Entrepreneurs acquire most of their knowledge on the job. Can you think of a particular skill you have picked up from your experience as an entrepreneur? And how has it impacted your business and the way you work?

I fell into an entrepreneurial path by accident. When I started my business, I never thought of it as something that would pick up and become as big as it has! I remember taking photos of some muffins and chocolates I had made and creating a very poorly made website to showcase them. A friend suggested selling them in a shop or a market, but I was aware that getting into London’s buzzing food industry was challenging. Still, out of curiosity, I emailed the closest market to where I live, which happened to be the Greenwich market. They got back to me in a day, asking me to start the following week! That is how my business started, so nothing was planned financially or strategically, as you can imagine.
I had to learn everything from scratch. Everything I have learnt in the past seven years has been through trial and error. Some people may be horrified by this approach, but that’s just me with all things! I’m creatively minded, so I am not good at meticulously planning or doing tons of research. I would have found it too daunting if I had to learn all that I’ve learnt gradually through the years before starting!
I suppose you could say being an entrepreneur has made me more focused and organized in steady, gradual progress. You learn to pick up people skills, familiarise yourself with the market, i.e. what customers respond to, the big no-nos, and become more resilient. That has been the best thing about creating my business; it has made me more confident and given me a clear direction. When I was first starting, one of my weaknesses was not being able to say no when the situation calls for it (something that I still struggle with from time to time), but I’ve learnt to stand my ground and know my self-worth. I think that is something that benefits me both in business and in my personal life!

The global pandemic has forced most businesses to completely rethink their trading method and the way they interact with their customers. How did your business adapt, and how did you find the process?

COVID-19 has made business quite challenging. Being in the food industry, we are one of the most affected sectors. However, I consider myself incredibly lucky to operate both online and from a market stall; therefore, my business didn’t suffer as much as some shops in the first two months of the national lockdown. With the easing of lockdown, I managed to start retaking orders for private birthday parties and some of my regulars who hadn’t been able to eat out for a while. I was glad to be able to bring back a tiny bit of normality and happiness to people’s lives, in the shape of cakes and macarons!

2019 was a hectic and exhausting year for me. So, the lesser workload due to the lockdown was a blessing in disguise because it helped me re-centre, pump the brakes, and work on my business models. I did a thorough rebranding, updated my website, and got my finances in order. When you get swamped with work, your creativity gets pushed to the back seat slightly. Even though it might seem that I am always creating things, it does start to become repetitive. You don’t get to explore new avenues; you begin to lose your passion, which becomes a drag. Lockdown helped me fix this creative block– improve my skills, find my style, and revisit the feelings that made me want to do this job in the first place!

Why are women’s equality and empowerment essential to you?

I think we are lucky to live when we can see a positive shift in how society perceives women and our parts in society. However, there is still a lot more work to change the archaic perceptions of what women are and cannot do in the workspace.

In my field, I know that most people looking from the outside still see what I do as a glorified bake sale! No person who has not tried to drive an independent business can genuinely appreciate the monumental amount of work to be successful.
It is crucial to me to change this mindset, and so I speak out about this regularly. I want people to view what I do as Art. Like any other artist, I express myself through my work. I can spend days or even weeks on one creation, and it pains me that people would sometimes say things like, “Oh isn’t it nice what you do, making your cakes in your little kitchen…I bet it makes your partner so happy you’re such a good baker”. When men cook or bake, they are chefs and artists. Still, it is a lot harder for women to dissociate their careers from their gender, and have been perceived for hundreds of years as the “ones who have to be in the kitchen.” We are on the right path. However, there is still a lot more work to be done to achieve global equality and empowerment.

SO… do I belong in the kitchen? YES, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! My kitchen has let me bring to life a business from scratch, which has earned me my independence, identity, pride, and purpose. With statements such as “Women belong in the kitchen,” “women are more sensitive,” “women think emotionally,” “women are victims of abuse, “… it is up to us, women, to not let these statements cage us in an inferior category! Yes, I am emotional and sensitive and make most of my decisions from my heart. As a result of this, I have made many mistakes, but I’m proud of it. I have no regrets!

We are modern 21st-century women. We are strong and have the opportunity to slap bigots, chauvinists, and misogynists in the face with our success! Let us embrace our strength and keep fighting for what we deserve and what is rightfully ours!