This week's guest is Lillian White, who joined us for an in-person interview. Lillian is the owner, operator, and creative force behind by Mason, which are decadent desserts such as black for his cake, blueberry lemon cheesecake, tiramisu, and many other desserts served in a Mason jar. Born and raised in Guelph, Lillian is a lifelong baker who initially learned how to bake with her mom and considers baking therapeutic and as a way for her to decompress and relieve stress. In her conversation with Lillian, she talks about attending Algonquin College for baking and pastry arts.
We talk about Lillian's start in the industry when she landed her first full-time job in Australia as part of her school curriculum working abroad. Lillian discusses her seven years living in Australia, including the visa process, traveling, and living in Australia during COVID. Talk about what drew Lillian back to Canada and her subsequent jobs. We then talk with Lillian about what led to her decision to start her own business and all the different varieties of desserts on offer and her future plans.
We want to thank Lillian for coming on over and taking some time out of her busy schedule to join us for the podcast. And make sure you check out my Mason online on Instagram at My Mason Desserts and you can contact Lillian by email at My Mason Desserts at gmail.com or check the show notes as always for all the links. Enjoy the show. OK, we're back with another episode of the industry podcast.
My name is Kit. This is Dan. Hey, that's me, man. What's happening?
Not much. We're not saying crap as always. Another one day, another work week. Now, yourself, what's your view?
I see. Do you already do these today? So that's exciting. Oh, nice.
You didn't have to say anything offside together. It was just that canceled. That's amazing. Oh, geez.
Well. I got to the hardworking lawyers to settle that case. Yeah. So that's exciting.
Congratulations. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. It was a lot of my own effort.
I showed up this morning and they said, go home. I was thinking about it too though. I wouldn't even mind if it was an exciting trial to do. But nine times I'd have had them just boring as fuck.
It's probably a property damage or something like that. Yeah. I remember I was in a law class in high school and they took us to court for a day. It has a field trip.
And it was so boring. We sat through three different cases. And everyone was just like, there was nothing exciting about any of the cases. And I'm like, if that's what we totally want to get, I'm going to be there for a fucking week and a half.
It's going to be like 12 angry men with one person who wants to change their mind. So dodged it. Good for you. Yeah, thanks, man.
I appreciate that. Yeah. And that's right here in the great city of Kitchener. If you're in Kitchener, how about that segue?
Mm hm. It's a company that's at my bar at Sugar Run Bar on Instagram. You forget everything that's going on there. And what else if you are in the market for booze?
Then it's kipsonders at gmail.kyppsig. mail.com, allure distillery, malabar winery, terra war wine imports, all your good stuff. So that's if you want something for your home or for your business on your guy. What else?
We got, if you like the show, the best way you can help us is to subscribe, follow, rate, review, maybe some sky writing. A blimp? Yeah. You just ran out the good year blimp.
Yeah. You just ran out the good year blimp. That's a great podcast. We don't mind.
That's a great podcast. That's a great podcast. We don't mind. That's a great podcast.
It's a great podcast. Yeah. Tell it from us. He's the easiest thing to do.
It takes so many minutes and it's easy to spread the word without incurring any cost or much of an effort. We'll destroy my life. We'll go for a Super Bowl ad. Yeah.
What else? What else? If you are interested in being a guest on the show, then you should email us at info.clubc.com.club.club.com or you can DM us at the industry podcast. That's where you will find us, find the great artwork from us.ally on Instagram.
She does private parties. She does cocktail construction. She does consulting. That's really, she does it all.
If it's got booze in it, she'll do it. Yeah. So, how come it's not Ali? Yeah.
If it's on a party this summer, anything from barbecues, bridal showers, baby showers, anniversary parties, or wedding? Or do you like to drink in a shower? Yes. Call her up.
Get your cocktail program set up. That's right. What else we should mention? Our good friend, good friend of Harper's deli are back in action.
So, that is at Harper's deli on Instagram if you want to find out their hours of operation. Check it out. Yeah. Okay.
We'll leave Ali. Actually, the same class of their right-by-home depot. Right. That important Northfield.
That's the new location. He is open. He's back in action. These are the best sandwiches in town.
Yeah. Right beside that 45 actually. Exactly. Right.
That's right. That's just let it. Okay. I think the only thing we have left to mention is our good friends at Inbiblia.
Yes. Our good friends at Inbiblia produce a cocktail app for bartenders, restaurants, and drink lovers alike. They'll buy a bartender with more than a decade of experience behind the bar. There are early research historical variations of classics included in the books of notes on history and methods.
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The builder also features a constantly growing selection of ingredients which can be selected using all popular forms of measurements, including more nuance cases specific to cocktails, notably, float rinse, mis- and smoke. Ingrid info cards now also feature suggested substitutes based on flavor profiles. This database of flavor profiles is first of its kind, namely, search by flavor and a custom recommendation algorithm. Once again, that's Inbiblia.
Yes, check out Inbiblia. It's a home bartender or professional bartender or a professional alcoholic. Right, myself. I actually may not be so much more professional, but just go home and pay for it.
That's correct. I'm at least all that stuff in the show. My definition, you're an amateur. Yeah.
Oh, I haven't known that many times. All right. Well, that's about all we got to talk about. I think what we get to our guests.
Am I correct? That was correct. Not forget something this week. All right.
Well, joining us right now in person is Lillian White. How are you, Lillian? Good. How are you?
Lillian brought wine, so she's already in our book. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. So, Lillian, how would that get started?
Tell us about how you first got involved in the service industry. Oh, man. How I first got involved? Well, in the service industry, what have been in Australia?
Okay. So, we moved Australia, went? 2017. 2017.
Right at a school. So, it does hospitality work, but. You were doing, you went to school for kinesiology. Yes.
And then I saw something I didn't know before that you went to school for five. What happened there? It's really hard physically on you. Yeah.
Yeah. So, I have schooliosis. So, they're like, oh, you're not going to do well. So, they're like, you could do a different, like, avenue of schooling for firefighting, but we don't think the physical aspect of it is the best for you.
And you were like, well, if I can't run into burning buildings for a living, I may as well put a fire behind the bar. Sure. Big thanks. You also went to, you can place your job.
You did. Yeah. That's actually what took me to Australia. So, these are three pretty disparate career paths.
Assuming you were pretty young at the time and said no idea what to do. Kind of. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I was a runner. So, that's where the kinesiology aspect was. Like, oh, maybe I'll do running for the rest of my life. That's not feasible for anyone.
So, and then the firefighting aspect and then the baking aspect. I was like, okay, we're just going to go back to square one, what you're good at. And I don't know what that is. So, when did you discover you were going to bake?
You just used to bake around the house? I've always baked. Yeah. Always had cakes for people too.
So, people need cakes for birthdays and stuff. I'd always do that on the side just for fun. Like, when did you figure out that you were interested in that? Oh.
I've always had like a niche for it. Like, it's what I do to like decompose. So, like, when I start baking, I go into a different headspace. Like, if I need to calm down, baking actually does that for me.
Yeah. And you figured that out at like what age would you say? Oh, we get this like 13. Really?
Yeah. Yeah. Is there, like, what are bakers in your family? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to have a bake first?
Cook as well? No, just bake. Me and cooking are like, oh, it's love hate. I can.
But like, people always expect if you're a pastry chef. You're just great in the kitchen. It's like, no. But they're going to cook.
Or like science and formula. Yeah. And cooking is, I'm literally asking because I don't know how to be either. But cooking and cooking is more like people, like kind of winking it creatively.
Yeah. So with baking, you can, you can play around with flavors a lot more in baking, but you can't really stray too far from the base recipe. If you do, you're not going to have the result you want. Right.
Where cooking, yeah, you can throw 500 things in a pot and it'll be amazing. But with baking, you still have to stick to the science of the base and then grow on that. And so when you went to school for it, what do you feel like you learned that you didn't already know from like a lifetime of baking at this point? It was more just like growing on the skills I already had.
I'd say I definitely amplified my cake decorating skills. I always thought I was kind of good at cake decorating. Then I went in the class and was like, oh, I know nothing. Or like compared to all these people, I knew nothing.
And then like we definitely did the business aspect of things, which I didn't go in knowing. So learned quite a bit about that. We went into depth on certain ingredients that like we really like one of our courses was all about just ingredients. It was quite boring except when it was an ingredient you actually wanted to learn about.
Because it's like an hour one class you talk about eggs. It's like, oh my gosh. But like yeah, like for cocoa and like the cacao bean and all that like some of those aspects were quite interesting to get the origin of them. How long does that like a year?
I did a year course which was a fast-tracked one. So it actually was a two and a half year. Two and a half year. But they shortened it for into the year.
Where was that? In Ottawa. In Ottawa. Yeah.
And then so what's the certification like that you get from that? Baking and pastry art certification. So it's like a degree or whatever. Yeah.
Yeah. I wish it was a degree. Well, I just like, how would you put it on your resume? It's like it's what I'm asking.
Well, I guess I could give you the rights to call yourself qualified. Okay. So like I would say qualified pastry shots. Right.
Right. I do have to ask one question in the back track about your biome. No, sorry. Oh, this is fine.
Your kinesiology degree. I mentioned that in Oshawa. I grew up in Oshawa. How did you end up in Oshawa?
Yeah. So it was a fitness and health class kinesiology at Durham and UIT. Okay. And I just did a year.
Like it was a two year course. I left after the first year. Okay. I absolutely didn't know how to have the brains for it.
Yeah. I didn't really like Oshawa. I'm sorry. That's the reason I came out of this class.
We actually one day had someone get stabbed in the classroom at Poseidus. So I was like, okay. We were like locked in this classroom for four hours. I was like, okay.
Great. I didn't know how much we grew up there actually until I moved away. Yeah. And then you realize that's what other people called it?
Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have a good rep. So I was like asking other people who had a tight, spend some time in Oshawa with the thought of it. So that's yeah.
Yeah, I didn't really leave. I was actually on campus for that semester. I did not shy too far. Like I only went down the block to get groceries.
I was like saying, Louise Wright beside residence. That's where I went. But we didn't stray too far from that neighborhood. Yeah.
Nice. Well, you grew up in Guelph, right? You grew up in Guelph. Okay.
And now you're back. Yeah. So at Algonquin, they kind of told our class, like, oh, we have this program where you can go and work abroad as like your profession and gain like a ton of experience in it. But they left out the funniest part where when you first started, you didn't actually work abroad as your profession.
So like that's how I got into the hospitality bartending serving. So I thought I'd be going and like thrown into the pastry chef aspect. But I didn't. I went and I had to like work my way, prove myself.
But then they placed you with a spot to work? Yeah. So I went through a program called Alliance Abroad, which now looking back, like for someone who doesn't know anything about it, it's a great program. But now like if you kind of know a little sense of, okay, you can go somewhere, find housing, fine work.
So I was like, I'm going to do it that way. This program definitely charges you for their abilities. Yeah. So they hooked me up with the job.
Like I had the job before I even flew over. Okay. But I didn't have it. So like they put you in a hospital and they're like, sinkers from.
Do they, so you pay for your hospital? You pay for everything. Yeah. You get paid with your job.
Yeah. So like I had my start date. So I flew over a week before my start date, got acquainted because I was right on the Great Barrier Reef. So like it was a tourist town.
So not too many, like affordable housing options. So you're like, here's your hostel. You have a week, I think you had a week paid up front and then from there you had to just figure it out. Oh my gosh, 2017, so 20?
20. So yeah, that's a good time to like wheeling a hostel though. Or good school. Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, like I was, when I, I, I did a lot of traveling in like the first, you might like late teens, early twenties, it was all hostels and I fucking loved it. And then I went, when I got older, like into my thirties down the trip and I was like, oh, say on a hostel, I'm like, what am I doing? I guess it's like a reality check though, because I never traveled before that. Like I hadn't traveled anywhere.
So my, the earliest, I've been on a plane to Thunder Bay prior to go into Australia. So you hit the hotspots first and then. I know, my brother lived at Thunder Bay and I went up and visited him. So I'm like, I have to have gone on an airplane before I do a 15 hour flight on an airplane.
So I did. Oh, you're like, that was your first airplane tip I see. Yeah. And then, yeah, it's only 15.
I felt like it was like 20. So it's 15 from LA to Melbourne or Sydney or Italy or Brisbane. But you have to, yeah, you have to get to either Vancouver, LA. So it's like five hours 15 and then to get to the Greatbury River, I went to Port Douglas.
It's like three. I remember we had a stop over in Hawaii and it was so short that I was in Hawaii and I couldn't leave the airport. And I was like, this is brutal. So we just drank a couple of Hawaiian bears sitting here for a bit.
Yep. My Hawaiian vacation. Yeah. But, okay, so you get to ask about your 20 years old.
You think you're going to be a pastry chef instead of you working in where? So they hired me like, yeah, they hired me as a banquet server. So I went around there like, you'll get into the pastry. You just have to almost prove yourself.
And that was a hard stop. Proving yourself as a pastry chef by serving in banquet. I guess, I don't know their logic. Like looking back, I'm like, do they just want to know you're a hardworking person who's not?
Probably are. Or possibly like, do they think, which actually makes a little more sense. Do people, do they think people are coming over working like a week at that job but then actually doing their own thing? Or what if we're in the door but then going off?
Because that's like a possibility too, right? So yeah, but banquet serving is no joke. It was a reality check. Like I didn't know how hard you had to work until they threw me into this five-star resort.
And like, yeah, it's so wild. I think that's one of the actual worst jobs in the service industry. You probably should. Yeah, like I just, it's, I mean, it's all serving, I guess, but like banquet service, it's almost like factory work and it's like, yeah.
It's so cool. It's so cool. Yeah, so like you're setting up the function, then you're serving the function, then you're actually need the function, then you're taking down the function. And like, you get the worst, like, guess the worst clientele.
Like, get those, like, yeah, they're usually there because they have to be there rather than because they want to be there. Yeah. And then it's like people are wedding too, right? Where do I at least, you get the odd people are actually happy to be at a wedding.
Mostly at these banquet serving situations. I feel like they're just like, oh, they're here for some convention or event or whatever. Yeah, I feel like everyone had a good time at arts, but we were like the spot. That's the thing too.
Like that's one of the resorts, Port Douglas is known for. There's like three or four in the tiny town, but like that's the main one. So I think everyone went there. It was quite happy they were there because you're talking like, if you're there for a week, it's probably like a $5,000 stay.
Oh, yeah. So you're flying into Kansas, and then you drive up the range, which is sketching itself. And so you do that, how long have you been in Australia overall? Seven years.
Seven years. I obviously liked it. Yeah, I did. Yeah, so when you go over on a working holiday, you can only work for one company for six months, and then you have to like, holiday, but everyone still works.
I feel like no one's like, I have enough money to holiday. Like, that's not, but maybe we're serving, you do make a lot. But yeah, so I was there for seven years. Most of it wasn't Port Douglas, and then I did quite a bit of traveling around to Perth, Adelaide, Tazi.
So how does that work for like, Visa? Like, do you need a Visa on all the eveners? Yeah, so I went over on my Aussie friend right there. Literally, she's in Sydney.
I went over, yeah, on the year Visa. So that enabled me six months, and then I decided how much little they pay for how hard you work at the resort, and you know, as I could go work at the bar and make $10 more an hour down the street. But that's like, yeah, it's just the way it works. But you can just work in the other way about, you know, your Visa was easy?
So I didn't, it was, no, it wasn't easy. So I did it differently than like most people do. So normally you can get your one year Visa extended by doing farm work, but I knew there was no thing that was going to survive farm work. Just because like, the chances were I was going to be on a banana farm in the middle, nowhere in the hot, and I was just like, I don't mind spiders and stuff, but I'm like, a spider drops out of this banana tree, I'm losing my shit.
So, and it's like, it's actually really hard work and you don't get paid much, and it's like 12 hours on this farm in the sun. And I was like, that's just not going to work. So I actually met a guy and did a partner Visa. But that in itself was difficult because I had to, I had to come home two times to make sure the Visa lined up.
Okay. So before my year ran out of my working holiday Visa, I came home, then I actually applied outside of Australia for my next Visa. And that's how like, I kind of worked the... Okay, so it was just rolling over every time.
No, it doesn't roll over. I wish it did. So that doesn't have too bad though. Like, so you had to jump through too many hoops.
I mean, a couple obviously, flying one couple times, but like, over seven years, that's not so bad. No, it's very expensive though. A partner Visa over there. And like, we, half of it was during COVID, and so it just got really logistical, and I actually got, the government contacted me and was like questioning me at one point because my partner worked flying out at the time, and they said we weren't, like, we didn't have enough evidence that we were a couple because we weren't together long enough.
Oh. And that was actually insane because I remember getting that phone call and I was in port Douglas at the time and my partner was stuck in Perth because it was the middle of COVID and Australia cracked down so hard. You couldn't do anything. Australia actually like quarantined you and said like you could not leave your bubble.
Like, I don't know how it was here but in Australia you couldn't travel to other cities easily. And so the government calls me and says like, you have to go to the court with your partner and sign this relationship certificate. I was like, we can't. He's in Perth.
And they're like, we're going to get deported if you don't. And I was like, remember Colleen? Johnny, you've been like, you had to get home and he said I can't. Because if I leave, he worked on the mines.
He was an emergency responder for the mines. And so that in itself, during COVID, was insane. So if he left his site, he would have then had to quarantine three different times for two weeks at a time to make it all work. And like, he's like, I can't financially do that because I wasn't working during COVID because everything shut down.
Like, so unless you had a remote job, you were. It was hard to put your gun. It was bad. It was bad.
We ended up doing it somehow. I don't remember how, but I got it signed and didn't get deported. Because also I was kind of like, how are you deporting me in the middle of COVID? That's the one thing you have in your back pocket, right?
It's like, I can't really, I'm not really supposed to go anywhere. No, it wasn't saying. Yeah. It doesn't sound like it was stressful at all.
No, no, no. And so this whole time you're working in different bars and restaurants? Yeah. Yeah.
And so, and obviously we're gonna buy now by restaurant, what a cafe. I'll be back. Yeah, you can call me back. Literally.
What point were you like, okay, maybe I'm kind of like a server bartender now. This is sort of what I'm doing. Oh man. Definitely.
So the, the banquet serving, I don't call it a server. Like it is, but it isn't serving in my aspect now, looking back. Like you are serving. It's a service-free job, but it's very, it's very, very, fairly well.
It doesn't set you up. Like looking back, I was like, I was like in that big spectrum of jobs. Like it gave me certain aspects, but then we also banquet servers had to work the restaurant two nights a week at the five stars. And that's where I learned a lot of the skills.
Like I learned with the banquet serving how to carry four plates. Like, but that's the thing to learn everything on such a high level. Really like, I get mad easily at servers now. So I was like, you like can't do certain, like I shouldn't.
But like when you get trained at such a high level at your beginning, like you look at some people, how are you not able to do this? Like some people nowadays, I'm just like it mind boggles me, but like we weren't allowed to write anything down. So like if we had a table of seven people, we had to remember it. So like now I get questioned all the time actually when I do that at the restaurant now.
People are like, you're not going to write it down. I'm like, no, I'm good. I'm like, you're going to forget. I'm like, just, just wait.
Confidence, come on. But yeah, so that definitely, I wouldn't say I was confident leaving that job. When I got hired at the bar down the street, it was definitely a locals bar. It was hilarious.
My first day I thought I was getting fired because I couldn't understand one of the Aussies. So they call washrooms toilet. So he was asking me where the toilet was, but in his Aussie accent, I didn't know what he was saying. And I was like, I can't help you.
And he's like, why can't you help me? But that was just like, again, that wasn't, he was probably working at another restaurant in that town at the time that really made me realize, okay, I can do this. I've got a bit of confidence behind me, but yeah, the local pub wasn't too. Like they had the little pores where you put the cup up and it put it in.
So I didn't learn anything about cocktails. I don't know what cocktails. They want four ex-peers. Right.
Yeah, yeah. Also obviously I have no tip situation. So here's your gift to it. Yeah.
But I think they can breathe solid hourly weight. Yeah, so they, actually the payment system there is amazing. The question going back multiple times. So yeah, you're on a living wage, which actually is a living wage.
So you're making between 25 and 30 dollars at most restaurants an hour. But then they also, you don't want to get hired actually as full time. I learned through working. You want to get hired as casual because they have penalty rates that you get paid for Saturday Sundays and late nights.
So if you ever were the weekend server, you were laughing because you're making on Saturdays and you're making 25% more wage. Sundays, you're making 35 to 40% more wage. And then after seven o'clock at night, you're making a chunk more money every hour. So like literally like I remember, I think I worked New Year's Eve and I remember like after that shift I said I've never worked New Year's Eve again.
But then I got my paycheck and I realized I made a grand in the night because the roll up, the holidays as well, holidays you get time and half. So it's just like, it's just, wow. So you're in factory job where you're working overtime, like we're at GM this summer. So we're in university.
Yeah, PVM for working midnight shift. Yeah. And then if it was overtime, it was one time and a half or double time on Sunday. Holidays are triple time.
Yeah. Yeah, they're paying for that. Yeah. Yeah.
So I know many people who actually had two casual jobs that like then would, that's how you made your money to travel for a year easily. Yeah. Yeah. And so did you get to do a lot of traveling while you were there?
Yeah. And then we went to work, made them travel and we ended up going, yeah. So I saw more Australia than many people I know actually have. So when we traveled, we didn't fly.
We actually drove. So I actually got to drive, well, if you know the Australian map support us as the top right kind of corner. We moved the Perth, which is the bottom left corner, but we drove up. Like we drove the coast.
That was one of the worst trips though, because I was coming, I had the stomach flu. So I don't remember much of it. It was horrible. I was like, I'm going to die in the middle of the outback.
But like, wait for it to slow down at 20 kilobits an hour or two. Well, you know, he's a person's founder. At least he could do his like, he'll get water or something. Yeah, so I saw, don't remember much of that except the kangaroos on that trip.
I learned kangaroos real quick. We can't one night at this, just a RV pull up spot. And I remember waking up at like 2 AM and going to the washroom and I stepped outside the tent and there were literally like 500 kangaroos in this attic. And then we were like, how's it coming in?
I don't know the energy to do this. And I was like, I don't know what's going to happen. And it's 100 meters to the bathroom. So I put it on my flashlight and I start to walk the little guys.
They hop really quick. The middle guys, they kind of hop a little bit. The big guys, they don't move. And then one big kangaroo, once I got into the bathroom, actually went into the door.
And I was locked in the bathroom for like 30 minutes. Because I couldn't get out. Because the kangaroo was actually just standing right there. And I was like, I was toned out with this kangaroo at the same height and everything.
And I didn't have my phone so I couldn't call Johnny. And I was like, I'm just going to be stuck in this bathroom. So then it eventually hopped out of his head. It stared at me.
I was like, am I going to kick to something? I'm like, oh. I remember we had a bird. It was the thing.
Camping one night there. And there was like, because of the size, there's so much open space in Australia. So you don't realize that all of the wildlife grows through its habitat. So all the birds are massive.
Like they're fucking huge. And they're all majestic. And they're all majestic. Like, you know, like the Australian version of like a vulture is like the most majestic beast you would ever see.
And they're flying through this beautiful, like wingspan, unbelievable flight path. And then boom, just eating fucking real gill. Literally. But we were camping one night and there were a bunch of these massive birds encircled in a camp site.
And then they just kept getting a little braver and just hopping in a little bit closer. And then like five minutes of paths. Almost like in unison. Like they were surrounding us.
It was all these fucking. And I was getting like super freaked out. And we were like, we had bought some weed. It was just like, what the fuck is happening.
It's happening right now. It's crazy. The wildlife thing. I'm sorry.
It's for real. It's amazing. Like because where we live to is Port of Us is the Great Barrier for the rainforest. And wow.
Yeah. I went to the rainforest many times. Exactly that. Like the wildlife you see is next to, you don't see that here.
And you don't know what to be afraid of. I don't know if I can talk about much. But yeah. Because everyone I'm like, how did you survive seven years in Australia?
I was like, I don't know. But the tiny things are killing you there. That's why you learn. The big thing is not so much.
Tiny ones. Yeah. So seven years of life and you're doing service industry related jobs the whole time? Yes.
Yeah. What was your favorite spot that you worked later there? I have two. I asked for one.
I'm just kidding. I'm so different. The Duke's donuts, a guy I worked for in part Douglas, American guy from Wisconsin. Yeah, we created this, like he had the tiny, just the little market stall to begin with.
I don't know what the closest thing would be to us. Definitely not like an amplified Krispy Kreme. Like Lady Glaze is like kind of the broadening. So you guys have to broaden this round.
So similar to that. He was one of the more fun employers to work with. He was just to meet him. He hired me on a whim during COVID.
So I was very grateful for that because I wasn't working at the time. He was like, oh, come work with me. We'll see how it goes. So I took his donuts and took them to the next level visually.
And now he has a whole storefront. So I started that view. And then yeah, the cafe down in Tazzy was really cool to work at. Yeah.
What? I learned just a lot about coffee. And now I can't find that coffee here. So it's sad.
No, it's not useless. But it's like, oh, you know, there are coffee cultures next level. Yeah. So you can't find that around here.
Interesting. So and then what made you decide to move back? I missed home, but then yeah, like mostly like I realized when I was in Tazzy, I like that climate. Tazzy is like a tiny Canada in a sense except no snow.
And then I realized I was like, I've been here seven years. I've seen most of what I want to do. I got my permanent residency. So I knew I would have the flexibility to go back and forth if I wanted.
And so I came home and then I kind of just stayed here for a bit longer. And then I had my son. So that changed everything. Yeah.
Yeah. Harder to go back with him. Right. And then when you so when you move back here, what did you think you were going to do?
So during one of the stints of having to come home and going back for visa-wise, I got a job at Burlington. And actually I knew when I came home, I had a job with them originally because I like I'll take you back. So I came back and then I worked for them for a few months. And that was sour.
And then ah. Yeah. Do you want to talk about that? I actually got fired because someone didn't like the way I looked.
What? I know. Yeah. Yeah.
So I had come back because I worked for them for between six and nine months previously and then I went back to Australia. And then when I came back, the new back I host manager just had it out for me day one. So I literally walked into the building and she gave me this night because I was talking to someone I knew already. And I didn't really ask her how to do my job because I knew how to do my job.
I had literally done it a year ago or however long ago and apparently she didn't like that. And then she didn't like how pretty I was. So took it on herself to throw me under the bus any chance she could get and ended up doing it enough in my probation period. And then the day, my last day of probation, they let me go.
And then a week later she got fired because I gave them all the truth. But they couldn't hire me back because wrong, I could see them for. No. Yeah.
Oh, well that's interesting. I know. But it happens out there unfortunately. And people just have it out for you because they just don't like your personality.
And I was like, this is so bizarre because she couldn't do. That's the thing too. She was not confident in her baking abilities. And I was.
And it's almost like she was threatened by that. Like she couldn't decorate a cupcake. Like I wonder what I did. I was like, oh, she did hard.
I actually don't know. I actually don't know. Because at one point I was like, oh, I need to decorate this like tray of cupcakes. Like we're behind.
And she like passed off someone else. And then I picked it up. I was like, she doesn't know how to do this. But yes, that was a, and it was a commute I was kind of tired of to.
For I am driving to Burlington. Oh, you were still living in Guelph? Yeah, I was looking at Guelph. Yeah.
So I was kind of like at the end of the day. I was like, thank you. At the same sense. But.
And then what happened? And then I started the day. So then I kind of like, I was mad. So I was like, I'm not working hospitality for a bit.
And someone reached out to me who worked at a daycare locally. So I just picked that up for a bit. And then I had my son. And then I ended up at the cafe I met now after Matt leave.
Okay. So and then at some point you started your own business. I did. Yes.
Okay. So I started at a time where I am now, but then I realized because I am still a little parent, you know, make enough to support yourself in this climate. And I had started to get a bit of interest in my baking. And people were like, oh, you should just start baking more and more and more.
And so I started these mason jars. And I just rolled with it. It kind of, a few weddings people were like, oh, why don't you do things like this? Because they're more economical and does require zero setup.
Like it's kind of the perfect thing for a catered event. Like you think about it. Like a dessert in a mason jar where people can just finish toss a mason jar side. So I kind of pitched it to a bouncer one drunk night in Guelph, and he opened a restaurant and took me up on it.
And now he sells my desserts in his restaurant. What is that? A local haunt. Oh, okay.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what's the plan with the business?
How far do you want to take it? How big do you want it to get? Or you eventually looking for this to be sort of the primary source of income? 100%.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm still over the service industry. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Every day I go in and I'm like, oh, just can't do this anymore. Yeah.
So definitely I want to do more corporate though. One or two orders. I want to do corporate events, weddings, like mass orders. So like I have an order for 30, no, 60 jars for like a bridal shower.
That's kind of the clients I'm trying to. And you're doing this all the way up. I am. And out of your like one kitchen.