You open a door and a wave of heat hits your face along with the sweet scent of muffins and cookies filling your nose. It's a bakery and people of all ages are in there. Some are just chilling while others are chatting it up in the back. See, I've got an interest in opening a bakery because I love baking and pastry making. And i want to share that with the world. Food has a certain magic to it, one that can turn anyones day around as long as its the right kind for the right situation. I've had friends who would come into the cafeteria stressed out or sad about something that had happened prior in the day. A quick slice of banana bread I had made would be enough to turn that frown upside down. A nasty teacher who is always looking for a reason to get people in trouble, bribe them with food and you'll forever be on their good side. Pastries can sway emotions and I want to spread that sort of good will to others. Now i don't simply want to open a bakery. I want it to be a place where others in the community can rest. Someplace that they can just forget about the struggles of everyday life. Someone can come in, take a seat, and just vibe. No responsibilities as long as you're inside and you can help yourself to as much food as your wallet can handle. You wouldn't be alone either, if you wanted to you'd be able to strike up a conversation wifh myself, any employee or another customer and chat about anything. Pop a seat and make new friends here at the bakery. Take some home and brag to your coworkers the next day. Share some with your family at home. Because the community doesn't end there, the community I make is where all the food ends up going. The overall message i wish to send is to make the world a happier place and add more positivity into a world that's currently drowned in negativity. Even if i can't change the entire world then I hope to at least change the people near me and set up a chain where those impacted by me can change those near them. I know food has that power and I am determined to make it known to everyone else as well.

When i was growing up I always was surrounded by food. Being from Honduran descent meant that flour tortillas and refried beans would always be up for dinner and as per stereotypes I lived in one. My aunt, uncle, grandfather and grandmother lived with my mother and my father in a cheap 2 bedroom apartment in Virginia. In order to pay the rent the men did construction work and the women always stayed at home. But this doesn't mean they lounged around and did nothing. No, my grandmother babysat my friends while their parents woked while my mother and aunt worked by cleaning houses with friends from church. But as the day went by the tiny apartment began to transform. Towards 5 pm the ladies would get to work, whipping up a storm of food and heating the house up to crazy degrees. They had 2 hours to prepare food and open up their little restaurant in the kitchen, complete with set dining tables and Styrofoam boxes for to-go orders. I would always watch them with wonder as to how they would get so much food ready with such a small kitchen and they would always kick me out because they would worry I'd get hurt in there. When all the cooking was done I would eat dinner with the patrons and hear about their days and how the dinner they were given made the day so much better. Ever since then I found myself connected to food and wanting to recreate that feeling my famliy gave others. But for a majority of my life my closer family, my mother and my siblings, were hit with especially hard times. A deadbeat father for my siblings, my extended family slowly becoming more hostile towards us for no visible reasons and financial problems galore. For years we would live off of child support and move constantly. Things finally began to turn around my junior year of high school. I had hit a major depression for the last four years and felt that junior year would be no different. But at that point i had already done 2 years of culinary arts just for the free food. But my teacher recommended me for the entrepreneurship class and so I took it. The first semester taught me of the laws behind opening your own business but it was the second half that captured me. The students ran the school bakery for the teachers every friday morning. At first it was difficult, having to wake up at 5 am every friday but once i became used to it I loved the feeling of making the pastries and selling them to the teachers. It reminded me of the feeling I had forgotten so long ago. I was inspired to open my own bakery then and I'm pursuing that goal at Kendall College so i can give others that feeling my family used to give when they sold their food.