Hello!

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My name's Jade. Baking and pastry has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I would be the one constantly in my family's kitchen, curious even about how my dad's coffee pot worked. 

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With that being said, my parents also watched a lot of Food Network, and on that channel, I was introduced to a show called Ace of Cakes. I never missed an episode. I was sick once on Halloween, and sat in my costume and watched the Halloween special of it, my parents actually letting me have full reign of the remote. Duff Goldman and his team's attention to craft and detail had always amazed me. I went through elementary and middle school in complete awe of his work, however I didn't know what I wanted to do "when I grew up". I always chose "artist" because art was all I knew. However, never missing any show with Duff Goldman's name in it, I would watch competitor's like Challenge. They'd trace back to each competitor's history and story and it was always the owner/starter of a business and how they wanted to express themselves through their baking and artistry. In about 7th or 8th grade, those Food Network Challenges helped me realize that I can also do exactly that. I started to do more research and my friends even let me make them (what would now be an abomination of) a cake if I put it on the table. I kept working at it specifically my junior and senior year, but I didn't know what college was best for me.  I was a bit of an outcast as it was, and all of the hometown legendary colleges lacked even one culinary program. I wanted to broaden what I knew, see new places, be introduced to new things.

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However, at my vocational school, The Culinary  Institute of America came to do a demonstration and invite students to apply. Just a basic demonstration had me interested already, then they played an intro video, which touched base on the alumni of the school. Duff Goldman popped up on the screen and I immediately knew that I wanted to apply. It was only a few months before I was supposed to graduate and we were starting to be flagged down for not applying to even one college. I've never been so sure of something before.

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I applied to a community college, Ivy Tech, and knocked out some core academics that I was able to waive when I enrolled in the CIA. I took their offered baking and pastry classes that gave me an extra foot in the door with experience and helped me succeed in the CIA's fundamentals classes. I was so glad to be in an area that challenges me to be the best that I can be and knowing that I chose the right path for my degree, and I'm so excited to see what I can do in the future. It was genuinely the best decision of my life, the people, experience, and flavors I encountered left a lifelong impact.