I was really into it.
Speaker:I loved everything artistic,
Speaker:but I think my passion linked itself towards dance.
Speaker:I was put in it because I was a very active
Speaker:child and my mother did not know what to do with
Speaker:me. And so she put me in dance and I just
Speaker:fell in love with it.
Speaker:And so when I was in high school,
Speaker:I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to
Speaker:do. I loved it so much that I was like,
Speaker:I'm going to be a theater major.
Speaker:And I think my freshman year,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:no, there's just no way I could be a professional dancer.
Speaker:And my body's just not built to be that way.
Speaker:I had the passion for it.
Speaker:I didn't have that level of talent that I could be
Speaker:a professional at it.
Speaker:So I thank the world of ballet for my passion,
Speaker:for the arts.
Speaker:I thank ballet from my extremely good posture and ability to
Speaker:wear my hair up.
Speaker:But that is not really where I think I was going
Speaker:to end up in my life and kind of at the
Speaker:same time in high school,
Speaker:I think just as many very feminine females are,
Speaker:am kind of that way.
Speaker:I fell in love with fashion somewhere in high school.
Speaker:One of my friends bought me a subscription to Vogue very
Speaker:early on.
Speaker:I think we were like 14 or 15 and I was
Speaker:like, wow,
Speaker:what is this?
Speaker:I love fashion.
Speaker:And if you look at it,
Speaker:actually the aesthetics of a lot of fashion is very closely
Speaker:connected to the arts and ballet.
Speaker:And so it's a natural progression I think,
Speaker:and just ruining your feet with some sort of shoes.
Speaker:So I fell in love with fashion.
Speaker:Hence the Andy Warhol quotes in my high school,
Speaker:senior yearbook.
Speaker:And so I transferred to the fashion Institute of technology,
Speaker:my sophomore year of college and was all all in with
Speaker:fashion, started my career there and spent 18 years climbing up
Speaker:the corporate ladder in fashion.
Speaker:I was not a design major.
Speaker:I was a business major.
Speaker:And so it's that balance of like that left and right
Speaker:brain where you can be in a creative industry,
Speaker:but have a business focus.
Speaker:I think that worked really well for my brain.
Speaker:So what type of Positions did you have in fashion?
Speaker:It Was mostly product development,
Speaker:sourcing production.
Speaker:And so I was the back end.
Speaker:So the people that you don't actually see most of the
Speaker:time in fashion,
Speaker:I'm the one who spoke to the factories,
Speaker:got the products,
Speaker:made negotiated prices,
Speaker:made sure everything was approved and on time and in the
Speaker:stores and then kind of handled any quality call-out issues and
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:So that's essentially without going into the very dirty,
Speaker:gross details of the fashion industry,
Speaker:what my career was built on,
Speaker:You combined then your business degree with your love of fashion
Speaker:together. Absolutely.
Speaker:And let's be honest,
Speaker:the discounts that you get while you're in the fashion industry
Speaker:are phenomenal.
Speaker:Well, and you stay on top of all the trends,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:everything before anybody L's to absolutely.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:everything about nine months to a year before everybody else.
Speaker:Right. Oh,
Speaker:that's cool.
Speaker:Right. And then you also know when everything's about to go
Speaker:on sale.
Speaker:So that's really helpful,
Speaker:especially because I live in New York and it is very
Speaker:expensive here.
Speaker:So is there second The thing versus insider trading,
Speaker:insider shopping?
Speaker:I know a little bit.
Speaker:Sure. Or you can actually,
Speaker:once you kind of know the industry,
Speaker:you can kind of guess too,
Speaker:like, oh,
Speaker:well this is going to be on a 12 week cycles.
Speaker:So at about week eight,
Speaker:this is going to go on sale.
Speaker:And by week 10,
Speaker:it's going to be probably at its lowest price.
Speaker:If you can still get your size.
Speaker:So like you just kind of guess and know,
Speaker:because pretty much the industry is run the same way,
Speaker:no matter what product or company it is,
Speaker:The perks of the biz.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Absolutely. What else did you like about that time?
Speaker:You spent a lot of years there.
Speaker:I, I will say it is a tough,
Speaker:very hard industry.
Speaker:One of the biggest benefits about the industry is the comradery
Speaker:of your coworkers.
Speaker:I do miss that a lot because most of my job
Speaker:right now is remote.
Speaker:I loved being in an office setting with like-minded people who
Speaker:just kept me so motivated just to get through all the
Speaker:like poop emoji stuff that you just have to get through
Speaker:to climb that corporate ladder.
Speaker:Some of my very best friends were my work wives.
Speaker:And honestly,
Speaker:some of the best people you meet are from work.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:although it is not necessarily pushing you in a creative manner,
Speaker:it is certainly helping you get through the druggie details.
Speaker:And it just makes your work life that much better when
Speaker:you meet wonderful people.
Speaker:Yeah. And you can all relate to the same thing versus
Speaker:trying to tell the story to someone who isn't living it.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:Right. Still to this day,
Speaker:I still have connections to the fashion industry and men,
Speaker:when they tell me stories,
Speaker:I can understand it and it just reminds me,
Speaker:I don't miss it,
Speaker:but it is so nice that they can come to me
Speaker:and complain because I know what they're talking about,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And wow.
Speaker:I just do not miss it.
Speaker:And nothing like affirmation for the path you're on now That
Speaker:was in percentage.
Speaker:Absolutely. But you invested a lot of time in that field.
Speaker:So then to make a switch,
Speaker:I'm curious to hear about that.
Speaker:Yeah. So very early on,
Speaker:as much as I love fashion and I still do,
Speaker:I still do,
Speaker:man. My shoe collection is out of control,
Speaker:but very early on,
Speaker:I could just tell I wasn't passionate about it in a
Speaker:job sense.
Speaker:I'm passionate about it.
Speaker:Cause I just love clothing and accessories,
Speaker:but I just knew it wasn't quite right for me.
Speaker:And so probably even just a few years into being in
Speaker:the industry,
Speaker:I still felt that like creative urge and I needed a
Speaker:creative outlet to do something.
Speaker:And so I started taking classes at the Institute of culinary
Speaker:education. It is if you've never been,
Speaker:or if you haven't heard of it,
Speaker:it is an incredible culinary school.
Speaker:Not only for going full time as a student,
Speaker:but they have these incredible classes that you can take just
Speaker:for recreation.
Speaker:And I started taking those and I really just fell in
Speaker:love with taking baking classes.
Speaker:And so the more I thought about it,
Speaker:the more I was like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe I want to go to pastry school.
Speaker:And it took a few years of me taking different classes
Speaker:and saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I really like this.
Speaker:I wonder if I should go back to school and would
Speaker:you know it I'm telling you,
Speaker:it's just a sign from whatever heavens you might believe in.
Speaker:I entered a contest on the food network.
Speaker:I kid you not.
Speaker:And it was just one of those,
Speaker:like you're watching TV and they're like enter in your phone
Speaker:number and your email and you could win a partial scholarship
Speaker:to culinary school.
Speaker:And I won and it was for the culinary school that
Speaker:I was already going to is ice.
Speaker:And so they have programs that are part-time and you can
Speaker:go after work and you can go on weekends.
Speaker:And so I did not have to give up my career
Speaker:to start pursuing something else.
Speaker:And so I thought it was a sign and I said,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:I'm going to culinary school.
Speaker:And that was about 2008.
Speaker:I want to say I started 2008,
Speaker:graduated in 2009.
Speaker:It's a wonderful program because you can go full-time for six
Speaker:months or go part-time for nine months.
Speaker:And then you do an internship.
Speaker:So it's a few months.
Speaker:So it's about a year of your life.
Speaker:And when I tell you,
Speaker:it was one of the most amazing years of my life,
Speaker:not from work,
Speaker:but for just for going to school,
Speaker:one of the most incredible years of my life,
Speaker:where I was like,
Speaker:I love every second of this.
Speaker:I love adjust,
Speaker:fell in love with it.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:I want to be in baking.
Speaker:But the problem with being a little bit older and having
Speaker:a stable career and just the way life lends itself,
Speaker:there was no way I could give up my corporate career
Speaker:and have the life I wanted to lead and be a
Speaker:baker for $7 an hour.
Speaker:There just wasn't a way to do that.
Speaker:And so I did what many other people did?
Speaker:I had a side gig for,
Speaker:well, over a decade and I baked cakes for people.
Speaker:And luckily the fashion industry is so predominantly female.
Speaker:When I say it's like 65,
Speaker:70% female globally,
Speaker:that works in the fashion industry.
Speaker:It's insane that everybody was getting married and having babies.
Speaker:And guess who made all of their cakes?
Speaker:And still to this day,
Speaker:I'd say semi-retired from baking for people,
Speaker:but still to this day,
Speaker:12 plus years,
Speaker:13 years later,
Speaker:I'm still baking for people that I made their bridal showers.
Speaker:And now their kids are like teenagers and I'm making their
Speaker:cakes still.
Speaker:So it's a really good connection to have to know so
Speaker:many people who want cake.
Speaker:So did you Start a business baking design wedding cake business
Speaker:on the side?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:And the people that you knew from your job were your
Speaker:ready-made testing ground and first clients.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:The wonderful thing is most of them,
Speaker:obviously, because I was in school while,
Speaker:while I was still working,
Speaker:what I would do is every Monday and Tuesday,
Speaker:because I would go to school Sunday,
Speaker:Monday, Tuesday.
Speaker:So every Monday,
Speaker:Tuesday, Wednesday,
Speaker:I would bring whatever I had created the night before in
Speaker:school. I'd bring it,
Speaker:I'd send out like an email blast of like what it
Speaker:was, do a funny little definition about it and then like
Speaker:leave it out for people to sample in our little like
Speaker:cafe area.
Speaker:And so everybody kind of got to know that,
Speaker:oh, Ann Marie's in school and Marie's a baker.
Speaker:And then when I started doing my own thing,
Speaker:just for fun,
Speaker:I would just bring in things even post-school.
Speaker:And so people just got to know.
Speaker:And so they're like,
Speaker:Hey, and it started just at work,
Speaker:right? Like,
Speaker:oh, we're throwing a work baby shower for somebody or a
Speaker:bridal shower for somebody.
Speaker:And then it just grew and grew and grew where by
Speaker:the following year.
Speaker:Yeah. I made my boss's wedding cake,
Speaker:a four tiered wedding cake.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:So were you strategically doing it or were you providing it
Speaker:just because you enjoy cooking and it was fun and you
Speaker:and liked sharing.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker:And did I think,
Speaker:Ooh, I could probably turn this into a business.
Speaker:Absolutely. And there were moments along the way where I started
Speaker:working with caterers and I started working with friends of friends
Speaker:of friends and then social media came along and new people
Speaker:on Facebook would find me people eventually on Instagram would find
Speaker:me. And there were moments where yes,
Speaker:I could easily have I'm going to go for this.
Speaker:And it just never felt quite right for me.
Speaker:I was,
Speaker:there was something holding me back.
Speaker:You had a good job.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:With benefits and security and That paycheck to be able to
Speaker:pay the exorbitant rents of New York.
Speaker:This was before you could get health insurance,
Speaker:anywhere else.
Speaker:I needed that stability in my life.
Speaker:I needed to pay my school loans off.
Speaker:I needed to start my 401k.
Speaker:I needed to build that piece of my life.
Speaker:And I didn't have the stability behind me to let that
Speaker:go. And there was something I actually pretty risk adverse.
Speaker:And so there was something really holding me back.
Speaker:And I didn't know what it was to be perfectly honest
Speaker:with you,
Speaker:but there was something in my body that was just like,
Speaker:you are not meant to be this.
Speaker:You are not meant to necessarily own a cake business.
Speaker:And I watched people do it now,
Speaker:especially, you know,
Speaker:now that I work for a cake magazine and I watched
Speaker:people progress and do it.
Speaker:And I'm so proud of them and I like am in
Speaker:their corner and I want to promote them as much as
Speaker:I can because like,
Speaker:wow, good for you.
Speaker:It is incredibly difficult to do.
Speaker:And I just knew it wasn't necessarily for me.
Speaker:I just couldn't figure out what it was that I've really
Speaker:wanted to do until many years later.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I had the opportunity to do it.
Speaker:Sure. Well,
Speaker:and I think there are people listening now who probably feel
Speaker:they're doing something on the side baking or whatever,
Speaker:their handmade product businesses.
Speaker:But they do have a nine to five job with all
Speaker:the benefits that,
Speaker:that brings the financial stability and all of that.
Speaker:But they kind of feel like they want to go into
Speaker:their full craft,
Speaker:but they know they shouldn't.
Speaker:And I want to say to people that's okay.
Speaker:That Is absolutely.
Speaker:Okay. Just like you were saying,
Speaker:you weren't meant for that.
Speaker:Like there's nothing says that you have to be full-time in
Speaker:your handmade business.
Speaker:Absolutely not.
Speaker:And you might gravitate to it at some point.
Speaker:You might never do that,
Speaker:but you're not less than if you're doing it on the
Speaker:side versus someone who's doing it full time.
Speaker:These are choices that we have to make for ourselves that
Speaker:fit our lifestyles.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I find that sometimes.
Speaker:Okay. I'm lucky here in New York that I always say
Speaker:this almost every single person I know has a side hustle
Speaker:in New York.
Speaker:I don't know what it is.
Speaker:Maybe it's just like to have extra cash or maybe it
Speaker:is a lot of us need that creative outlet because we
Speaker:have very stressful lives,
Speaker:whatever it is that motivates us to do it,
Speaker:there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your side hustle,
Speaker:a side hustle.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker:I know plenty of people who,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:even one of my friend's moms,
Speaker:one of my high school friends,
Speaker:moms. So if we're our age,
Speaker:our moms are in their late sixties,
Speaker:who was a nurse,
Speaker:a career nurse,
Speaker:and just retired,
Speaker:but has been making cakes on the side for the entire
Speaker:time and never decided to do anything else with her side
Speaker:hustle ever until she retired,
Speaker:then it was like,
Speaker:oh, okay.
Speaker:I can make more cakes now because I'm retired,
Speaker:but there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker:And it is a difficult decision to jump into it.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I give full credit and support anybody who wants to make
Speaker:their side hustle a full-time career.
Speaker:It's wonderful,
Speaker:but that's not meant for everybody.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm also seeing a big trend with that now because
Speaker:when people are retiring,
Speaker:they want to retire to something they're not retiring to the
Speaker:rocking chair on their front porch.
Speaker:And same thing.
Speaker:I know someone who was also in the medical industry and
Speaker:she retired and started a whole floral shop.
Speaker:It's like your career that you're starting to grow and develop
Speaker:after your other career,
Speaker:your earlier career,
Speaker:because now in our life,
Speaker:we can have two at the same time or merge one
Speaker:into another.
Speaker:So many opportunities for us.
Speaker:Really our,
Speaker:I remember reading many years ago that each generation has more
Speaker:and more careers.
Speaker:They said something like the millennials will have more than six
Speaker:different careers in their lives,
Speaker:six different careers.
Speaker:Like that blows my mind.
Speaker:I remember when I was in fashion and trying to contemplate
Speaker:a second career was hard enough for me just to think
Speaker:that people and future generations will have six to 10 different
Speaker:career paths.
Speaker:That's incredible to me and good for them.
Speaker:Good. They should be able to switch and not be stuck
Speaker:in the Life of diversity.
Speaker:Really? Yeah.
Speaker:I'm astounded by that and really like humbled that people can
Speaker:risk things and just go for it.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:Yeah. I love it so much.
Speaker:So we are now at the point where you were baking
Speaker:your boss's wedding cake.
Speaker:So you're still in fashion,
Speaker:but you're baking.
Speaker:And I want to just point out a couple of things
Speaker:here before we keep going,
Speaker:because I want everyone to track along with us here.
Speaker:Some of the things I like so much,
Speaker:Anne Marie,
Speaker:about your is there are a lot of people here who
Speaker:know they want to start something they're very creative.
Speaker:They have their hands in a million different creative ideas.
Speaker:But what you did is just on a very fun spirited
Speaker:approach. We're taking classes just for that as a hobby to
Speaker:do something else.
Speaker:And that led you into where your passions were because a
Speaker:lot of people don't know what they would want to do.
Speaker:They know they want to do something,
Speaker:but they don't know.
Speaker:So this is a perfect example of what you did of
Speaker:investigating and discovering what feels best and what feels right.
Speaker:Absolutely. And then you found something and then you started getting
Speaker:professional skills through your training in that area.
Speaker:So now you're now just not a hobbyist.
Speaker:You've also now got your degree with the Institute of culinary
Speaker:education, et cetera,
Speaker:and then started building your business slowly as a side business.
Speaker:Yes. So I think that graduated level,
Speaker:because a lot of people don't see that they see someone
Speaker:wants to start a business and now all of a sudden
Speaker:they have it and not all the in-between and it's a
Speaker:foggy of how you get there.
Speaker:Yes. It is a mishmash,
Speaker:a jumble,
Speaker:a journey to get to a different place.
Speaker:You don't just wake up one day.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:some people do,
Speaker:I am not one of those people.
Speaker:And most people aren't like that.
Speaker:You don't just wake up one day and be like,
Speaker:I'm going to open a bakery.
Speaker:You need a skill level research and just time invested to
Speaker:figure it out.
Speaker:And I'm glad I didn't go into things blindly.
Speaker:It was a slow progression to get there and to say,
Speaker:I love this and I will figure it out.
Speaker:And I still,
Speaker:even with baking,
Speaker:although I still like to take more advanced classes because I
Speaker:never want to stop learning.
Speaker:There are other things that I love to be a hobbyist.
Speaker:So taking the opportunity to try something,
Speaker:to see if you like it.
Speaker:And if you don't drop it,
Speaker:it's fine.
Speaker:But like even I didn't learn how to sell until I
Speaker:was 30,
Speaker:which I know it sounds crazy.
Speaker:Cause I was in the fashion industry and I didn't know
Speaker:a lot of people don't.
Speaker:So I took for my 30th birthday,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:oh, I'm going to take sewing classes and I can make
Speaker:pillows and curtains.
Speaker:And that's about it.
Speaker:I made a dress once,
Speaker:but trying something,
Speaker:taking a class in something will always better your skills in
Speaker:some sort of way,
Speaker:or at least motivate you or I don't know,
Speaker:like push you to keep trying and keep learning.
Speaker:There's always something you can learn,
Speaker:whether it's learning that you don't like it or learning like,
Speaker:oh, I want to keep going or try something connected to
Speaker:it or whatever it is.
Speaker:There's always something new that you can learn out there.
Speaker:And there's so many more opportunities to do that.
Speaker:I mean obviously like YouTube didn't exist when I wanted to
Speaker:go back to school and all these online classes and Instagram
Speaker:classes and all these like crazy things you can do now
Speaker:just off of the computer didn't exist.
Speaker:And now that they do,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:wow, what else can I learn?
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I'm constantly learning and figuring out,
Speaker:is there something else I can develop and learn?
Speaker:There's a whole new host of skills now that I'm in
Speaker:food media that I had to learn.
Speaker:And it's great.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And it's acceptable.
Speaker:Now. It used to not be like,
Speaker:if you worked at a corporation and heaven forbid your boss
Speaker:found out that you were doing something else.
Speaker:Oh, when my boss,
Speaker:this is a different boss,
Speaker:not the cool one I made the wedding cake for,
Speaker:but the larger like VP boss found out I was going
Speaker:to culinary school.
Speaker:I actually got pulled in to his office and he asked
Speaker:me like,
Speaker:are you in for the longterm?
Speaker:Because I was on like a promotional track.
Speaker:And he was actually going to Holt promoting me because I
Speaker:was going back to school and I had to ensure him
Speaker:that I was not going to quit just because I was
Speaker:in school that I wanted to stay so I could get
Speaker:promoted. Like it was so ridiculous that even 12 years ago,
Speaker:that was still the case.
Speaker:And I think it's getting easier and easier in this world
Speaker:now. And in corporations that they kind of let you try
Speaker:something different and support that,
Speaker:which is wonderful to hear and see,
Speaker:because it definitely wasn't the case even a decade ago.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, let's pick up on your story Is one of your
Speaker:goals for this year,
Speaker:a new approach to social.
Speaker:Are you finally admitting that you're spending far too much time
Speaker:there without seeing anything in the way of results?
Speaker:Or do you jump onto Instagram planning to post,
Speaker:but get caught up in all the fabulously produced reels,
Speaker:then you get intimidated and step back.
Speaker:Yeah, me too.
Speaker:We know at this point we should post consistently with quality
Speaker:content, but when it comes time to actually do it,
Speaker:figuring out what to post is overwhelming and time consuming.
Speaker:That's why I created content for makers.
Speaker:Last year.
Speaker:Many of you have purchased this high value,
Speaker:low cost program and have new found ease in your posting.
Speaker:And guess what?
Speaker:If you already have content for makers,
Speaker:there's no need to purchase it ever again.
Speaker:One in done because it teaches you a posting strategy and
Speaker:prompts that are timeless and can be used over and over
Speaker:again. Now,
Speaker:based on your feedback,
Speaker:I've enhanced content for makers to include a hard copy,
Speaker:social media scheduler,
Speaker:because makers like tangible planners where we can add our own
Speaker:creative punch to the mix,
Speaker:right? Drum roll,
Speaker:introducing connected 2020 to a content scheduler that helps you plan
Speaker:out your topics,
Speaker:whether they're for social media,
Speaker:blog articles or videos,
Speaker:all in one place.
Speaker:Now to clarify,
Speaker:this is not your daily planner,
Speaker:this is focused on content planning.
Speaker:It includes direction on how to nail down a strategy,
Speaker:monthly cues for new content and your own images.
Speaker:And it can be used in conjunction with content for makers
Speaker:or as a standalone resource.
Speaker:Finally feel in control of your content with a strategy and
Speaker:purpose, not to something random that you think of on the
Speaker:fly to publish that day.
Speaker:Intentional content saves time.
Speaker:So you can focus on other business tasks and attracts customers,
Speaker:which brings eyes to your brand and orders to your cart.
Speaker:To see more about the connected 2022 social media scheduler,
Speaker:go to gift biz on wrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash connected 2022.
Speaker:And now let's get back to the show.
Speaker:So you're providing samples for people who are in your office.
Speaker:They're loving it.
Speaker:You're starting to build a business.
Speaker:Now what intermission is over,
Speaker:what happens next?
Speaker:As I was saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I definitely had these opportunities to grow and branch out.
Speaker:And I felt like the more I dealt with caterers and
Speaker:larger orders,
Speaker:I hated it.
Speaker:It stressed me out to no end and again,
Speaker:balancing a corporate career and this,
Speaker:it just became too much for me.
Speaker:And I started just to feel that I didn't like either
Speaker:thing I was doing and I just kept reassessing,
Speaker:like, what do I really want to do?
Speaker:And this took years,
Speaker:mind you.
Speaker:I started baking in 2008 and it wasn't until probably 2018
Speaker:ish. So that's a decade.
Speaker:I went,
Speaker:okay. I got to figure things out.
Speaker:I just cannot keep balancing these two things.
Speaker:It's stressing me out.
Speaker:I don't like taking cake orders anymore.
Speaker:And like I felt my work was suffering from it.
Speaker:Not my corporate work is my corporate work was,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I could sleep and do that job just because I'd been
Speaker:doing it for so long,
Speaker:but I felt like my creative talents were suffering because the
Speaker:work piece of a side hustle was stressing me out too
Speaker:much. And so I was lucky at the time that I
Speaker:have a very,
Speaker:very supportive partner.
Speaker:My boyfriend Andy is incredible.
Speaker:He's my life partner.
Speaker:I just wow.
Speaker:Really lucky to have him in my corner.
Speaker:And he looked at me,
Speaker:he goes,
Speaker:it is time to make a decision.
Speaker:Like, what do you want to do?
Speaker:You're unhappy.
Speaker:Let's figure this out.
Speaker:And of course my go-to answer always is I think I
Speaker:want to go back to school.
Speaker:I guess not everybody's path in life.
Speaker:I just happened to be a school.
Speaker:I always was like a crazy school nerd.
Speaker:And I always felt like in me,
Speaker:I always wanted to get an advanced degree in something that
Speaker:was just me.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:all of my high school friends have their doctorates.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:yeah. And everybody has it.
Speaker:And it's not a competition thing,
Speaker:but I always felt like for me,
Speaker:that was something like I could and should achieve.
Speaker:Let me ask you a question at this point real quick.
Speaker:So Andy was the one who said,
Speaker:okay, hall timeout.
Speaker:Re-look at this.
Speaker:Yes. And from what you're saying,
Speaker:interestingly, and this is something for all of us to think
Speaker:about wherever we are in our journey.
Speaker:The fact that you were getting more and more business is
Speaker:what most people would aspire to.
Speaker:You want those larger jobs and because the numbers are getting
Speaker:bigger, but as your numbers were getting bigger,
Speaker:the love and the satisfaction that you were getting from,
Speaker:it was going down.
Speaker:Yes. It was almost like one of those graphs where you
Speaker:can see the bigger the orders,
Speaker:my satisfaction level tanked.
Speaker:It was one was going.
Speaker:One, one was going the other way.
Speaker:Again, I work in a very competitive city.
Speaker:The quality of people ordering the expectation levels,
Speaker:just dealing with customer service of people in New York is
Speaker:very difficult,
Speaker:right? So for some makers,
Speaker:this is the juncture where you need to add people onto
Speaker:your staff,
Speaker:but depends on what you're making like for you and Marie,
Speaker:your skill.
Speaker:Isn't totally as duplicate a bowl.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I guess you could get some people in the commercial kitchen
Speaker:to make some of the base parts of the cake,
Speaker:and then you're doing the decorating,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:I'm not trying to go there,
Speaker:but I'm just pointing out that this could happen.
Speaker:But my real question to you is what would have happened
Speaker:if Andy never said anything?
Speaker:Was he the point where you also looked at it or
Speaker:would you have just kept going or what do you think
Speaker:would have happened if he didn't interject his opinion?
Speaker:At that point?
Speaker:I think at some point I would have hit a wall
Speaker:on a breaking point.
Speaker:Anyway, I was lucky that he just,
Speaker:at that moment put a mirror up to me and said,
Speaker:I want you to be happy.
Speaker:Let's figure this out together.
Speaker:Okay. So,
Speaker:because I really think I was just in this like,
Speaker:mindset of like,
Speaker:well, I'm just going to be miserable in my career.
Speaker:So I'm going to just be miserable.
Speaker:My side hustle too.
Speaker:Sometimes when you're stuck in it,
Speaker:you can't see the forest for the trees.
Speaker:Right? You need somebody to like pull you out of it
Speaker:and put a mirror up to you and say,
Speaker:Hey, Hey,
Speaker:Hey, like stop,
Speaker:let's figure this out.
Speaker:And originally,
Speaker:when I decided to go back to school,
Speaker:it was to get my degree to possibly then open a
Speaker:business. Like in my head,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:okay, well maybe I will actually start a business.
Speaker:But I think this degree would help me focus it a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:That was my original goal with going back for my master's
Speaker:was because part of that degree,
Speaker:you can go on the entrepreneurial track and write a business
Speaker:paper and set that up.
Speaker:So I was like,
Speaker:oh, okay.
Speaker:So maybe that is it because I really did want to
Speaker:do something with baking rather than fashion.
Speaker:I knew I needed to get out of the industry,
Speaker:but I wasn't sure what,
Speaker:and I was hoping the degree would finally push me in
Speaker:that direction,
Speaker:which it did not,
Speaker:but that's good that it didn't because I found actually what
Speaker:I wanted to do.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:I think sometimes you just need to look at the people
Speaker:in your life for help.
Speaker:And whether that be your significant other,
Speaker:your family,
Speaker:your friends,
Speaker:there's going to be somebody that knows you so well,
Speaker:that looks at you and said,
Speaker:how can I help?
Speaker:And whether that is just talking through what your career moves
Speaker:will be,
Speaker:or actually like physically helping you,
Speaker:because yes,
Speaker:he would carry cakes for me and drive me around and
Speaker:cut ribbons for me to tie bags.
Speaker:And I would always have help from people.
Speaker:I would have had a breaking moment,
Speaker:but he did it sooner for me.
Speaker:And I'm grateful for that.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So what happened?
Speaker:How did this transition occur?
Speaker:Yeah, so I had been for again,
Speaker:typical me,
Speaker:it took me a few years.
Speaker:I had been eyeing up a few degrees and it was
Speaker:January 1st.
Speaker:A lot of things happened to me on new year's day,
Speaker:sometimes a lot of like aha moments.
Speaker:And it was a new year's day,
Speaker:a few years ago.
Speaker:And I saw that NYU had a program and that you
Speaker:would have to apply by February.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:well, it's January.
Speaker:I got plenty of time.
Speaker:And I did it.
Speaker:And then I was like,
Speaker:well, if I get in,
Speaker:it was the only place I applied to.
Speaker:Although there were a few other places around,
Speaker:outside of New York and I was like,
Speaker:I just can't leave New York.
Speaker:I'm such a new Yorker.
Speaker:And so I was like,
Speaker:well, this is the only program I'm applying to.
Speaker:So if I get in great,
Speaker:if not,
Speaker:I'll figure it out.
Speaker:Like this is my only school option at the time.
Speaker:And I got in and then I was like,
Speaker:okay, this is what I'm doing.
Speaker:And for me,
Speaker:again, risk adverse.
Speaker:I went to school part-time at first kept my corporate job
Speaker:because of course,
Speaker:and then eventually I just had this moment where he's like,
Speaker:you gotta choose.
Speaker:And I had enough emotional and financial backing that I just
Speaker:did it.
Speaker:And I left and I went to school full time.
Speaker:And it was again just like pastry school and incredible experience
Speaker:where I was like,
Speaker:this is where I needed to be at this moment.
Speaker:Just those signs of like,
Speaker:yeah, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:It was incredible.
Speaker:I loved again,
Speaker:every moment of being in grad school,
Speaker:even to the point where I graduated during the pandemic.
Speaker:So COVID-19 hit while I was doing my degree.
Speaker:So that was not fun.
Speaker:But the journey along the way,
Speaker:really what hit me was probably within the first few months
Speaker:of being in grad school,
Speaker:I saw a posting,
Speaker:they have job posting specifically for my,
Speaker:and they were looking for a food writer with a background
Speaker:in pastry.
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:oh my God,
Speaker:did They just create that position for you?
Speaker:Right. I was like,
Speaker:I'm applying to this.
Speaker:I have to get this job.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it was for pastry arts magazine.
Speaker:So I still write for them.
Speaker:And I remember getting the email back and I was just
Speaker:shaking with excitement,
Speaker:shaking. I was like,
Speaker:I get to write about pastry.
Speaker:This is incredible.
Speaker:And I just knew it,
Speaker:it just hit me like a ton of bricks.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:I love this.
Speaker:I get to go to like events and write about like
Speaker:baguette, get competitions.
Speaker:Like, this is so much fun.
Speaker:I love this.
Speaker:And then I took,
Speaker:there are a few classes specifically for that.
Speaker:So one of the other tracks you can do in this
Speaker:masters is food media.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:I think this is what I want to do.
Speaker:And I took food writing and there's a food media,
Speaker:like digital skills class,
Speaker:which is great.
Speaker:Especially for if you're a little bit older and have to
Speaker:figure out exactly like the inner workings of Instagram.
Speaker:That was a great class.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:this is it.
Speaker:This is it.
Speaker:Wow. Wow.
Speaker:Wow. I love this so very much.
Speaker:And you Felt it right away.
Speaker:You knew it was a perfect fit right away Immediately.
Speaker:I just did.
Speaker:It was just very much like being in school where I
Speaker:was like,
Speaker:this is the moment,
Speaker:like, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:As soon as I started writing and I got published,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:wow. Wow,
Speaker:wow, wow.
Speaker:Wow, wow.
Speaker:Like adjust had that jitter,
Speaker:that excitement that is like,
Speaker:I love this so much.
Speaker:And this is what I can do.
Speaker:This is my creative outlet.
Speaker:And it is stressful in a different way,
Speaker:but it takes my love of pastry and takes away the
Speaker:stress of producing this product that who knows what the outcome
Speaker:will be.
Speaker:And like puts the stress more on being creative in a
Speaker:way where you can like tinker with it a little bit
Speaker:more writing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you can take a little bit more time and work with
Speaker:an editor to like shape it a little bit.
Speaker:And it just became my creative outlet where I was like,
Speaker:oh, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:Well, and you have the knowledge.
Speaker:So your writing is richer and deeper than someone who hadn't
Speaker:been in the industry or exposed.
Speaker:Yes, yes,
Speaker:yes, absolutely.
Speaker:What does that saying?
Speaker:Write what,
Speaker:you know.
Speaker:Yeah. And so absolutely.
Speaker:And then the opportunities sort of started coming in.
Speaker:After that,
Speaker:I started writing,
Speaker:got some gigs writing it's called commerce.
Speaker:I don't think a lot of people know what that means.
Speaker:Essentially, most websites and media platforms now earn their money through
Speaker:affiliates. And so if you write about a product and it
Speaker:is on Amazon,
Speaker:you get,
Speaker:and somebody clicks on that Amazon link when they're reading your
Speaker:article, your company,
Speaker:whoever you write for gets a commission off of that.
Speaker:And so there is this incredible opportunity to write commerce based
Speaker:food writing out there.
Speaker:And it just so happens.
Speaker:Oftentimes they look for somebody with a retail background to write
Speaker:about these products.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:I have a tremendous background in retail because I went to
Speaker:school for fashion.
Speaker:All they did was work for retail companies.
Speaker:And so that kind of got my in there.
Speaker:And so I started writing for a few different outlets,
Speaker:the kitchen.com
Speaker:being one of them.
Speaker:And now I'm starting to write for Forbes vetted where I'm
Speaker:like testing products and writing about sales and different things.
Speaker:And I love that because again,
Speaker:it's shopping.
Speaker:So Hey,
Speaker:again, something I still love to this day,
Speaker:but it's an angle of like,
Speaker:yeah, I can talk about kitchen products because I have every
Speaker:single kitchen product you could ever wish for in my kitchen.
Speaker:So let's talk about it and I'll tell you why it's
Speaker:good and come from a place of expertise,
Speaker:which I love doing.
Speaker:And so that actually lent itself to where I am today,
Speaker:just under a year ago,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:niche magazines,
Speaker:talk to niche magazines.
Speaker:And so the owner of pastry arts magazine,
Speaker:Sean, he's an incredible human was on the phone and just
Speaker:talking industry to grace and Anya McNamara who own American cake
Speaker:decorating magazine.
Speaker:And they said,
Speaker:our editor just quit.
Speaker:Do you know somebody?
Speaker:And I swear to God,
Speaker:this has never ever happened in my life where it's like,
Speaker:oh, do you know somebody to get this job?
Speaker:Like, I've always just never who,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's just lack of submitting your resume.
Speaker:This is the first time in my life where he's like,
Speaker:I have somebody and he's like,
Speaker:wait, let me call her first.
Speaker:He talked about me,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:for like an hour.
Speaker:And there was like,
Speaker:wait, maybe I should call her to see if she would
Speaker:like this job and called me.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:wait, what?
Speaker:Yes, put me in contact with them.
Speaker:And then I finally,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:so I was writing and now this is editorial where I
Speaker:get to work with a bunch of contributors and develop this
Speaker:magazine from start to finish.
Speaker:And wow.
Speaker:It is an incredible use of like my creative juices and
Speaker:my organizational business brain that I had from fashion.
Speaker:It's those same skills that I had in my fashion life
Speaker:that I have now just developed and honed in differently to
Speaker:run this magazine.
Speaker:It's like Everything that you've experienced all the way from back
Speaker:in ballet,
Speaker:like all of it has just come together.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:It is culminated in,
Speaker:oh yeah,
Speaker:I can do this.
Speaker:Oh, you want me to write a calendar of when things
Speaker:are due to make sure this product comes in on time?
Speaker:Yeah, I can do that.
Speaker:Oh, a calendar on Excel.
Speaker:Yes. I can do that.
Speaker:But then being able to work with creative people and just
Speaker:like mold it to something where it has this product at
Speaker:the end of the day,
Speaker:people get to read is just,
Speaker:it's such a lovely feeling.
Speaker:And it's again,
Speaker:very similar to the feelings of baking a cake or getting
Speaker:that sweater into the store that end product where you can
Speaker:be so proud of.
Speaker:Yeah. It's an incredible feeling,
Speaker:but there's no way I could do the job that I
Speaker:do now without every random step I made in my life,
Speaker:every little step or misstep or path that I've taken has
Speaker:led me to this moment.
Speaker:Nothing in your life goes to waste,
Speaker:use every moment and every skill and everything that you could
Speaker:ever learn in your life will be useful.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that's the big takeaway of your story for everybody.
Speaker:Who's listening is every step that you're in.
Speaker:And you talk about the times when you were challenged and
Speaker:you weren't happy and you were feeling fulfilled.
Speaker:I want everybody to think of that.
Speaker:If that's where you are right now,
Speaker:this is leading to something more,
Speaker:but you kept searching and taking action also.
Speaker:Absolutely. Like you just didn't sit there waiting for something to
Speaker:come. You reached out to find it to.
Speaker:Absolutely. And one of the great things about not liking your
Speaker:job or your career is you are constantly searching or that
Speaker:would motivate me to constantly be searching for what's next.
Speaker:Right? Like I am not happy.
Speaker:What can I do to give me any ounce of happiness?
Speaker:Whether that is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I always tell my friends this,
Speaker:if you don't like your job,
Speaker:sometimes just updating your resume can give you that sense of
Speaker:satisfaction. Knowing that if there is a job that you can
Speaker:apply to,
Speaker:well, look at that,
Speaker:my resume is already ready because I already updated.
Speaker:So sometimes just that little action of updating your resume.
Speaker:I remember even when I would move,
Speaker:the first thing I would do besides changing my address on
Speaker:for the postal service was I would like change my address
Speaker:on my resume.
Speaker:Have it ready?
Speaker:You never know having that like two minute elevator pitch,
Speaker:those things that people tell you to do,
Speaker:do them because they actually do motivate you to keep going.
Speaker:I remember going to a cake show many,
Speaker:many years ago,
Speaker:it was like one of the only cake shows done in
Speaker:New York.
Speaker:And it just wasn't a great cake show.
Speaker:It was like the first time they were running it,
Speaker:it was kind of crappy to be perfectly honest with you.
Speaker:But one of the great things there,
Speaker:one of the teachers kind of realized that all of us
Speaker:were a little unhappy with the quality of the cake show.
Speaker:And she said this,
Speaker:she said,
Speaker:if you learn one thing,
Speaker:if you take away one little thing from whatever situation you're
Speaker:in. So one little thing from this crappy cake,
Speaker:if you learn one thing,
Speaker:it is worth it.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:that is so true.
Speaker:You can look at a situation,
Speaker:any situation,
Speaker:whether it's a cake show or whatever you're in and pick
Speaker:out one thing where you're like,
Speaker:I learned this it's worth.
Speaker:Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker:This has been amazing.
Speaker:Thank you so much for sharing the story.
Speaker:And I'm so glad I didn't hear it before,
Speaker:because I mean,
Speaker:I was in suspense this absolute whole time.
Speaker:Well, I'm glad maybe one day we'll delve into my personal
Speaker:life, because then that is like a whole hallmark movie and
Speaker:that just adds to it.
Speaker:Now I'm joking.
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:Well, as you project the future,
Speaker:what do you see for yourself as the next year has
Speaker:come by?
Speaker:Yeah, I'm really hoping just to continue to develop this part
Speaker:of my career and see where this takes me,
Speaker:because I'm always constantly surprised what life heads and what is
Speaker:in store.
Speaker:And so I don't want to say,
Speaker:oh, in five years from now,
Speaker:I want to be the editor in chief at New York
Speaker:times cooking.
Speaker:Like, no,
Speaker:but do I want success?
Speaker:Yes. What does that look like?
Speaker:I'm not sure yet,
Speaker:but I want to keep investigating and I want to keep
Speaker:going and I want to take every opportunity I can to
Speaker:keep growing in this part of the industry.
Speaker:Because if you think about it,
Speaker:I'm fairly new,
Speaker:only a few years into food media,
Speaker:man. I've got a lot to cover in a shorter period
Speaker:of time,
Speaker:just because I'm a little bit older.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I'm not 22.
Speaker:I don't have the rest of my career to do this.
Speaker:Like I got a fast track this and I got to
Speaker:keep going.
Speaker:So I'm just going to push myself to see how far
Speaker:I can go ride the Wave,
Speaker:see what comes.
Speaker:Absolutely. I'm ready for it.
Speaker:Bring it on.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Okay. For our bakers who are listening or people who are
Speaker:considering doing something in that field,
Speaker:where can people go to learn more about you and then
Speaker:also cake decorating magazine or any other resource you think would
Speaker:be valuable for our listeners?
Speaker:So I have a website it's my own personal website.
Speaker:It's nothing too crazy,
Speaker:but it is Ann Marie mandala.com.
Speaker:So I'm sure in the show notes,
Speaker:you'll have my proper spelling of my name,
Speaker:but it's Anne Marie mandala.com
Speaker:and you can find me there and it's links to basically
Speaker:all the pages that I write for and all the publications.
Speaker:And then American cake decorating magazine is American cake decorating.com.
Speaker:Very easy.
Speaker:You can subscribe it as a digital subscription.
Speaker:And we're working on getting back to print,
Speaker:which we're really excited about.
Speaker:Please join us on Instagram.
Speaker:American cake decorating has tremendous amount of followers and an incredible
Speaker:community of people.
Speaker:So for those bakers out there,
Speaker:it is a tremendous resource to be connected to us.
Speaker:And if you're a professional or looking to be a professional
Speaker:pastry arts magazine is an excellent resource as well.
Speaker:It's pastry arts,
Speaker:mag.com. You can sign up and subscribe again,
Speaker:digital magazine and again,
Speaker:a huge community out there of people.
Speaker:And they're such an amazing supportive community,
Speaker:both for aspiring and professional bakers on both magazines.
Speaker:So definitely check them out.
Speaker:Perfect. Lots of resources for our sweet makers out there for
Speaker:A thousand percent.
Speaker:Absolutely lots of resources.
Speaker:Wonderful. Anne Marie,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:I am so glad we're connected and I really,
Speaker:really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your story
Speaker:today. Yes.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:I had a great time And Marie has a great story
Speaker:in and of itself,
Speaker:but I have to say my favorite line of this entire
Speaker:show is her advice to recognize who you've been all along.
Speaker:Why is being true to yourself so difficult when it holds
Speaker:the key to your happiness,
Speaker:something to ponder and then consider what you need to do
Speaker:or what you need to put in place to come closer
Speaker:to the person you really are sticking with the theme of
Speaker:finding fulfillment in our businesses.
Speaker:Next week,
Speaker:we're talking about designing a predictably profitable business without the hustle
Speaker:and burnout that doing quote unquote,
Speaker:all the things inevitably brings forth.
Speaker:Thanks for spending time with me today.
Speaker:If you'd like to show support for the podcast,
Speaker:let me know how it's helped you.
Speaker:Something new you've learned or suggest a topic that you'd like
Speaker:to hear more about.
Speaker:Just add it as a review.
Speaker:I read everyone personally and absolutely use suggestions as guidance for
Speaker:new guests and topics.
Speaker:There are other ways to show support for the podcast to
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Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
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Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
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Speaker:Wait, what,
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