I've never been the best at fitting in, and I've always had a hard time with communicating with others, but I have found that there is an unspoken language to baking. Everyone loves baked goods, and it brings me so much joy when someone tries something of mine and they love it. For instance, my dads Turkish friend brought his family to our house so we could meet them. Neither his sister, dad, nor mom knew how to speak any English. It was nice seeing their faces light up when they tried my apple pie. It was a small moment, which might seem to others as unworthy of recognition, however, to me it meant everything. It was as though we could speak a common language. Not only do I enjoy the process of baking, but especially the finished product when I get to bring joy to others. When I was little, my favorite toy was an “Easy Bake oven”. I know that an Easy Bake Oven is nothing compared to actual baking, however, there was a certain experience that came with it that brought me so much joy. The science behind it fascinated me, and it still does. How you could mix a powdery ingredient with a liquid one, apply heat, and it would take a new form as a solid shape. Sometimes recipes are tedious, or they don't come out as you expected, but even if I mess up, I still enjoy the process of learning and correcting my mistakes to create better outcomes. For me, baking is a form of stress relief. If I'm having a bad day, all I want to do is make a batch of cookies, and watch a movie. This is why it would be a dream to own a cozy little cafe in a cute town, maybe in Italy, and make baked goods for a living. I don't think I would ever get tired of it. I love how unique baking is. It's a lot different from cooking in the sense that baking requires precise measurements, and the result is most often than not going to be sweet. Which is great for my sweet tooth. Whereas with cooking, it's more savory, which just isn't as fun and experimental to me. I am incredibly grateful to have been blessed with being born into a family that loves eating baked goods as much as I love making them.

Ever since I can remember, food has always been an important aspect of my life. When I was about four years old, my favorite toy was an “Easy Bake Oven”. It’s silly, I know, but there was a certain level of joy that it gave me when I could see the finished product. Nowadays I know how unhealthy that toy really was, but when you're a kid, you don't care about that kind of thing, all you care about is the experience that comes with it, and I absolutely loved that experience. I had never really realized just how much I loved it until later in life. When I was fifteen years old, I realized I had developed a bit of an allergy to dairy. It reminds me of the saying, “you don't know what you have till it's gone”. Cutting dairy out of my diet was one of the most difficult things I have done in my life. Not to mention, It is quite inconvenient to live with. I am constantly having to analyze labels on food packages, and be that person that has to annoyingly ask waiters if there's anything dairy free on their menu’s. However, looking at it from afar, I realize how much it has helped me build an incredible sense of self discipline. It has also helped me gain more excitement about food in general. I am now incredibly fascinated by food, and all the possibilities of flavors, combinations, and substitutes. My love for food inspired me so much that I decided to develop an app with my older brother called, “shrimpbiscuit.com”, the app allows people to easily post their recipes and even rate other’s. It is still small, as I am not very good at marketing, however it has helped me to further express my love for food in a way that is visible to others. My future career goals include being a personal chef, and traveling. I would love to find a job where I could do both at the same time. I love traveling to different countries and seeing other cultures, and one thing that all cultures have in common is a love for food. I believe that food is a unique form of communication that connects people in a way that no spoken language ever could, as it is a communication shared through experience. It is that connection that gives me a sense of purpose, and without it, I wouldn't know what to do with my life.