Age: 25
Five years ago, when Christie was studying communication design at the Glasgow School of Art she would have never believed that just three and a half short years later, she would be working full-time in her own business acting as owner, cake designer and baker.
“I fell into baking by accident. I have a big family so I always baked cakes for birthdays and school bake sales, but never took it very seriously. As time went on I continued baking and started challenging myself creatively and it just grew arms and legs from there.”
Through her baking, Christie became passionate about the world of food and drink and used this as inspiration while studying a creative course at Glasgow School of Art.
“In my final year I based a lot of my work around cookbooks, celebrity chefs and food and drink design – I even went as far to write my dissertation on ‘The Cookbook’. I think a lot of
people thought I was a bit obsessed!”
After graduating, Christie started working part-time at a small drinks start-up company and continued baking on the side.
“Around Christmas time last year, they were looking to increase my hours, but my side business had really grown over the last few months. I decided to take a leap of faith and put all of my efforts into my cake business and I’ve never looked back!
“I don’t think I’ve ever get tired of meeting customers and seeing the look on their face when they see their cake for the first time. I make unique and personalised cakes so it can be very time consuming but that look makes it worthwhile.”
With the rise of social media and with people sharing information, videos and images online, Christie believes that the world of food and drink has become even more accessible for young people.
“I spend endless hours online, watching food programmes, scrolling though food bloggers and celebrity chef’s Instagram feeds looking for new ideas. This has made me realise just how extensive the industry is – there are a million and one areas where you can dip your toe in with so many training and career opportunities to suit everyone.
“Nowadays a ‘career for life’ is pretty rare but starting a business myself has really given me that drive to succeed. This last year has been tough – it’s unpredictable, it’s involved a lot of long days, it’s stressful but it’s so worthwhile. I am so happy and proud of myself that I’ve made it this far.”
As a young entrepreneur, Christie’s main #ScotFoodGoals are to continue working hard and complete the first full year in Cake Days a Week.
“I know I need to pace myself and make sure I fully understand this industry as my business grows. Over the next year or so I’m going to have to look at employing people too which is really exciting.
“I’m also hoping to develop a new cake product and maybe one day look at competing in cake competitions.”
For the industry’s #ScotFoodGoals, Christie hopes that Scotland Food & Drink will continue supporting young enterprises and continue to give them the help and advice that they need to grow in the amazing industry.
