Meet Kimberly Wallis-Licht

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kimberly Wallis-Licht a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kimberly, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I am a creative at heart. I have been a performer for as long as I can remember and ave been acting since childhood. When Covid shut everything down and auditions halted for a while, I needed a creative outlet. I began baking for fun and one day my son asked me if we could try making challah. I started playing with different recipes until I found what worked. I began following different bakers on line and getting new and unique ideas for flavors and fillings. I keep the creativity alive by continung to seek out new ideas for my challahs. I even ask my customers what they would like to see on my menu. It’s a fun way to experiment while also engaging with my customers. They love being involved!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I really enjoy making people happy. No one comes to pick up a freshly baked, made to order challah without a smile on their face! That is the best part of my job. Initially I was only baking for family. Over time, the word spread and I began to get local orders, then I shipped out of state to a few customers, and now I am involved in a number of local marketing groups. I also sell at a few small farmers markets, I bake for bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, birthdays, and, still, for a few diehard regular customers as well. I happen to loathe cooking, but baking is a whole other animal. I like the precision of it yet it allows for creativity too. My menu is always expanding and I now bake over 30 varieties of both sweet and savory challahs.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think what has been most impactful on my journey has been my willingness to be nervous about starting something new but not let that feeling stop me from trying. I am a firm believer in allowing myself to feel uncomfortable and pushing through anyway. My dad, Bob Wallis, instilled that ethic in me. What cemented that value for me was a book called “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway” by Susan Jeffers. It came at a time in my life when I was paralyzed by fear. I try to teach my children the same thing. That it is okay to be fearful but don’t let it keep you from trying new things. My husband, Jeremy, has also been a huge support and simply said “Try it for a week and if you don’t like it, then stop”. After that first week of sales, I was hooked! Here we are now, three years later.