Two years and bags upon bags of sugar ago, Kim Sutherland decided to leave her lucrative high-tech career and pursue her dream in pastry. It’s been a soul-searching journey, one that involves “working for minimum wage as the business grows and standing on [her] feet sometimes 15 hours at a time,” but she couldn’t be happier.

So, without further adieu, let’s cut the cake and get down to business! Here’s Kim’s story on this wonderful Tell All Tuesday! (Pssst: Pass the milk!)

A New Career for Christmas!
The best present Iʼve ever received was an application packet to culinary school. Yes, you heard me right. My ever supportive husband had suffered my moaning about how little satisfaction I was getting out of my job of 14 years for just a bit too long. While I really enjoyed the people, and the company, I had begun to feel like I had lost my drive and passion. The thing that did make me happy was the baking and cake decorating I was doing on the side. Truth be told, I had been “doing cakes on the side” since I was 9 years old. Every time I delivered a cake someone would say, “Wow, why donʼt you do this full time?” My answer was always “Oh sure, like that would be realistic. I have a great job.” And honestly I did, but over time I began to admit that I just wasnʼt happy anymore.

Going for it!
So with the support of friends and family behind me, I decided to go for it. I mean whatʼs not motivating about “If not now, when? Youʼre not getting any younger!” I began researching the different schools and narrowed it down to the Culinary Institute of America (the Harvard of Culinary schools) and The Professional Culinary Institute (now The French Culinary Institute). In the beginning I thought it would be CIA all the way but after researching the curriculum, chef instructors and knowing I wanted to build a business near home, I chose the local program at PCI. I couldnʼt have been happier with my decision and it has turned out to be the best thing I could have done for business. So here I am, almost 2 years later, a Pastry Chef! I still have to pinch myself. Short of the 3-4 am wake ups and the occasional struggle with 50 lb. bags of flour, I am honestly living a dream. For anyone thinking about making a change these are a few things Iʼve learned in my adventure…

Follow Your Passion … to the end of the Rainbow
I am one of those who has always believed that if you follow your passion you will be successful. Success can mean different things at different points in your life. In the beginning success for me meant a good salary, a stable job and then the rise up the proverbial ladder. Success today is something very different. It is the the feel of a perfect batter, watching a customerʼs head roll back as they let out an involuntary sigh, and best of all the squeal of a happy birthday girl as she says, “That is exactly what I wanted! ” I have the temporary privilege of working for minimum wage as the business grows. It means being at work at ridiculous hours in the morning. It means standing on my feet sometimes 15 hours at a time. It means making 20 pounds of cream cheese icing at a time, but whatʼs not to like about that? The paychecks are definitely smaller but Iʼm happier than Iʼve ever been. Sure it was a tough decision but I havenʼt regretted it once. As I contemplated making this change a very wise friend gave me some good advice:

“Make sure you are running to something and not running away from something. Donʼt leave your current job because you hate your boss. Leave because you are being drawn to something more.”

Build Your Support System
I would not have been brave enough to do this without the support of my friends, and family. They helped confirm I had what it takes. In the process of making the decision I also began to build a support system around this new career. I researched associations, joined cake clubs, went to a cake convention (yes, believe it or not there really are cake conventions!). I began taking “official” orders and even found a part-time job. In turn this began to create a new circle of mentors I could turn to to answer questions about the reality of this decision. How would it impact me, my family, my income, my life. Maybe most important it helped answer the question of whether this passion should remain a hobby vs. becoming a new career. Baking and decorating brings me a lot of joy and I had to know that making this step would not take away the fun it brought as a hobby. Like anything that is “work” there is stress involved in what I do now. Itʼs not all warm and fuzzy but it is still fun and is a challenge that makes me feel alive.

Give Back
Itʼs a win-win proposition. Once youʼve made the change donʼt stop building on your network. As you grow, commit to giving back to those who gave to you or give to those who are coming up behind you. Offer to teach what youʼve learned. It will not only help solidify what youʼve learned, but you will probably learn something new in the process. So yes, I left the comfortable corporate job with the steady dependable income for 3 am wake ups, 15 hour days and back breaking work but I wouldnʼt trade any of it for a minute…except maybe to have made the decision with a slightly younger body.

My quote for the day:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”  ~Howard Thurman

About Kim
Kim Sutherland feels her life path has come full circle moving from age 9 as an entrepreneurial cake decorating babysitter, to age 20 as a Sports Physical Therapist, to age 30 as a Health and Safety Program Manager at Apple and now at age 40-something…a Pastry Chef. Life is short, eat dessert first and take a BIG bite out of life!!

Share Your Story
As Katherine Center so eloquently puts it, “you have to be brave with your life, so that others can be brave with theirs.” Have you reinvented yourself in some way or are you owning your life and rediscovering what makes your heart sing? If yes, share your story and inspire others! Shoot me an email with your story at owningkristina@gmail.com.