Amy DuVall: From Politics to Pastry, part 2

In Episode 030 of The Former Lawyer Podcast, I’m sharing the second half of my conversation with Amy DuVall. (I shared the first half of our conversation last week in episode 029!)  After starting out in private practice, Amy spent 20 years as a lawyer and lobbyist doing environmental work in Washington D.C. In March 2018, she left that behind to study the pastry arts and open her baking business, From Politics to Pastry. In the second half of our conversation, Amy shares about: How she handled her position being changed from a lawyer to a non-lawyer position and being instructed that she couldn’t hold herself out as a lawyer anymore; How her J.D. was her “secret weapon” during her lobbying days; Spending 10 years working to pass the biggest environmental bill in 25 years, succeeding, and then being hit like a ton of bricks by the question: “What’s next?”; Going to therapy and realizing that she should have gone sooner; Resisting the idea that she had anxiety because she loved what she was doing; Finally accepting that she had a significant problem with anxiety that was taking a toll on her body; How loving the substance of the work but hating the game impacted her, and why you need to figure out which you prefer; Realizing in therapy how being always on call and never having time for creative pursuits had drained her; How a simple exercise her therapist asked her to do resulted in an a-ha moment that sent her down the path of baking as a career; What she did when the culinary school she enrolled in closed with only 12-hours’ notice 3 months before she was supposed to start a pastry arts program; How she went from having no plans to start her own business to starting her own small bakery business, From Politics to Pastry; How she went from taking classes at Sur La Table to teaching them; Why you should never say never; and much more! I'm closing enrollment for my self-paced group program, the Former Lawyer Collaborative, permanently on August 31st, 2026. If you've been thinking about joining now is the time. Head to formerlawyer.com/collab to join before doors close on August 31st.