We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Westerfield a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

Before I started college, I had a babka stand at a local farmers market in Nashville for the summer 2021 season. During that time, I gained a loyal customer base who I connected with, and ended up working with them for catering purposes as well. When I moved to NYC for college, I had to start over with my customer base. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the four winners for Dominique Ansel’s Everyone Can Bake Competition, which was a national recipe competition in which the winner got their recipe made and showcased at Dominique Ansel Workshop in NYC for a weekend. After that, I was able to start marketing my babka as “award winning babka” which made some friends and friends of friends interested in it. Everyone that has tried it, has loved it, and many have shared it with their friends who then became fans, which I am super grateful for! I was trying to figure out how I could market/upsize my babka business through my school, NYU, and through the surrounding NYC area.

I got caught up in school work, extra curricular clubs, internships, and unfortunately did not have an oven in my apartment, so making babka fell off my radar for a little bit. I was nervous to start something because I didn’t know if I could figure out the logistics and timing, get an audience reach, and do it all on my own. One of my friends helped me out more than he knows because he always pushed me to put it out there and just keep on going. He funded a babka pop-up for me, helped with packaging, found me ovens, and gave me a new cliental base through his gym. Through him, I met people who were interested in helping out as well. In exchange for help, I gave my very wonderful, kind babka lovers as a thank you.

Having someone who is always supporting you, pushing you, and encouraging you is one of the most special and priceless gifts. The idea of a small-town girl and her babka facing NYC can be a bit daunting at times, but having someone who is consistently supportive, fosters my creativity, great business advice giver, and is an excellent taste tester makes it seem a little more manageable! Friends who have let me use their ovens and supported my babka in their own way have meant the world, and I am so thankful for their kindness and support.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

In high school, I created an independent study on the history and cultural significance of Jewish food. Every week I would pick a dish to research and cook it at the end of the week. On the weeks when I baked sweets and bread, I brought the extra portions to school. When we were still going to school online, because of COVID-19, I would bring treats to school in the morning in hopes of making the faculty’s days a little sweeter. Once we got back to school, I had teachers, whose class I had never taken, thank me for the baked goods. As I continued dropping off baked goods for faculty, I got to hear stories about the faculty’s own baking adventures, their favorite baked goods, and chat about the Great British Bake Off– one of my favorite TV shows.

Once my independent study ended, I continued to bake weekly and got to further connect with my high school community through my baking.

Through the constant positive feedback and meaningful connections my baking formed, I started a catering business that has catered grad parties, small wedding receptions, large desserts, party favors, and treats for school events. My website has options for pre-set menus, but also custom orders. Most of my orders have been custom, which I love because it lets me get more creative and work with potential clients more! I also got a spot at St.George’s Farmers Market for the 2021 summer season where I sold my babka! I offered chocolate hazelnut, blueberry and cream, four berry jam, and za’atar chili feta babka. Through the market, I got to connect with the Nashville community through my babka, it was wonderful to hear about people’s stories about their grandparents making babka or how my babka reminded them of NYC.

In 2022, I moved too NYC to attend NYU. Once in NYC, I ended up winning Dominique Ansel Bakeries, Everyone Can Bake Competition with the story of my babka and my coveted recipe! My babka was showcased at the Dominique Ansel Workshop for a weekend in February. From that, I gained a bit of an interest in my babka and started selling it around to friends and NYU students. I then had a pop-up at Equinox to gain more of a customer base. Right now, I am still selling my babka and planning on doing bi-weekly drops at NYU and in Soho. You can check my Instagram stories for drop announcements!

At NYU, I am majoring in Media, Culture, and Communications (MCC) and minoring in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology. Through some of my classes, I have dug deeper into marketing and advertising strategies and how to apply this to content production for social media. Through my Instagram, @bigworld.greatfood, I have created content for over 15 brands, and am continuing to expand my reach.

My User Generated Content (UGC) is mostly food based. Given my background and interests, that feels the most natural to me. However, I have started to work with some athletic wear brands, skincare, and haircare brands. It’s been a great opportunity to tap into creativity while making recipes that I love sharing and creating. I truly love making content, and social media has become such an important part of my life. Through my Instagram, I have learned about building relationships with followers and brands. I get to virtually connect with people through my food!

If you are anyone you know is interested in UGC, here is my portfolio link! https://rachelwesterfield0.wixsite.com/ugc-portfolio

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

For my babka business, I have grown more and more to believe that most people don’t have time or don’t make the time to bake a lot anymore. This of course makes sense. Jobs, school, important long-standing projects, and whatever else start to take up people’s time more and more as they get older. As a college student, I don’t know that many students who bake because they don’t have the time. Whenever I share my babka with NYC students, I often get comments about how it is nice to have a homemade baked good, and that there is something about knowing the person who made it. I try to develop some sort of meaningful relationship with all my customers, because I genuinely enjoy that part of having a small business, and because it creates a sense of trust. Little specializations like adding their name on the package, adding a short hand written thank you note, or adding in an extra babka muffin in their order can really make some customer’s days. With NYC being such a busy place, it can be hard to notice those small moments of kindness and happiness. Adding a small little touch for each customer shows them that I really do notice their support and appreciate it.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

With UGC, you really don’t need that much to start. As long as you have natural light, a good quality phone camera or an actual camera, and creativity to figure out a way to make props or find props around your house, you can create content. One of my biggest misconceptions about UGC was that you needed the best camera, the most amazing and beautiful props, and best professional editing equipment. While all that stuff sure is helpful, the most important thing about UGC is bringing your creativity and combining it with the brand’s voice, values, and aesthetic. UGC is such a huge and growing market, and brands are looking for new perspectives and ideas for their product. If you have an idea and can execute it well, film it, edit it, and send your pitch out.

Before I started pitching to brands, I was lucky to get my start in UGC with brands reaching out to me via Instagram. I started off with a lot of gifted campaigns, and I was so excited to get to work with new products and film videos in the way I wanted. After I started to build my portfolio, I started getting more serious and critical about my work and my value. Brands want you! Brands want new voices! I worked on pitching my services to brands through tons of emails in which I got some nos, some never responded, and some said yes and I built partnerships with them.

If you have a passion for anything that is creative, start from square one, build your value, and then start charging. Once you worked with a handful of brands, you start to learn the ways in which brands typically like their products to be featured, and content creation feels like second nature. Once you develop your own unique style, brands will see that and sometimes ask for your specific style of content!

Don’t be afraid of your set or ideas not turning out great the first couple of times you start filming, it’s all about learning and having fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: UGC Portfolio, https://rachelwesterfield0.wixsite.com/ugc-portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigworld.greatfood/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-westerfield-b475b1232/
• Other: Babka Ordering https://rachelsbabka.bigcartel.com/ Catering, https://rachelwesterfield0.wixsite.com/food

Image Credits
All image credits to Rachel Westerfield!