Introducing:
Sarah
Jack-of-all-trades / Bookkeeper in-training. Voted “Most likely to reference The Office.”
“I’m inspired to keep going at Bread by Us in honour of all the matriarchs of my family who didn’t have the same chances I do.”
On How She Got Here
Sarah is an Afro-Arab guest residing in the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg people.
Food and culinary tradition has always been an important part of Sarah’s life and identity, but she was surprised and delighted that she had the chops to pursue a career in food and food service professionally. Sarah’s academic background is in health sciences and social sciences, but like so many people going through higher education, her real passion for procrasti-baking really started to flourish while finishing her studies.
After about a year of baking custom cakes from home with Jess, she felt confident that together, the two would make a great team in a professional environment.
On Roles
Sarah has worked in every role at BBU at one point or another. From customer service, to baking to food prep to management, and administration. Her role in the last two years has been in bookkeeping and administration, but Sarah still shines creatively with product & menu development, and plays an active role in hiring and recruitment.
On Life Outside of BBU
Sarah loves to bake and cook at home. She loves to take her time, and feel free from the worry of deadlines, mistakes, and financial pressure. Sarah’s hands are always busy; she knits, crochets, and embroiders. Her cat has more blankets than she will ever need. She is also a ceramicist with a humble home studio and a artistic side project called Seen Artisan.
Sarah also has over 50 houseplants that she cares for and talks to. Most of them are named after her favourite Office characters. Her oldest cactus, Stanley, has provided her with dozens of cactus babies over the years. She is known in the bakery as the plant whisperer as she can troubleshoot almost any plant-related problem.
On Leadership
When asked who her favourite fictional leader is, Sarah responded:
“Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise and the USS Discovery (I’m officially demanding that you watch Star Trek: Discovery, and specifically season 2). He places importance on building trust between him and his team. When he takes command of the Discovery, he quickly addressed his new crew’s understandable apprehension in trusting their new captain by demonstrating vulnerability. He readily shares about his weakness and past failures to build trust.
He’s humble enough to admit when he’s wrong, yields command to better suited crew members when necessary, and owns up to mistakes when his ego causes miscalculated decisions or misdirected anger.
He always makes space for his crew to have free thought and creativity, trusting that their expertise will equip each of them to make good judgements. He does this by embedding himself into his team rather than placing himself above them as the highest-ranking officer, all the while not abandoning his responsibility towards them while maintaining his sense of humor and approachability.”
Yes, Sarah is extremely passionate about Star Trek.
On Hope
Sarah’s hopes for the future of BBU are multi-faceted. She hopes to introduce the richness of the food and drinks from her own cultural background. She believes in the power of sharing one’s culinary heritage as a means to get to know one another and ourselves.
Sarah is proud and humbled by the way the bakery has grown into something beyond her expectations. She feels eager to pay it all forward. She hopes to find more ways to serve the community, especially Indigenous people, women of colour and the 2SLGBTQ+ community.