We recently connected with Julie Casey and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve been a baker my whole life. I was constantly making things with my mom since before I could reach the table. As I grew older, I challenged what I had grown to know as “home baking,” by exploring my European heritage and baking my way through patisserie books for fun on the weekends when I had time away from work.

In 2022 my husband, who had always taken what I made to work to share suggested, again, try to sell what I made at the Farmer’s Market. He always wanted me to quit my full time buying job in the fashion industry. He knew my real passion was baking and I just hadn’t realized it. We agreed, finally, I should go for it.

I was also getting into running at the time and training for a mountainous half marathon. I was near the end of training when you hit what’s called a taper week, when you reduce weekly miles so your muscles and body prep for a race, and I got quite anxious from not running so much and I filed business papers and we were off! Bread Run was born.

Julie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Bread Run started in 2022 when I decided I needed a career change. I was bored with the fashion industry and decided to set my sights on my real passion: high-end baked goods. Selling at a Farmer’s Market, I decided to focus on bread and add accessory items that were more tailored to the menu, I have always been good at creating a brand so I took off designing my tables, items I would sell and what my image would look like.

I’m an avid runner so “Bread Run” just seemed fitting as a name for many reasons.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think being a successful entrepreneur and business owner/operator is testament enough to resilience. No two days are similar and the physical and mental demands of a business of your own are beyond explanation. I recreate menus for every pop-up tailored to seasonal flavors, colors and shapes that will be represented on my tables. I have a degree in fashion design and merchandising so the look of my pop-ups has always been an absolute thrill for me. Applying my formally trained background to another occupation is such a thrill.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to teach myself pace. I’ve always been full throttle towards any project, but with your own business, the projects never end. You can work 24 hours a day and there is always something that needs to be done. Burning out is never optimal, so pace is necessary. I burned out hard working in fashion and I’ve tried to avoid that working for myself even though the pressure is greater to succeed.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @breadrunroanoke
• Facebook: @breadrunroanoke

Image Credits

Aaron Spicer
Instagram: @aaron_spicer