Inspired by baking from a young age, senior Madison Cuellar pursued her passion through her bread business: Madison’s Boulangerie. Cuellar makes a variety of bread with the help of her mom. Popular favorites among her customers are her French baguettes and her sourdough loaves.
Cuellar started her bread business out of a love for baking and took the opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic to turn it into a small business.
“I’ve always loved baking and cooking,” Cuellar said. “During COVID we had the time to start, so I just decided to start selling my bread to friends and family and, because of the positive outcome that came from it, I decided to continue in high school.”
While passionate about baking, she sees it as a side business, with plans to pursue nursing school. Cuellar’s boulangerie provides her with a way to pursue her dream in nursing by making a little extra money to pay off college.
Cuellar skillfully manages her schoolwork, homework and social life by structuring her bread-making schedule around her academic responsibilities, demonstrating strong time management and organization. She balances her responsibilities while maintaining the quality and consistency of her baking.
“The bread business is my job,” Cuellar said. “Since there are a lot of resting periods, I squeeze my school and homework in between when the bread is resting before baking it in the oven.”
She works hard prioritizing the bread business, while managing time pursuing her other interests and still succeeds in school. Cuellar plansher days out ahead of time to multi-task and be productive. She knows that if she is working behind schedule, then she won’t get her requests in on time, so it all works hand in hand.
“I plan based on how long the bread takes,” Cuellar said. “My baguettes take three days, so right after school to do the dough, so then I can go and study with friends and hang out or do my homework. Then, in the morning I do the second phase before school and before I even start a batch of bread I make sure I have the time before I plan anything else, so it is my priority.”
Cuellar contributes to household expenses and uses her earnings to support her needs, as well as materials and equipment necessary to keep her business running.
“My oven broke in my house because of how much I was baking and over-using it and my mom doesn’t always like me baking because of all the gas and everything because it’s expensive,” Cuellar said. “So, when I bake a lot, I’ve started to put a little money towards the gas bill and I won’t take on too many orders at a time.”
