Milana D’Aniello 6:19
Yeah, it’s all of the memories for under 10 years old. I don’t necessarily have a lot, either. But I remember when I was eight, you first taught me how to make gumpaste and sugar flowers. And I remember sitting at the old bakery, and you and Auntie Marianne and I were there and it was after school. And we were working on a wedding cake. And you’re like, do you want to learn how to do this? And I was like, obviously, I want to learn how to do this. So I was sitting there with my little eight year old hands, learning how to make fondant flowers for the first time. And it’s now like my signature skill. I can’t I’m not very good at writing on cakes.
Odette D’Aniello 6:59
Because you’re left handed.
Milana D’Aniello 7:04
Because I’m left handed, but my signature skill is now making fondant roses.
Odette D’Aniello 7:10
Absolutely, and hydrangeas,
Milana D’Aniello 7:22
Okay, so when you were 10, your family emigrated to Guam? Why did you move?
Odette D’Aniello 7:31
So my uncle started a bakery on Guam. And so we, my mother ran his bakery. And essence bakery was going he needed workers. So my parents, my father went first. So he went to Guam, emigrated there and worked for my uncle’s bakery. My father had been a teacher, principal, he wasn’t a baker, you know, that wasn’t this job. So when he went to Guam, he had to train to bake, and he was not very happy with it. This was not, that wasn’t his passion. But for us to be able to leave Cebu. And then have a better life. America is the gold standard. So everybody dropped in America. I remember my parents asking me and my brother. You want to go to America? And of course, you know, I was like of course. I want to go to America. That’s where Big Birdy lives. That’s where Sesame Street is. That was my dream, right? That’s where The Sound of Music was. I didn’t know it was in Switzerland. And but you know, it’s, that’s ours. I want to go to America. So then, My father emigrated. And then my brother and me and my mother follow thereafter to work at the bakery. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I didn’t know that. I was also working at the bakery. I just thought that we were just going as a family to America. I didn’t know what that entailed. I was 10 so I didn’t know much. Right? Yeah.
Milana D’Aniello 9:02
So what do you remember about the bakery on Guam?
Odette D’Aniello 9:07
Well, the bakery on Guam. I I remember it was I was super excited to go because I had two girl cousins. I raised who were older than me and they would visit Cebu and they’re because they’re older. Of course you look up to them. They’re like my sister my big sisters or I was so excited. I inherited all their clothes and Ellington the Philippines. I was super excited all the time to be around them because I just first of all, they spoke English and I thought they were super cool. And to be with them was like the biggest motivator and they worked at the bakery and our first job was to slice bread. Right and racks and racks that we call it pullman bread, which is the sandwich bread and it’s all rectangular, you know? Wouldn’t one talking about it? Yeah, it’s better. That has the square. It’s the loaf with the lid. Right? Right. Right. So we sliced pullman bread after school, 200 loves every day.
Milana D’Aniello 10:16
That’s so much.
Odette D’Aniello 10:18
Seven days a week. Yes, we are small. So we would get cut in those in those slicers.
Milana D’Aniello 10:28
That’s crazy. You must have been in like fourth grade.
Odette D’Aniello 10:31
I was in fifth grade. So that was our job not and packing bread. So I didn’t go to go home until all the work was done. And my brother was, was in sixth grade. And he learned how to bake, using big machineries. So it was it was a bit. You know, it was a lot was a lot for us as children to deal with that situation. But we had to because that was part of the deal. No, we had to work. And that was, you know, we didn’t have choice.
Milana D’Aniello 11:08
But you didn’t always slice bread. How did you move on from being a bread slicer at the bakery forever? Like, what was your what? Where did you end up
Odette D’Aniello 11:17
in the bakery on Guam? Oh, so I went I was super hot in the bakery. And, and the only air conditioned spot where the office upstairs, which you’re not allowed to go to because that’s an office. And that’s where money is counted. So you don’t go there. The other place is the cake decorating. room And I go in there and only the adults are allowed in there. Because it’s serious business to be in the cake decorating. So I was thinking, there’s no adult and I would take so I see and I’d write or I type or a tattoo, like I knew how but I kept getting in trouble and getting kicked out and you know, getting in trouble again. But then I got super good at it. And, you know, I learned really quickly and they’re like, Oh, she can decorate. So then I moved to the cake decorating room. So all of those cakes at Costco and those racks. Those are exactly how I definitely want. And so when I look at them, I’m like, I can do that
Milana D’Aniello 12:20
I’ve been doing this forever. I could I could do that in no time flat
Odette D’Aniello 12:25
into buys, right because as I got older, like you couldn’t go out love the bakery until all the work was done. See you just like speed, speed cake decorating. That’s what I learned. I mean, that’s what I could get caught and stuck with.
Milana D’Aniello 12:42
I love that. Okay, so you worked at the bakery until you left for college.
Odette D’Aniello 12:50
And oh, go ahead. So, my parents, I worked at my uncle’s bakery until I was in high school. My parents had their own bakery, they started their own bakery and I was always the cake decorater. My brother was always the baker. My sister, she was in second grade your auntie learn how to do the cash register when she was in second grade.
Milana D’Aniello 13:21
Whoa!
Odette D’Aniello 13:23
Yeah, because we, my parents partnered with my aunt and we went to we opened up a little bakery from the south of Guam. While I was very small. People know, it’s like, going five minutes around the island, and we pack snacks. Gigantic, like if you go for one of the ads, you have to pack snacks, and I was only four. But the that whole deal with my parents partnering with my aunt. That meant my family ran it. So my father and my mother, me and my brother and then my little sister and to me and was was the cashier. My older brother was the baker. And so yeah, it was hard. It was hard times I remember. I remember never had Thanksgiving, never have Christmas or birthdays just because we weren’t. That was our thing. And my parents would always say it’s because we’re poor. We have a fate like this, you know? So that’s what happens when you’re poor. Right? When you’re poor, you have to deal you know, and, and that kind of was the whole mantra of my grown up. You have to take it as your poor.
Milana D’Aniello 14:48
So, what made you decide to open up your own bakery and this has been your experience so far? Like up until you were in your 20s you had these like not that fun, not great, traumatizing experience in the bakery.
Odette D’Aniello 15:03
What made me decide? Well, so I went to college. I went to the University of Arizona, like you did. And, and I went to college, mainly because I didn’t want to be a bakery worker all my life. Because I mean, I was told that that was my value. I was a good cake decorator. And I will always work forever, you know, that was basically my fate. But I was also really like clever. I thought about things. I was like, No, I don’t want that life. I don’t want that life. And so I started dreaming big dreams. And one and I inside did was I started visualizing that every time I was tired, I would visualize, visualize a different life. And I will post photos and all the life I wanted to live. And it certainly was not, you know, laboring at somebody else’s bakery. And so I went to college, paid for it on my own with four scholarships four jobs. And then I decided I was thinking out maybe I’ve just thought of law school, because I’d like to argue my case. I couldn’t afford it. I was too poor. So this whole thread of poverty and dealing with things because you’re you’re poor, right? Like you just, well, I can only afford that because I was poor. So that I, we didn’t come from privilege we come from, like immigrants who just basically scrapped by baking No. But after I went to college, I felt very empowered where I thought I can really create a life that I want to create. And, and, and I met your father, and we decided to move to Washington State, and my by brother moved here. And we were going to open up a business because we couldn’t find teaching jobs. And the only business that I really know of was the bakery.
Milana D’Aniello 17:19
Right? Well, you tried a cafe first.
Odette D’Aniello 17:24
Well, yeah, I thought that we were going to do a cafe I was like, we’re not going to do a bakery. We’re going to do a cafe we’re going to have unlimited sandwich fillings and unlimited drinks for $5. And let’s see how that goes. Out the door. But we had no money.
Milana D’Aniello 17:43
My favorite my favorite… Can you can you tell the story about Thanksgiving soup?
Odette D’Aniello 17:50
Oh, yeah, we are so scrappy, like, we were just we did all the shows. So there was a home show we were invited to do the food for when we brought our little tiny espresso machine and stuck it in, in dad’s van. Fell off twice. And we duct taped it together. We still made the show. And this was after Thanksgiving. This show happened after Thanksgiving. And so we had I just made up all kinds of stuff like tired of Turkey chicken soup or tired of turkey soup or something like that. And it was like, I didn’t describe it as chicken I just said tired of Turkey. And everybody loved the soup. Like at that time. That was in the 90s or late late 90s, mid 2000s People all frozen soup soup started becoming a big thing that people made soup then pretend it was theirs. But I was like, I make my own. Like I did, like my cafe. I made my own soup. You know I that’s like my superpower. I make soups, right?
Milana D’Aniello 19:06
You do?
Odette D’Aniello 19:07
Well tired of turkey. Everybody loved it. And then my sister’s like, what’s in that soup? I said Turkey
Milana D’Aniello 19:19
And during that time, Auntie Marianne was selling it as tired of turkey chicken soup. So she told everyone it was made out of chicken.
Odette D’Aniello 19:28
Because I cook like cheeses like I think I don’t know who made up the name but but somebody was at the show made up a name and I was like what was in there? We did a lot of crazy things because we did not have a business plan. We did not have a plan. And you were not born yet.
Milana D’Aniello 19:52
Yeah, during the cafe time, so that was before 2009 to use.
Odette D’Aniello 19:54
Yes, yes. And you were not born yet. And then and then I had you and then I was like This is not going to have a kid. What am I going to do?
Milana D’Aniello 20:07
So how did you move from being a cafe to being a bakery?
Odette D’Aniello 20:13
So I went to I was where we are not doing good at all. We’re not doing good. We’re running out, you know how you know you’re doing good in business. Wow, you’re running out of cash and you can’t buy ingredients. That’s what fuels it. Right? So you make you charge enough so that you make enough so that you have leftovers so that you can buy more stuff, and then that feels your business. Right. So I did not know what margin was. We had no margin, we had no profit. So I next door was a flower shop. And she would go in her flower shop. And she says she’d be selling these flowers like for $50. I’m like, God, that’s 10 sandwiches how the heck. And then at the same time, I ended up at the Tacoma Dome and there was a wedding show. And at the wedding show, I walked in and there I met these. This couple that only made wedding cakes and I was like no way. You make wedding cakes. That’s it like you don’t have breads you don’t have sandwiches, nothing in your house like you have no rent. I was just fascinated. I went to the owner of the show John Buckle. Dan was John Buckle I said under the name can you tell me more about this show? Like what is is I’ve never seen it I there was no there was no things like that in in it and in a while I’m bought. That’s where I knew, right? But but that was my experience. There’s nobody just specializing in cakes. And so then he goes, do my show and you’ll never have to worry about your business. Because I gave him the sob story. Like we’re about to go bankrupt because we were and and I said okay, I’ll do my shows. I do your show. I gave her my credit card. And I just made everything up. Like I literally just the copies of photos of cakes that I knew I could do and created a brochure. I don’t think it was Photoshop. It was something else. It was some software. I was really good at computers at that time. I was really good. I did like some graphic design whatever at that time and Auntie Janice, Janice, who was our graphic designer who’s still our friend. Yeah, she created a brochure for us. And one day people walk you know, there was a day when people would line up or sandwiches and had coffee and share you know for people share a dollar 25 cinnamon rolls and and ask for all kinds of service and then we shut that down and the next day we’re a cake studio.
Milana D’Aniello 23:04
What happened to all the customers who wanted a cinnamon roll?
Odette D’Aniello 23:08
Just pretended like it never happened it were just like we are now a cake studio like it says Celebrity Bakery and cafe. I said and we’d say Cafe me coffee sit desk. We literally just made everything up. Now in retrospect, I mean, the good thing about it is we had such a good mid good senses of humor. I would do me It was upsetting but then we’d end up just laughing because like we are ridiculous like we were just like we are now a cake studio and they’re like wait, what? Like that’s false advertising like things and then we just started that from there we started selling cakes and of course the margins for cakes are just like flowers no depends with this artistic is buyer and me that’s how we started to take off right yeah.
Milana D’Aniello 24:13
And this is the part where I start to remember everything that happens, but we moved. So originally we were in Lacey. Can you tell the story about how we moved to Tacoma?
Odette D’Aniello 24:23
Sure. I so we’re our lease was ending. And I was like, All right, I’m going back to teaching. This was not this was not a fun adventure. But it was an adventure and it’s over thank God because I did not want to leave that did not want to needy our landlord hanging because we signed a five year lease. So that’s one of the things when you have a business and you sign a lease. It’s a liability for the duration of the time that you sign this lease. So I did not want us to be indebted. And I said well, we are going to stay until the lease ended. So we stayed until the lease ended, which is five years and what they ended up five years there was a big band on my studio was that competitor in the wedding cake space. The owner passed away and the husband was looking for me is looking to sell business. So at that time, I was eight months pregnant with your brother, you were three. And I was driving back and forth, trying to figure out how to buy business. And I went online. And there was this guy who wrote an ebook about buying a business. For now. Yeah. He wrote an ebook. And this is when ebooks just started. And so I found him, and I bought his ebook. And he guided your buying this business. He taught me due diligence, he told me what pro forma was, he taught me what even though it was like he taught me able to negotiate the deal with this guy who wrote this ebook. And that’s how we’re able to acquire the business. And then, when we close on that business, the same day actually will know when you’re about to sign up on that business. I was about to deliver your brother. So I was on my way. I was actually taking a wedding cake order in Lacey. And I was having contractions. And the mother of the bride said, Honey, I think you need to go to the hospital.
Milana D’Aniello 26:34
Oh my gosh.
Odette D’Aniello 26:35
And so I said, Yeah, I think, sir, to let me get your payment. Up, shut the doors. And you know, one of the things we never did was we always, always made sure we stayed open. When we say we’re going to open so this is extenuating, so we had to put a sign up. And basically I said, you know, family emergency we’ve shut down early, and so on the way I called the lawyer, I said, I’m on my way to deliver my baby, can you please have the paperwork done, because I’ll just come in and sign it. So I was waiting. I was at being at the lawyer’s office, signing the documents to buy the business while having contractions. And then on my way to the hospital, I stopped by the mall and picked up Auntie Annie’s pretzels, because I was not going to be hungry. All the while, the doctor, your godmother, Dr. Sam was looking for me. Because she knew I was about to pop.
Milana D’Aniello 27:51
I’m sure she was not happy with you. Having taken two stops before you got to the hospital.
Odette D’Aniello 27:57
Yeah. And that delivered your, your your brother. And you. You came and spent the night with me and your new little brother. And the following day. We checked out of the hospital, I went to the bank. And that’s what Celebrity Cake studio was born.
Milana D’Aniello 28:22
Oh my gosh. That’s so funny. And that’s how I remember how old the bakery is because or the bakery. I remember how long we’ve been in Tacoma because we moved to Tacoma when Aspen was born. Right?
Odette D’Aniello 28:35
That is, and then you were you were still little you read toddler. And I would you still needed me. And then I had a baby. And then we have in business. So I had three baby to take care of with all kinds of publications and all kinds of drama, right? Employee cetera, et cetera. When we transition into a new business, it’s not easy all the time. But that’s what happened. But then you want to remember the fun parts.
Milana D’Aniello 29:04
I haven’t remember the fun parts. I remember in freight house where there used to be an Irish tap dancing troupe upstairs. So when we stayed late, we’d have to be like, Oh my god, the Irish tap dancing troupe is practicing right now. Because they were right above our heads. It was so loud. It was like an earthquake whenever they were practicing. Right?
Odette D’Aniello 29:24
Exactly. I mean, I find it beautiful that you remember such fun things about it? Because you know, I had to go through it in my brain like oh my god, what am I subjecting my kid to? A thing? I did not want it to be here. You know, wanting to play it.
Milana D’Aniello 29:41
Yeah. But like meanwhile, Aspen and I were always playing I remember it was the best thing ever because there was an alley behind the bakery. Except it wasn’t like a real ally who was inside the building because Rasca was this like giant long building. And so in the alley, we could play no matter what the weather was because of was covered. And so him and I would bring our bikes, we’d bring our rollerblades, sometimes we would like take the carts that we would roll wedding cakes on. And I would put Aspen on the cart and I would get on the cart and then we would like pretend we were on a boat.
Odette D’Aniello 30:15
Well, square is this like very old building in Tacoma. And that’s where we had this Celebrity Cake Studio, the first version. Well, cake studio was there. So we moved, consolidated, we moved there and you grew up in the alley of Celebrity Cake Studio. But with fond memories, apparently.
Milana D’Aniello 30:45
Yeah, great memories. I remember I used to love sitting here watching all the decorators decorate, I remember, I would sometimes do my homework with Uncle Wally on the big butcher block table in the back of the bakery. Like I just have very fond memories of that bakery. And then when I was 10, we moved again, to our own building, right.
Odette D’Aniello 31:12
That’s that was in 2012. And I was 12. And I think it’d be one of the most important things, the reason why it was a bit of a challenge for me. And that’s why in my mind, it wasn’t as fun was because we’ll go we’re also caring for your grandparents, my mom and my dad, my dad was going through cancer treatment. So my sister and I had to take care of him, take care of the bakery, take care of the children. So we’re like the sandwich generation right at that time, so that we were straddling all kinds of things. And that’s what happens with bakery ownership, or not bakery, but just business ownership all together, especially as a woman, everybody needs a mom, their mom, you know, and then usually not as a caregiver, for my parents, luckily, your dad was such a great help. So we were moving the business. We’re pivoting we are doing all kinds of stuff to keep the business alive and solvent and keep our own are employees like employed and paid while taking care of, you know, making sure your well being was taken care of and making sure that, you know, our parents were cared for and going to their appointments, radiation, chemo and all kinds of stuff. So, yeah, all the grays on my head.
Milana D’Aniello 32:37
And it looks beautiful.
Odette D’Aniello 32:39
Thank you, honey.
Milana D’Aniello 32:43
I remember that a lot. But you know, it just kept it just kept getting better and better. From my perspective, at least just every year, it got a little bit better for everyone. So I know it’s been a hard journey. But what was your favorite story from having a bakery in Washington that you can remember now? Like,
Odette D’Aniello 33:03
just your favorite story? Well, probably having you there and your brother there. How much fun in it? You guys have, you know, and I remember you finally going to the wedding show you must have been seven or something like that. And your brother, your brother was little, and I let you go on your own. And yeah, this big, big, you know, convention. Yeah, watching you and your brother, learn how to be independent and taking care of yourselves. I remember taking you to food shows and just letting you run loose and see what happens. You know, and kind of dealing with that situation and see where you go, and how you dealt with people and how you dealt with making decisions and all that even at a very, very young age. That was such a pleasure for me. But one really fun memory that I had with you. And your godsisters, was when we were at the Taylor Swift concert, and one of the tickets. They allowed us to bring our food truck there. And we can sell cupcakes. And I let you kids run it. Yeah, that’s right.
Milana D’Aniello 34:29
I don’t remember how old we were. As I’m the oldest, so I was probably How old was I was probably
Odette D’Aniello 34:37
Oh, I don’t know. I know. I know. The little one. It was very small. So anything. Six, but she did math. Really? Well. Yeah.
Milana D’Aniello 34:49
If she was six than I was. I was maybe maybe 12 Max. Yes,
Odette D’Aniello 34:54
You are very small. And then so you and your friends your little friends ran this little little business, and you’ve figured out pricing, you figured out like how to get change. You figure it out, like, oh my gosh, we should sell water and you’ve sold water, increased price because there’s not enough water, and the demand was high. And so I thought that was so cute and fun. And to watch you all just, you know, learning to look at all of you. You’re all in college and doing so well yourselves.
Milana D’Aniello 35:35
I remember that. I remember we had Ani go. Ani wanted to sell the water. And she was so little. And so she was pulling the wagon with an older kid. But we had her ask everybody if they wanted water because she was the cutest, so they definitely wanted to buy from Ani.
Odette D’Aniello 35:51
I think it’s important for kids to learn that experienced experience like that sort of independence. But yeah, and my next our next iteration Milana, I’m very excited about it’s that explain to everybody the sun.
Milana D’Aniello 36:09
The sun behind me. Our next iteration is actually here in Tucson, I live here. And we recently got a garden venue and we named it Himaya Garden. And, do you want to explain what Himaya is, mom?
Odette D’Aniello 36:25
Himaya is Cebuano, which is like first language, which means joy, profound joy. And very appropriate Milana Joy. So this venue is going to be in Midtown Tucson. We will be posting high tea with our Dragonfly Cakes and dessert, and we’ll be providing wedding cakes, possibly. And we will host events, culinary events, art events, etc. And while we are busy in Tacoma, I mean, we’re actually well, well, it’s winter in Tacom, where there’s no events, we’ll be in Arizona, and then the reverse, right, because Arizona will be shut down during the summer.
Milana D’Aniello 37:07
Yeah. And I’m super excited to have a venue and work on a business that is really leaning into our heritage and into our history. It’s such a big part of how we came to America and how my family got here and how you got here, mom, and I feel like it’s something that I’m really excited and honored to get connected to through this project. Even in the like design aspects, I’m like I want it to be I want it to look like a certain kind of way. I don’t want any like British fancy China. I wanted to do like I wanted to look like something that we can be proud of that is in our like this that I’m in our aesthetic. Yeah, so I’m really excited for this project. I think it’s gonna be super fun. And
Odette D’Aniello 37:59
the in the sun behind you as the Philippine sun. Yes. Those flowers are Jasmine or something beats him to flower. And that no, it’s it is an homage to our culture, and where it came from, which is beautiful in its own way. No, I’m super excited to be on this journey with you, Milana. I’m proud of you and I am so grateful that you are my first guest host of the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast.
Milana D’Aniello 38:38
The first and hopefully not the last.
Odette D’Aniello 38:42
Not the last.
Milana D’Aniello 38:44
Alright, awesome. Well, thank you so much, mom. Thank you for having me on here to be your guest host. Hopefully I can interview you and Auntie Nyan too.
Odette D’Aniello 38:53
Oh, absolutely. That would be that would be really super fun. Thank you. Thank you, honey.
Milana D’Aniello 38:59
Yeah, thank you.
Outro 39:04
Thanks for listening to the Celebrity Gourmet Podcast. We’ll see you again next time. And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.