Today we’d like to introduce you to Marilyn Nguyen-Tellez.
Hi Marilyn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The kitchen has always been my playground. My first experience in the kitchen was with my grandmother when I was five years old. She taught me how to peel and slice shallots to make a variety of Vietnamese dishes. At eight years old, I watched Martha Stewart and was inspired to bake and my love for cooking switched to baking. I love that with a base of sugar, flour, and butter, there are endless colors and textures that can be created. With my perfectionist heart, precision, and attention to detail, baking became my passion. I creamed butter and sugar by hand even after calluses formed on my hands. Thankfully my siblings pitched in and purchased my first KitchenAid stand mixer for my 15th birthday and Christmas gift.
Baking became my creative outlet and stress reliever. The hum of the mixer, the feel of the dough between my fingers, and the sweet aroma of caramelized sugar and butter that filled the house was intoxifying. I made sugar cookies every now and then, but the flavors, the consistency… something was never quite right.
In 2018, after receiving compliments for a set of sugar cookies for my daughter’s baptism, I devoted my time and energy to master sugar cookies. My obsession over reading baking articles, trying different recipes, and figuring out what works, crafted my signature sugar cookie. I began taking orders for friends and family, and with their encouragement, my aspirations of starting a business formed.
In 2019, my plans to start a business were postponed as I found out I was pregnant again. In March of 2020, I excitedly took the leap and started my cookie journey. Thanks so much for being here and I look forward to playing a small role in your celebrations and being your purveyor of sugar.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My constant struggle is balance. I have a full-time job. I am a wife, a mom to two girls under three, I am a sister and a daughter. My family lives in the same neighborhood, so we are all really close. On top of everything, I’m a cookier. I feel like I use the words, “I can’t, I’m baking” a lot, but I just can’t give cookies up. I love the creative outlet and the freedom it gives me to create edible magic. Plus, during this whole pandemic, it’s amazing to watch from my Nest camera of people picking up their orders. The smiles and squeals really keep me going.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I specialize in creating luxury custom sugar cookies with meticulous attention to detail. Some might say I go overboard with my details but my clients come to me for very detailed work. I’m never going to be the cookier that churns out 15+ dozen per week. Of course, there are some exceptions. I prefer to be the cookier that makes fewer amounts of cookies but spends more time on details to really set my cookies apart from others. I am constantly taking classes to learn new techniques and apply them to my style.
I am so proud of my branding. From the start, I had a clear vision of what I wanted my branding to envoke but no idea how to translate that into a brand. I entrusted a local designer here in Houston, Gabby Nguyen to create my brand from scratch. I wanted my branding to stand out and enhance the beauty of the edible art that would be inside the box. Gabby created this subtle feel of movement in my logo and from there she designed really innovative printables which I use to package my cookies. When my clients receive their cookies, I want them to feel like they are opening a present.
I prefer for my clients to trust me and give me total creative freedom since I don’t really have any set-in-stone designs. I have a general idea of what colors and designs I’m going to make, but I really let the colors talk to me when I mix them. There have been instances that I sit down to decorate and I completely wipe out the whole design plan and do something a little different when a moment of inspiration hits.
I think what also sets me apart is that I’ve really developed my style: clean, precise, detailed and a love of perfectly puffy icing. I also really concentrate on getting my color palette correct. When someone sees a photo of my cookies, I want them to say, “oh, that’s Sift & Swirl.” I also offer different flavors of sugar cookies. Certain flavors have an additional cost.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Patience. Decorative sugar cookies can be fickle. The consistency of your royal icing is everything. In the beginning, I sat down and just worked on figuring out what consistency of royal icing I liked to work with. I didn’t decorate a single cookie but just worked to learn and understand the science. As with any hobby, I chose to slowly learn techniques to really master them and also figure out what techniques are not my style.
I think my experience in my family business helped me get a leg up in creating this business. My brain naturally goes towards the manufacturing side of the business, but I was taught by some amazing consultants about sales. I thought I would never use that information, and now that I have my own business, I find myself recalling all the weeks spent with them. I do think there would have been a lot more errors if I did not have my business background. Concentrating on finding my ideal client has been my focus since the beginning and creating the full package from branding, web design, packaging, etc., showcases the cookies.
With a concentration on finding the ideal client, patience was important. I did not want to grow too quickly where I would get burnt out or get burned.
Pricing:
- Starts at $65 per dozen. Depending on design the price will increase
Contact Info:
- Email: siftandswirlbakery@gmail.com
- Website: www.siftswirl.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siftandswirl/
Image Credits
Photos of me are from Emily Crump Photography
