We had the good fortune of connecting with Erin Young and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erin, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve worked for other people for years and I always thought that I was letting others make money off my talents, so I decided that I wanted to work for myself. I’d rather work harder for myself than for anyone else.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m an artist first, I went to undergrad for fiber art and since I graduated college around the time of 2008, I had a very hard time finding anything close to my field of work. So I decided to pursue other ventures and moved from my home state of Colorado to NYC. I was in an original band for a few years, writing our own music and playing shows here and there. But I always worked odd jobs to get by. I decided one day, after the band kinda broke up, that I would pursue cake design. I looked up culinary schools in the nyc area and the only one that offered just a cake program, not full pastry, was the International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute, which, fun fact is where Boy Flay went to). After school ended, I was a bit exhausted living in NYC for six years, decided to move back to Colorado. Fast forward to another move , this time to New Orleans. It was there that I really got my feet wet with working in bakeries around the city. I finally got my dream job with the best cast designer in Nola, before she quit to pursue other things, Melissa’s Fine Pastries. I learned so much about decorating and some of the business side of things. Finally, after years of struggling to make things work in Louisiana, I moved to my childhood favorite place, Galveston. I was working at Whole Foods as a cheese monger and transferred to the Houston location to get my foot in the door of Texas so to speak. I quit at the end of 2021 to pursue my cake and cheese business full time, but also that drive was killing me. It’s been pretty slow going so far, I really didn’t realize how hard it is to build a clientele when you don’t really know anyone. But I’ve made friends and have been working up to more clients, albeit very slowly. But at least I love where I’m living, I finally feel that this is my home. Sometimes I get discouraged but I have to remind myself that I’m still really new here and I’ve had way more business in one year than I had in other years combined.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well since I’m still pretty new in town, I would have to say that I would find a really good Indian food restaurant to take them to because I love Indian food. I’m a vegetarian and there’s so many options. I also love going to the Tremont in Galveston and having roof top cocktails. Also, and I’m a little bias because I do shows there, but Island ETC is a great local theater to see some fun musical theater or any other kinds of plays.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Id love to shout out parents and my new friends in Galveston.

   

Website: Www.jazzbirdbakery.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/jazzbirdbakery

Facebook: Facebook.com/Jazzbirdbakery

Youtube: YouTube.com/gingerholiday

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutHTX is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.