Shumaila’s journey from hobbyist baker to taking a leap by quitting a corporate job and turning into a full time professional Baker has been an adventurous, sweet and also an inspirational one for her and many who have seen her grow her brand with aplomb! It can certainly give hope to many passionate bakers who are trying their hand in the baking industry. Her Baking brand building journey is a story of passion, grit, entrepreneurship, drive and artistic skills which brings joy to all those who get to experience her talented baking. A feature by columnist Riccha Grrover for Asian Lite International.
Shumaila, originally as she describes herself as “a small-town girl with big dreams and determination”, hails from Bokaro Steel City in Jharkhand in India. Despite being from a small-town, she has always had a drive to be independent and contribute to her family, she reminisces.
Shumaila completed her MBA from Dehradun and dived into the corporate world back in the day. However, baking remained close to her heart and provided solace amidst the pressures of corporate life. It was during her three-year stint in Japan that she found herself captivated by Japanese cuisine and decided to pursue baking as a profession. Her first cake in Japan, made for a friend’s daughter, marked the beginning of her extraordinary journey couple of years ago and she’s not looked back since.
It was in 2017, after returning from Japan, Shumaila took a leap of faith and founded her brand “Baking Affairs by Shumaila.” From thereon, there was no looking back! The “smiles and joy on people’s faces” when they see her artistic cake creations fuel her determination to work harder each day, she says. According to Shumaila “passion is key when it comes to finding one’s purpose in life”. The ability to explore and express creatively while bringing joy and smiles to people’s faces makes her baking venture a fulfilling endeavour for her.
Shumaila particularly enjoys working with fondants and creating different textures and patterns in her designs, often bespoke to her clients briefs. Through fondant, she creates intricate patterns and textures on her cakes as per themes given to her, and by using techniques like embossing, ruffling, quilling, stencilling, and sculpting she does her cake creating magic. These techniques allow her to elevate her exquisite cake designs. Working with fondants adds visual interest and sophistication to her artistic creations. Shumaila’s fondant expertise is truly an admirable aspect of her successful baking career, most of her clients have given her this feedback she says which keeps her encouraged.
Shumaila spends time with her clients to get her briefs robustly and ensures she caters for her clients wish lists and gives detailed flair to her orders so her clients are wowed each time and this has given her a lot of word of mouth acclaim and business leads as an entrepreneur baker and she believes good quality and skill and customer service to a long way in brand building and she takes her client relationships very seriously with time and focus thanks to her remarkable interpersonal skills that evoke trust. The quality of ingredients is excellent and presentation is extraordinary. No order is too big or small for this brand and the delivery is done meticulously…if you want to wow your guests and loved ones with cakes and bakes then look no further! Highly Recommended!
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