Today’s student highlight has a little bit of a twist! While we’ve mainly talked about sports and competitions so far, today’s article is highlighting a student’s small business! Emily Stauffer is a sophomore here at Dee-Mack High School and runs a small bakery business called Emily’s Baked Creations! She sells cookies, cupcakes, and brownies and is in charge of all parts of the business from taking orders all the way through the finishing touches on the desserts. Emily pours her heart out into this business and took the time to share some of the details of the dream she is living out with us!
Emily started baking when she was super young, mostly with her Grandma on holidays and birthdays. These memories are what sparked Emily’s passion for baking and she opened her business in March of 2023. Chasing this dream of hers has come with a lot of hard work. Whenever a holiday is coming up, she has to create some sort of advertisement for the types of things she can make and the designs she has in mind. Then, when she has all of her orders, she gets out her baking notebook and organizes the details, from quantity, to style, to specific designs. She emphasizes that the ability to organize her orders and the business itself is the most important skill that someone going into this business needs to have, as there is a lot to keep in mind as far as time management goes. On the day before her “bake day”, as she calls it, she goes over her baking notebook to make sure she has all of the ingredients and pre-makes any dough that needs to rest overnight. Her “Bake Days” most often last from 8 to 10 hours, usually taking her late into the night. About the time commitment, she said, “It takes me this long because I care about what I am making and want my baked goods to look and taste as good as possible.”
When asked why she enjoys running this business, she shared, “I can experiment with different flavors, textures and decorations to create what I think others would be pleased by. I also really enjoy sharing my hobby and talents with others.” She also really enjoys being independent and the satisfaction of running a successful business on her own. Her favorite thing to make is her decorated cut out cookies, which she first made with her Grandma! She also said, “The possibilities of creativity that I can show with these are endless!”.
Emily plans to own her own bakery one day that she can design to reflect her own style and where she can display her desserts for all to see. She hopes for this to be her primary job in the future. Now, I may be biased as a customer of Emily’s, but I think that she is incredibly talented and will reach this dream of hers. If you’d like to see Emily’s talent for yourself, you can find her on Facebook at Emily’s Baked Creations! We were super excited to highlight Emily and plan to continue on our series, “Beyond the Bell”, so please reach out if you have any talents, passions, or businesses that you would like to share!
