We were lucky to catch up with Susana Sordo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Susana, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
By working on different themes, colors and techniques through the desserts I make.
I work on custom orders so usually my clients ask for designs that have been previously made and they found browsing on Internet. Sometimes they are very specific about designs and want that their order to look exactly the same as the pictures they sent or, on the other hand, they trust my creativity and just ask for some details or a color scheme to follow.
I enjoy a lot more when people give me that freedom because those are the opportunities to keep creativity alive. I always put all the passion into thinking what the person I’m making that cake or cookies for is going to like, what is going to give that person the joy I want to give people through my work!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a 39 year old Mexican woman, wife, mom of two girls and a boy who moved to Orlando, FL on January 2012 with my husband following him and his job to stablish our family in this country. We are the owners of Sweet Basket, Artisan Bakery and I am the main baker and artist behind the custom desserts we sell. My husband bakes bread and Liége waffles occasionally.
Looking back on time I can say I was a little scared and insecure about the moving because changes always make me nervous, is not that easy to take myself out of my comfort zone.
The first moths I didn’t want to leave my house, I was afraid to talk to people because I wasn’t confident speaking English and sometimes I couldn’t understand what people were saying. Even though I studied English almost all my life in Mexico it wasn’t the same and my introvert personality was playing against me!
I got pregnant with my first daughter right after moving so the pregnancy gave me a new vision, a new path and of course it was another huge change in my life! When my daughter was born everything changed! She made me feel AMAZING! Giving birth was the most empowered experience of my life. I think it had to do with the great labor and delivery I had and how smooth it was for me to become a mom. So after that I felt more confident than ever and my new life in my new home and country was feeling incredible!
My baking journey started when she turned 1 year old. I wanted to make a nice decorated cake for her and I knew my artistic and cooking skills so I thought I could make it. It wasn’t that easy as I thought and it didn’t turn out as I was expecting but I was satisfied and proud of myself.
For her second birthday I went for something new and the key that opened what a few years after would be my business, occupation and passion: Sweet Basket, Artisan Bakery. I made decorated cookies for the first time, it was definitely a challenge and took me hours and hours of work but the result was pretty good!
Little by little I was making cookies in every chance I had, friends baby showers, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas… And people started asking if I could make them for their events and suggesting I should sell them. That was when I started selling them and occasionally I made the same with cakes, specially my Tres Leches recipe which was calling everyone’s attention.
In November 2018 there was an event in my neighborhood, where all small business owners in the community could promote and sell their products. That was my first formal appearance as a business owner, my husband helped me to give our business a name (yes, we’re together in this, without all his support my fears might had stopped me from going further) we also created a logo and opened our social media accounts. My kids were also there with me all the time helping to sell and excited with the idea of having our own family business.
After that I gained new customers or at least new people in the neighborhood had my business in mind with the convenience of being nearby.
I took advantage of some holidays like Easter, 4th of July and also just random days to make complimentary treats, leave them by my door and advertise this in the neighborhood’s Facebook group so people could come and grab them. This kind of things worked quite well most of the time and were another door that opened to bring more clients.
The next and most important period in the development of my business was the pandemic! Once again the power of a supporting community gave me more and more new customers from the neighborhood that were in need of baking goods for their loved ones’ birthdays, anniversaries, or any special occasions that to have something tasty and nice looking to bring some joy without exposing their families to Covid. I’m still completely grateful and appreciative for all the support and trust I received in that sensible period of time! That was a game changer for me and left me a lot of joy and satisfaction.
Nowadays I keep most of my customers from that neighborhood even though I moved almost two years ago and keep getting new ones through word of mouth from different areas in the city.
We would love to expand our business through the baking products that are not custom made so we can be able to make a serial production. I love the artistic side of custom orders but the idea of growing my business in a different way is always exciting.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I would say the most important quality that helped me get through where I am today is perseverance! I can be very stubborn in a way that I should keep trying what I really want to achieve before leaving it behind and that’s exactly what happened when I started decorating cookies and cakes. It took me a lot of time and mistakes but practice makes the difference.
The love for plastic arts has always been with me, that is another skill that has helped me to grow my business. I’m good at drawing, painting, modeling materials have always been easy for me.
Finally, I’m passionate about what I do and enjoy giving positiveness to people, this makes my job a pleasure.
My advice to folks that are early in their journey would be to persevere and practice their skills, there’s nothing better than put them in practice and see improvements everyday.
I’m a perfectionist but I’ve learned that sometimes other people don’t look things the way I do, something that could look bad for me it could look great for others that are not so severe judges as I am with what I do. So don’t be afraid to show or sell what you’re doing just because you think it’s not good enough!
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
The challenge is and has always been time! I think all the people can relate to this. We want to do a lot of things in our lives, reach our professional goals, take care of our selves, spend time with our loved ones, have enough rest… but our days need more hours!
Sometimes I end up feeling guilty specially for taking time from my family to give it to work. I’m trying every day to be more organized and give just the right amount of time to work.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: SweetBasketUSA
- Facebook: SweetBasketUSA
Image Credits
All images were taken by me or my husband.
