Meet Keri Lijinsky

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keri Lijinsky. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keri below.

Hi Keri, 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.

It took me a long time to find my feet professionally, partially because I have always ended up in fields where I’ve been surrounded by people with loads of degrees or experience in that area. I spent the first half of my professional life working for WHO where everyone was a medical doctor. I then went to USAID (RIP) where I was surrounded by more medical doctors and public health professionals. My degrees were in political science, French, and public administration, so I was the best person to manage spreadsheets, donor reporting, and projects at a high level, but I always felt curious about the technical stuff and I couldn’t quite gain access to that side of the work. At least, I didn’t feel confident that I could do it…

When I started Sweet Crimes, I again found myself among people who had worked in kitchens or gone to culinary school, I didn’t know the first thing about any of it (FIFO, what?)! I taught myself how to decorate cakes and, of course, I could make all of my own recipes, but I think what turned things around for me psychologically was that I 1) developed my own proprietary gluten free flour blends, which immediately impressed even the most experienced chefs, and 2) chose to embark on a niche field of baking that most bakers don’t know much about, which leveled the playing field. I know a lot about the science of gluten free baking and I know my ingredients like the back of my hand, so I can pull together a (delicious) new recipe in one shot most of the time. We’re branded as a test kitchen because I love experimenting and the professionals I hire who choose to stay here enjoy that, too. They respect my knowledge and I respect theirs. I’m constantly learning from my bakers and it’s like having lightbulbs turning on all the time – mind blown!

In addition to the recipes and baking, given my background in public administration, I’ve also proven to myself that, even without a business degree, I run a pretty great operation. Management is hard and for years I was neither good at it, nor enjoyed it. I have learned from every experience and every mistake, and in turn I have become a good manager. It’s very empowering. I spend a lot of my time coaching my mid-level managers on leadership and management, which I also really enjoy. I’m now grateful for the generalist degree that I got in public administration because I use these skills constantly. I truly feel that I’ve found my feet.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a self-taught cake designer and learn-as-you-go business owner. I baked a little as a child and was always very creative, but my passion growing up was travel and I ended up spending the first half of my career overseas working for the UN. How did I end up in food service? At the age of 32, when I was living in the Philippines, I discovered I was gluten intolerant (finally my life-long ailments had a diagnosis!).

I returned home to the DC area to educate myself about gluten and how to maintain a gluten- and casein-free diet. I wound up at an incubator kitchen experimenting with recipes and learning about food service. It was there that I created the Sweet Crimes Pastry Flour Blend and I found my new passion and public service project – developing delicious gluten-free baked products that taste just like you remember. We make everything in-house down to the flour blends. I love street art, which is why my branding is bright in color with a graffiti theme.

After three years in our Capitol Hill brick and mortar, we’re hoping to expand our catering and events side of the business. We’ve hosted some cookie and cake decorating classes this year and hope to host a gingerbread house competition this winter! We also have a lovely patio and upstairs space that we continue to build out and improve so we can host private events.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My first piece of advice is to just get started. Don’t spend three years developing your business plan. Just start and circle back to it. You may spend a ton of time on a plan based on assumptions that are wrong! I never anticipated having a brick and mortar because I assumed that gluten free customers would want to find my products in existing locations (stores, coffeeshops) near them, or that they would want to buy my dry mixes and make stuff at home. It turns out that wholesaling to retailers doesn’t work well for my products, which have a limited shelf-life and need to be stored in a certain way, and that most customers don’t want to do the baking at home. I think having a brick and mortar also makes those with celiac feel safe because this is a dedicated location.

Put yourself out there and get advice from the community. Participating in farmers markets was invaluable for testing new products and getting feedback.

Hire people who are dedicated to your brand whether they have experience or not. Skills can be taught, but an emotional connection to you and your product is not something that can be learned from reading a handbook.

Stick it out. Building a business is really hard and requires great sacrifice. Sometimes the only way to success is to hang in there and persevere. This isn’t always possible, of course, but be flexible with your business model and be willing to pivot if all signs point you in a slightly different direction.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Honestly, my family would like to leave DC and experience life elsewhere. I don’t want to close the shop and I would like to open a location and manufacturing facility wherever we decide to go. The endless setbacks (staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge, being robbed three times, extreme price increases, etc.) are what’s keeping us here. I’m trying to train (and retain) staff to be the managers and event coordinators they need to be so that I can embark on the next project. I’m also ramping up catering, events, and wholesaling the dry mixes to establish streams of steady revenue that are less impacted by market fluctuations so that we’re not so dependent on storefront sales (and my physical presence).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sweetcrimes.com
• Instagram: @eatsweetcrimesgf
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatsweetcrimes/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-crimes-washington-5