Welcome to the lab, Nerdy Bakers ☺️
Well first of all, what is a Nerdy Baker?
Nerdy Baker
[‘nərdē bak-er] noun
Someone who is unafraid to whisk it for the biscuit.
Synonyms: experimentalist, leader, risk taker, lifelong learner, educator, and total bada**.
Adjectives describing a Nerdy Baker: skilled, clever, creative, thoughtful, kind, curious, ambitious, empathetic, and bright.
Nerdy Baker was born out of a deep desire to share, connect, and learn. Joce, the founder of Nerdy Baker, began baking at 11 years old. There was always something about food that drew her in and made time nonexistent. As she became more confident in the kitchen, she began experimenting with unique and different types of baked goods like custards, cakes, and pies.
Joce also loved science and math; she began to notice that she was better in her science, math, and engineering classes because she understood the fundamentals of measurement, heat transfer, and material science from her baking. And, she started to wonder if other people liked learning with their hands like she did.
She found principles were cemented in her brain once she understood them in her baked goods; it took her so much more time to learn in the classroom. And to be honest, who does not love learning when it ends with a delicious baked good?
Eventually, Nerdy Baker found its mission.
Once Joce finished her degree in chemical engineering at university, she began working in tech. While working in tech, something began to eat at her (pun very much intended). She loved baking and sharing her baked goods with others, but realized quickly that in the tech environment, being a baker was seen as homely and domestic in very negative ways.
Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are still not ubiquitous. Women in STEM are still often fighting against prejudices that come with connotations of being a female in the workplace. To top it off, Joce’s hobby of baking made her less of an engineer in the eyes of some of her peers. Her opinions mattered less, she was spoken over, taken advantage of, and had to fight harder for promotions.
She was told by one of her bosses, “do not mention that you bake. No one will take you seriously.” And in another conversation with a different boss, she was told that she “would immediately fail as a leader” and “no one would take your background seriously.” Granted, that conversation was about promotions and not baking, but she certainly felt the prejudice.
Baking was not considered a skill that honed her engineering craft and made her a better technologist. However, Joce knew that baking is a rigorous science and art. And now, she wanted to share that with the world. In that moment, Joce started Nerdy Baker where she combined science and baking to make STEM more tangible and accessible to everyone. Nerdy Baker aims to inspire others to be kind, curious, and ambitious because STEM should be a place we can all thrive as ourselves.
While Nerdy Baker is all about lighthearted fun and learning in the kitchen, our mission was born from very real systemic prejudice in the STEM fields. Unfortunately, Joce’s story is all too similar to thousands of women’s, minorities’, and people of color’s stories in STEM. Our mission is to make STEM a place everyone can thrive in by helping to combat toxic and prejudicial behaviors. Period.
Some may say we are doing this by building a supportive online community and providing nano-learning reinforcement in STEM using baking content. Others may say we are just injecting a bit of fun and deliciousness into STEM when people need a break. Either way, we will take it!
Nerdy Baker aims to make STEM a better place to work for all, and we are excited to lead as an example.