Graduate’s Story | From Class to Bakery
Dany, a SYB graduate whose parents are from Hunan Province, jokingly says she grew up in the business. Her baking career began with her parents’ work; but her interest in baking, SYB’s teaching and her ability to do it all adds to her current job as a bakery store owner.
“Mom and dad have been in the business a long time; they used to run a store. I’ve been around baking since I was a kid, and I’ve been doing it for a long time — I didn’t really like it at first. It’s a career that just shoud be continued, just like any other parent’s.”
This was Dany’s answer, half joking, half serious, about why she wanted to bake. Although she wasn’t a big fan of it as a child — she became increasingly interested in baking from working with her parents, and from learning at SYB as well.
During the one year of internship and studying, not only did the student’s interests and knowledge of French baking increase, Dany also had many thoughts and feelings about her experience in Syb. She and I talked about everything from her love of pastries to courses she found interesing; such as the time they went to visit the company, Lesaffre. She has benefited enormously from a number of other general courses as well.
“The course and its tasks may seem a bit daunting at first, and you may not know how it works; but if you listen to, and ask the teachers about things you don’t understand, you’ll most definitely learn a lot from their explanations and presentations. My brother studies at SYB too; he’s actually a student this year. I’ve been to their classes, helping with the teaching. They have more to say and more questions to ask than I used to, which is pretty nice. ”
After graduating from Shanghai Young Bakers, Dany now runs a bakery back home.
“It’s a bit calmer there, unlike a big city. Most shops open at 8 and closes at 17, with a few outliers closing at midnight; in the afternoon and in the morning there’s quite a few customers, but in the morning it’s rather slow; quite unlike a city in that aspect as well. ”
“Being calm here is quite nice, ” she continued after describing her life there. “It’s not about the decor or luxury. It’s just about opening a shop. ”
When discussing the difficulties of opening her store, Dany said with a laugh that there had been no large turbulences, but there were plenty of things to take care of. Her parents helped her a lot, she says, but now that she’s the sole owner of the store, there are many things she has to choose and decide by herself.
“SYB gave me the courage to open my store, ha ha — before I took the SYB course, I might have thought… I don’t know how to do this, but my course at Syb and my internship there gave me a lot of needed experience.”
After a second of silence, Dany continues: “To tell you the truth, I have a lotta sentiment for SYB. I stayed here for more than a year, and got along well with my classmates; but now we’ve all gone our separate ways, and it’s very difficult for us to get together again. So I have to give my thanks to Shanghai Young Bakers for not only the experience you gave me, but for the memories as well.”
