Today we’d like to introduce you to Eliamar Villasana.
Hi Eliamar, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started baking when I was a teenager just baking cakes and decorating with store-bought frosting and plastic decorations. Around 2006 I started taking Wilton Cake decorating classes at Larry’s arts and crafts because I wanted to get better and what I liked doing. I Would go to their evening classes while my husband stayed home with our then 3-year-old. After that, I slowly started baking cakes for very close family and friends with my mom and sisters being my number 1 supporters throughout my journey. After I had my other 2 children and after battling postpartum depression in 2011, I decided I needed to do something to start feeling better. I found a good culinary institute and decided it was time to go for what I really wanted, which was to get a degree in baking and pastry arts. I initially started a degree program which was for 2 years. But having 3 kids and going to school once again in the evenings was starting to get hard. I decided I would change to a diploma program and finish sooner. Still struggled but made it through and graduated with Silver status. Soon after graduating, I decided to go back and finish the degree program which took me a short amount of time since I was almost done the first time around. It was very difficult to get done had to take breaks in between. Almost dropped everything and gave up several times. But I had my kids watching and wanted them to realize that nothing was impossible. I was able to obtain both my Diploma de Patisserie and a Degree of Applied Science in baking and pastry arts (Gold) both less than a year apart. After that, I was all in for doing this as a Business. I started promoting my business more and started taking a few orders which soon became more and started gaining more experience from learning from my mistakes. I also worked at a cake shop and gained even more experience. I learned a lot of what has made me better from my boss and my co-worker at the time. And I am where I am today thanks to the support of the people around me. My kids and husband have been my biggest motivation and my family my biggest supporters to keep learning and getting better at what I do. Even though I am not super busy with orders, I try to take as many orders as I can and I work with my customers to try to accommodate their needs without breaking the bank.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not. I wanted to give up many times, too many to even count. Having to leave my kids so that I could go to school. Being a full-time mom and trying to manage my time between household duties and baking and prepping for orders was hard at first but I managed and now that my kids are bigger they understand when I am busy and they help as much as they can. Figuring out pricing and how to say no to orders I didn’t feel comfortable doing has been tough too.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a small home-based business specializing in custom birthday cakes and cookies and other desserts. What sets me apart from others is the flavor, and the love I put into every single order made.
I am most proud of myself for trying new things. I have taken orders that I think I will end up messing up or struggling with and at the end, I love the way it comes out. Sometimes I feel I do not give myself enough credit for what I do.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I have taken many risks with my business. The main one still is pricing an order. Not knowing if the customer will want to continue with the order but I have taught myself to really know my worth and if they don’t like the price I just reject to take the order.
Also the risk of rejecting orders that I may later regret not accepting without knowing if it was a good decision or not. But just as I have to know my worth, I also have to know when to say no whether it be because its something I do not think I can do or because I simply to not want to over work myself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Eliscakes2016
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/eliscakes
Image Credits
Joyful Moments with Juli
