I didn't just wake up one morning and decide "hey I think I'll go to cake school". boom. done. I wish that's how it went. I was part way through college at Brigham Young University and I was excited to begin my future in advertising. But the more I envisioned my future, the more I realized I cannot do the corporate grind. They suck you in, take your best years, and then they spit you out. I decided to think outside the box. I love baking and I love anything in the wedding industry. It wasn't hard to do the math. That's when my dream started... I want to be a wedding cake designer.
Well I told my parents and dream or not... I had to finish college. I knew there was no arguing with that, so I switched to a culinary friendly major and graduated in three years. Next thing I knew I was loading my college town apartment into my car and driving across the country to Washington DC. I had visited the Art Institute of Washington DC and it looked like their program would be a good fit. But once again I started envisioning my future and I couldn't see their program preparing me for a future in wedding cake design. Back to the drawing boards..
I was frustrated, tired, and angry that no one ever told me how hard it would be to follow a dream. One morning I was talking to my Dad on the phone, not saying the words, but clearly implying I was ready to give up. He suggested that I go to a pastry school in France, saying that the masters of the pastry field are from France. I laughed, and shrugged it off... "yeah, ok Dad". After I hung up I turned to the source of all information... Google. I typed in "French Pastry School" and sha-bam... up came the link for "The French Pastry School". I looked at the website for a few seconds and then thought "hey! this school isn't in France, it's in Chicago!" I was about to click away until I saw their post for a brand new program opening up.... cake design. All the alarms went off, I finally found my perfect school. I had to wait a year for it to begin, but on the first day of class I realized it was well worth the wait.
Well I told my parents and dream or not... I had to finish college. I knew there was no arguing with that, so I switched to a culinary friendly major and graduated in three years. Next thing I knew I was loading my college town apartment into my car and driving across the country to Washington DC. I had visited the Art Institute of Washington DC and it looked like their program would be a good fit. But once again I started envisioning my future and I couldn't see their program preparing me for a future in wedding cake design. Back to the drawing boards..
I was frustrated, tired, and angry that no one ever told me how hard it would be to follow a dream. One morning I was talking to my Dad on the phone, not saying the words, but clearly implying I was ready to give up. He suggested that I go to a pastry school in France, saying that the masters of the pastry field are from France. I laughed, and shrugged it off... "yeah, ok Dad". After I hung up I turned to the source of all information... Google. I typed in "French Pastry School" and sha-bam... up came the link for "The French Pastry School". I looked at the website for a few seconds and then thought "hey! this school isn't in France, it's in Chicago!" I was about to click away until I saw their post for a brand new program opening up.... cake design. All the alarms went off, I finally found my perfect school. I had to wait a year for it to begin, but on the first day of class I realized it was well worth the wait.
