We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniela Zographos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniela below.
Hi Daniela, 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.
Imposter Syndrome is REAL, and nobody warns you about this. Imposter syndrome doesn’t discriminate, it can find you in whatever industry you find yourself in. For me, it was in baking.
I went to culinary school, I have always had a passion for baking and cooking, and I had no idea what imposter syndrome was until I built a business and put myself out there for the world to judge my creations. I knew I was good, otherwise I would have never put myself out there, but as soon as I did there was this little voice inside my head telling me I wasn’t good enough, or my desserts weren’t tasty enough, or maybe I was good, but it was never perfect. Taking compliments is hard, especially when you struggle with imposter syndrome, and it wasn’t until I learned how to say no, set boundaries and appreciate my own work that I finally overcame it. It was all fun my head. Once I realized I felt good enough to build a business, offer my work to the world and sell out time after time that I realized, people DO want my desserts, especially my cake pops. We are our own worst critics.
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?
I launched Yummies Cookies & Confections 10 years ago. I had just gotten married, moved to a new town and having a culinary degree behind me and a whole future ahead of me I decided to open a baking business out of my home to get to know people in my new town. After having kids, I decided to rebrand to cake pops only in 2017. I loved all the cakes and decorated sugar cookies that I offered, but I realized if I intended to raise kids and a business I had to make some changes. I rebranded to Yummies Cake Pops and offered customers gourmet cake pops. These were tiny works of art. Whether they were a unique flavor like pink lemonade or a sculpted work of art, each were unique and handmade by me. I realized I had found my niche as nobody in my area offered cake pops, especially intricate designs like the ones I made. I started offering classes in 2020 and grew my business even further. I got to a point where I outgrew my home kitchen and needed to move into a brick and mortar. Being a stay at home mom, that wasn’t really an option, I can’t be in both places at once.
At the beginning of 2023 I made the tough decision to close my business. I know it’s only temporary, as I would love to come back to it, but for now I am doing bigger things on the other side of the industry.
I now work for Stover & Company, a 75 year leader in baking supply distribution. I ordered most of my ingredients for my business from them and developed a great relationship with them. I decided to join their team and now dabble in sales, a bit of marketing, product support and product development. May culinary and baking background definitely has helped me in this role and I wouldn’t have done anything differently!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Having a culinary degree definitely helped in the beginning stages. I felt comfortable enough knowing I had gained business and baking knowledge under my belt, even though I have learned so much more on my own while owning my business. 2. People skills are a MUST!! You have to learn how to talk to people in order to be successful. They are the ones hopefully busying your product. Good customer service skills and knowing how to talk to people face to face has been a big part of my success. If people like me, they are more willing to give my product a try and hopefully like it too!
3.Keeping an open mind is one quality people often forget. Even though I was very knowledgable in the culinary world, I still don’t know EVERYTHING. Keeping an open mind in terms of business practices, new products, etc helped my business adapt and move forward instead of staying stagnant. I encourage everyone too stay humble, no matter how knowledgeable you are as you will probably learn something new about yourself and what you do every day!
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was purchase my own Kitchen Aid mixer when I was in high school. They saw my potential and they gave me a shot. This made me realize that they believed in me more than I believed in myself and saw something in me that I had yet to see. This mixer gave me the confidence to apply to culinary school and this was another impactful thing my parents also did, encouraged me to go. From there on, everything’s history. I’m not sure I would have felt that confidence boost without that mixer.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @yumsiescakepops
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/danielazographos
Image Credits
cake pop pictures were taken bye me. My head shot was taken by Sara Touchet Photography
