We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Camille Durr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Camille, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
For the first two years of running my business I didn’t feel like I was doing enough. I questioned myself by holding myself to impossible standards, my inability to say no to requests I knew I shouldn’t take on at the time, and failing many times at things I thought should be easy but weren’t. I thought that I was Superwoman and I could do it all but I quickly came to learn I couldn’t and that’s when the Imposter Syndrome set in. I had to learn that my definition of “perfect” was good enough. That I am only one person and can only take on so much in order to keep pushing out quality products I am proud of. Most importantly though, I learned that each failed recipe was a growing pain for more knowledge to be learned. I lost a lot of confidence in the beginning by feeling like I wasn’t doing enough or I wasn’t good enough but what I came to learn was by setting boundaries with customers, asking for help and advice by more experienced chefs, and just becoming overall more confident in my work I was able to continue to grow into the chef I am today.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hi! I am Camille of Camille’s Catering. I have always had a passion for cooking since I was tall enough to see over the counter. I knew one day I would be doing this for the rest of my life and sure enough I was right. I started my Journey in highschool at South Tech in the culinary program where my teachers saw a lot of promise in me and helped open doors in my life that would eventually lead me to where I am today. After graduation I started in the industry on food trucks and also got into fine dining where I picked up my love for pastries. It wasn’t necessarily a love for pastries persay but it was the want to be the most well rounded chef in the kitchen. I have a huge passion for both savory and sweets. My full-time job as a chef satisfied my savory side but something always felt like it was missing by not mastering the sweet side. I started by seeking other pastry chefs in Saint Louis and trying to get involved with the restaurants I was in pastry programs. I was really young at the time and I don’t think i was taken seriously for a while until I came to Louie, the restaurant I am still at today and you can experience some of my cookie recipes and dessert specials. Anyways, as I started to get into it more and more, I started to gain a following. What really set off my little passion project into a business was my love for pies. Something about how simple and homey a pie could be just made me want to learn how to perfect it. It took me two years to figure out my perfect pie crust and I still learn everyday on how to make it better. Thanksgiving is my biggest holiday because of this but I also do wedding cakes, themed dessert bars, and make some mean cookies as well as other custom desserts!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I learned many things on my journey that helped me along my way. The most important one is you can’t be everything for everyone all at once. In the beginning I spread myself too thin and the quality of my products I felt suffered from that. This leads me to the second big skill I learned which was time management. I learned how to do the administrative side of business better from book keeping to customer inquiries as well as get the prep I needed done and finish products in a timely manner. The last big thing I learned was persistence and consistency. Never give up even when you feel like you are failing. With repetition comes mastery. If you keep at a certain skill like say getting the perfect crust on a pie or smooth buttercream on a cake you will slowly but surely figure out how to do it better and faster. Don’t let the growing pains hinder your ability to learn and affect your self-confidence.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
This is something I feel needs to be addressed. As someone who deals with Anxiety, this is something I have actively had to work on the last three years specifically since turning my passion project into a successful business. The first year, in 2020, it seemed overnight I had become very popular and took on too much. I started suffering from Anxiety attacks almost daily for a few months there and the pressures of the Pandemic definitely didn’t help the feelings of being overwhelmed constantly. I finally learned some techniques to help me get through the hard days. One big one is walking away from projects that are frustrating you to clear your head and comeback to it refocused. Cakes fall on the ground, macarons don’t set up right, and things burn in the oven. It’s all a part of the process. These things used to eat me alive but as I managed my time better and learned what I could and couldn’t take on in a certain time period these things became less of a big deal because I had time to recover and step away before I got into my head about hitting a deadline. Planning my prep days for big catering events days in advance really allows me to put my best foot forward and if something goes wrong, which is bound to happen every once in awhile, you have time to step back, remember who you are and what you are doing this for, and come back better than before.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @camillescateringstl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camillescateringstl?mibextid=LQQJ4d
