About Us
The Shay's Bakes Story...
It’s the beginning of 2020. I was still on a high from my overseas trip at the end of 2019. Countless photographs and videos had been taken, I still had a nice tan and I was sending through my itinerary to friends who were looking to travel to the same destination. Also, I had just passed one year at my new workplace. Life was great, I mean I still hadn’t won the lottery or miraculously become a famous YouTube vlogger .. but life was great.
The media started talking about ‘COVID-19’, a flu? Some type of sickness? That was fine, there’s always something crazy and exaggerated being talked about on the news. Well guess what? It’s April in 2020, this flu was a serious thing and I’ve just been made redundant for the first time in my life. Off I went to the office to return my equipment and come home to what would be 4 months of a very unsure and sad Shay.
This is where my childhood comes into play. I was born in 1995 in Sydney and by age 4 became a prodigy in baking and toured Australia with my parents to seek training at the top restaurants. That’s a complete lie but I hope you were impressed with me for a few seconds. Anyway, so born in 1995 and around age 10 is where I built a love for baking cakes. It was a weekly routine with my father, it allowed us to bond and spend quality time together. My mother and brother made me feel really important because of their positive (and very fake but cute now thinking about it) feedback.
Fast forward to me just being made redundant and I found myself doing the things which made me happy when I was 10, in this case baking. You name it I baked it; cakes, cookies, bread, cinnamon rolls, there wasn’t a recipe I wouldn’t try and there wasn’t a time I wouldn’t bake. Many times I’d be up at 3:00 AM just baking a recipe I’d seen online. My family thought I was crazy when they woke up in the mornings and saw a picture in the family group chat.. of bread.. sent by me.. at 3:00 AM. Two things had been established during my redundancy: my passion for baking was stronger than ever with a particular interest in baking cookies and just how important mental health is.
Now the crazy woman baking at 3:00 AM in the morning phase has passed, it’s August 2020. I’m at a new job, back to a morning routine of over priced coffee and avo on toast. I’m thinking maybe I could create a business out of baking? At this point I’ve drafted a brand logo, thought of a name and just when I was about to picture my future I get a call from a distressed customer which I have to take, “Hi you’re speaking to Shay.. How may I assist?”. The future plans are shelved, I’m just happy to have a job again and a normal routine. Lets fast forward again but this time only 2 weeks. What’s better than a friend at work who listens to your dreams? One that prompts you to take action. My cousin's son was having a birthday soon, I needed a reason for people to try my cookies and my friend suggested this was the perfect occasion. Cookies were made for the event, I got great feedback and BOOM, Shay’s Bakes is born. There’s a lot of in between from the time I started up until now. Some highlights include going full time and resigning from my corporate job in April 2021 and the 30 breakdowns I had learning how to run a business.
Life is short, eat cookies. What does this mean? I’ve seen the smiles when people finally receive their cookies or take a bite, it’s so fulfilling. It took me until I was redundant and left alone for a few months to understand what made me happy and that was baking cookies. After turning this into a business, I’m wishing to use my passion as fuel to achieve my purpose in life which I believe is to make the world a better place by improving people's mental health. Baking has helped with my mental health and there’s so many organisations out there helping in different ways, I want to shed light on the topic and aid these organisations in any way possible. So I’ve identified my passion and I’ve outlined my purpose, what now? Well, that’s what I’ll be trying to figure out. My platform will aid me in providing whatever assistance I can to organisations trying to make the world a better place. I’ll admit, I’m definitely no angel. I still leave my dirty dishes in the sink for others to clean and I will continue to do so, but that’s not the point. The point here is just like myself, I hope you find your passion which can fuel your purpose in life and find your happiness.