Meet Tunde Dugantsi

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tunde Dugantsi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tunde, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I found something I enjoyed doing: gingerbread art. I did tons of research about recipes and techniques, practiced countless hours to improve my skills. I started sharing my work with the world. I got a lot of positive feedback.

Pretty soon I got requests from others to teach classes. Seeing my students succeed gives me confidence. Being able to add value to other people’s life is definitely helping with confidence and self esteem.

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?

Gingerbread is an ancient tradition that is still flourishing in many European countries. I combine the old traditions of my native country with modern techniques to create beautiful edible art pieces. I share my art in my cookie decorating books, Youtube videos, live and online classes and my Saveur Blog Award Finalist blog. I live in Bowling Green, Kentucky with my husband and three children.

My decorating journey started in 2012 with a set of Christmas cookies we made with my kids. It was so much fun, that I never stopped decorating ever since. First, I started to share my work on social media, then soon, I published my first books and in a year, I got the first request to teach a class. The rest is history.

The best thing about my journey is my cookie friends! The wonderful cookie community where we all get support, encouragement and new friendships.

I teach in person classes in my studio and my Club Cookie Academy offers 150+ online classes to those who can not come to Kentucky.

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

I am creative – a necessary quality for artists.

I have a heart of a teacher. I have been teaching people all my life without even thinking about being a teacher. (Tutoring my peers in my early teens, making money as a French tutor in my college years, teaching college classes later.) Becoming a decorating instructor was just a natural transition for me.

I am hard working and open minded. When you build your own unique business, you have to work hard and be open to every opportunity that comes you way. Grabbing unexpected new opportunities might boost your business.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am always looking for partners to collaborate with. It’s part of being open to new opportunities. I believe life is more fun if we try different things and get to know different people.

I like to collaborate with other artists (combine our work to create something beautiful). I collaborate with other instructors (related to my work). And I am open to any idea that can bring value to both of our works.

They can connect through my website or social media.

I don’t do any promoting for money. When someone wants to sell goods or services through me I most likely decline. I don’t consider it collaboration.

Contact Info:

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