Long before she looked through rose-colored glasses and fell in love with show business, the teenage Ara Mina enjoyed spending time in the kitchen where she indulged her passion for the culinary arts. In particular, Ara loved to bake. It was a passion she shared with her Lola Sonya (Mathay), who passed away late last year.
“I took naman Pastry Lessons, this time at ISCAHM (International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management). Meron kasi kaming isang baking class that time. Ngayon, I took the full course in Pastry Baking,” she said.
Her grandmother who, for a while, had her own home-based business, encouraged Ara’s interest. Although she found baking an enjoyable activity and a stress reliever, there was a time when Ara had to put it aside in favor of other things.
Last year, she tried baking again, starting with a batch of Red Velvet cupcakes and offering them to friends. These friends, in turn, passed the word along to other friends. Orders started to come in until Ara finally decided that with so many orders coming in, it was high time to get serious and turn her hobby into a full-blown business. The first order of that business was to come up with a name to call it.
“Mostly, I was baking cupcakes, at dumami nang dumami ’yung mga orders, so I decided to put a name to it,” she said.
Now based in her home kitchen in Quezon City, the business is called Hazelberry Cupcakes—Hazel being Ara’s real name (she is Hazel Klenk Reyes in real life), and berry, a fruit commonly used for pies and cakes.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
