We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa Sidara Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Vanessa, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.
I come from an immigrant family; I am a first generation here in America. My family including my grandparents fled from communism in Laos & started their lives over for my family to have better opportunities. I have watched my parents adapt, have an impeccable work ethic and in turn, poured that motivation & determination into me. I can’t thank them enough for being positive role models even in the hardest of times.
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.
I have worked in ophthalmology for 15 years. I love what I do but I have always had that itch of wanting more. During the pandemic, like a lot of people I was offered time to sit and really think about what I wanted to achieve in life. I had so many ideas, but this one to open a home based bakeshop actually came about accidentally. It was May 2020, I made a cake for my husband’s birthday and he requested the infamous Spring fling cake. Now if you grew up in Denver, you are familiar with the beloved Market on Larimer. Well, they had closed down, so I knew what I had to do. I posted this home made cake and within a week, people were requesting to order one. It happened all so fast, that It actually took me over a year to get a schedule down that worked for me. There were many late nights from poor time management and trying to learn the industry. Every day I would pour myself into finding the right packaging, the right tools and the right ingredients and most importantly, all the resources to learn how to be a better baker. My creative outlet with baking has helped me balance the stress of my corporate job. What I feel sets me apart from others is that I truly care about my clients and what they envision there perfect order to be. I understand that every occasion is important no matter how big or small & with that I am responsible to help make that vision come to life.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
December of 2021 I quit my full time job to focus on the Bakeshop and to pursue my goal of obtaining a real estate license. I made the change to be more present in my home life with my husband and daughter. It was daunting over me that I would work 10-12hrs/day, then come home and fulfill orders with no time with my family. Weekends especially were more busy and although it was exciting that my business was taking off, the cost of losing quality time was not worth it for me. After 6 months, I found the perfect remote job that I love while running two business’ now and all the time I need to be with my family. The flexibility is my favorite thing.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started with one page on Instagram. I poured all my photos of my work on there for 2 years before starting a facebook that linked together. For me, having multiple pages to run meant I was spreading myself thin- so my advice is to keep it in one spot when you start, especially if you have a busy lifestyle. It was nice for me to check 1 inbox instead of checking 5 to keep things simple. I still currently do not have a website. Clients reach me by phone, email or messaging through social media.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/highlands_bakeshop?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HighlandsBakeshop?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-sidara-coa-st-5b508aa4