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

Alright, Allison thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I think the grass is always greener—either that, or I’m just a dissatisfied individual. I’ve been creating content since my junior year of college, so being a full-time content creator has been a viable option for a while, so I’ve been experimenting with my options.
Going into college, it was never a goal to pursue content creation, let alone baking and content creation as a career choice. Like most creators, I started making videos as a hobby, so it has taken me a long time to embrace the idea that content is a ‘real job.’ Oddly enough, I feel guilty that I don’t have to go into a corporate office and don’t need to report to a begrudging boss of some kind. Sometimes, it feels like a job can’t be ‘real’ unless there’s some kind of daily dissatisfaction, and I’m trying to unlearn that mentality. I still question whether it was the right decision, but day-to-day, I try to push away my anxieties. I just graduated in May, so I’m trying to take everything month by month until my work stops being fulfilling.
While it was a great experience I spent a lot of time at work day dreaming about what kind of
I’m still very new to working creatively full-time. It’s only my second week, and while I technically have all the free time in the world, I still haven’t figured out how to use it effectively. When I go to bed tired, having not tackled all the ambitions and ideas in my head,

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started making baking and pastry videos two years ago when I went to pastry school in France. To put it dramatically, I was having an existential crisis in college, so I took a gap semester and decided to go to pastry school in France. I wanted to throw myself into something that I knew I was passionate about before having to figure out the ‘correct’ adult path.
As I was sharing my plans with all of my friends and family, everyone wanted me to share photos and videos of my pastries with them so I thought the easiest way to showcase everything at once would be through social media. I started making TikToks on Day 1 of pastry school in January of 2022 and have never stopped since. Since returning to the US I’ve continued to document my life through my baking projects whether that’s baking cakes for frats and research mentors or showcasing the secret pop up restaurant I ran in college out of our apartment. There have been a lot of shifts in my content over the years and I’m still trying to find a clear voice, but ultimately I’m just trying to live life spontaneously and document that process. It’s been incredible to see how many people I’ve inspired to follow their dreams and encourage more people to bake.
Now that I’ve graduated and I’ve just started pursuing my baking adventures full-time for now my goal is just trying to get a routine in place so I can create content and recipes consistently. I have so many more baking projects and ideas that I want to take on!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It’s definitely cliché but you’ll never regret trying something you’ve always dreamed of! Worst that can happen is you have to go get a ‘real job’ again, but at least you’ll have a great story.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Still learning how to take breaks and dedicate time to rest. In a creative field, you’re always trying to think of new ideas and find inspiration that it’s hard to turn your brain off and really live in the present. Not every moment needs to be filled with something that is pushing your business forward. Go book that vacation or just take let yourself take the day off.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alchenny.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/al.chenny/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alchenny
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@alchenny

Image Credits

Chris Hildreth at RoosterMedia