Hello, World!

Hiya!

It’s been a minute since I’ve sat down at my laptop to write anything other than a grad school essay — this is already more fun.

As it turns out, when the whole world isn’t in isolation during a pandemic, life carries on, and blogging takes a back seat. I thought my loyal followers could use a life + business update, just to let you know I’m still around, still baking, and occasionally getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night. So, here we go!

To answer the most common question I receive nowadays, yes, I graduated from undergrad, and yes, I’m still at Berry. Another “yes” — I’m still part of the Berry golf team, though coaching more than playing this season. In December, Berry was kind enough to hold an actual graduation ceremony for the class of 2020. It was wonderful! Now I officially have a diploma that grants me a degree in Business Management with a minor in Spanish.

Fast forward to now, halfway through my second semester of grad school at Berry, pursuing an MBA. With that comes my graduate assistantship with the Center for Student Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Development. Until May of 2022, I’ll be working closely with Berry’s student entrepreneurs and our 15 student-run, campus businesses. That entails web design, social media promotions, event planning, point-of-sale system operations, as well as skills significantly outside of my wheelhouse—staining furniture, buying tools at Home Depot, and my personal favorite: building a chicken coop.

My new work uniform — after a very muddy 40-degree day at the coop

Yes, I’ve become quite handy, or at least less unskilled than I was before, and deeply immersed in the foreign and semi-intimidating world of agriculture. And I think I like it! I mean, not enough to, like, live on a farm, but enough to sustain 2 years of grad school fun.

In the midst of all my new-found manual labor jobs, I can be found studying, cooking, baking, or working at my other favorite job as a cake decorator at Honeymoon Bakery. I’ve worked very part time at the bakery for over a year-and-a-half now, and I absolutely love it. The atmosphere, the business, the sheer volume of cakes going out the door, all inspire me to keep learning, growing, asking questions, and of course, sampling new products. If you ever find yourself in Rome, Georgia, make sure to take a walk down Broad street and stop in—I recommend literally everything on the menu. Here’s some of my work:

My last involvement for this semester is hanging out with the Berry Golf team. I’m so grateful for an extra year with them! Berry golf is my family, and there’s no one else I’d rather drive to campus for 7am workouts. With all of my day jobs, it’s hard to get out to the course to play or practice, but I’m fortunate enough to volunteer coach (AKA deliver snacks to the team and offer moral support) and play with them when I can.

March 2021 — The girls team in Savannah!

There you have it! A brief rundown of my life in a blog post. Let me know about your cake needs - filling orders is my mental break from studying corporate finance and swinging a hammer at the chicken coop!

Talk soon,

jorie