Conversations with the Inspiring Kia Benion

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kia Benion.

Kia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My father is an amazing cook and baker. As a child, I would shadow him in the kitchen, usually just to sneak bites of whatever was being prepared. I gained a lot of my early baking skills from him and leveraged that knowledge to start my first company, a dessert catering business while studying Civil Engineering at Georgia Tech. Deciding to become an entrepreneur during what was the most financially strapped time of my life forced me to be flexible and resourceful. In addition to baking, I was designing my website and materials, accounting, marketing. Essentially every part of running a business I had to learn to do myself.

I’d been running my first business for a few years and would get inundated with questions of how an engineer becomes a pastry professional. It seemed so obvious to me, as baking is very mechanical and precise, but people genuinely did not understand the correlation. I found a lot of success as a dessert caterer and even competed on Food Network, but I realized there was a unique opportunity to merge science and pastry in a way that had not been previously done. That year, I founded and focused on The Pastry Engineer, an education platform that teaches the technical components of baking and inspires children and adults to understand the why.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Carving out a lane that does not exist is one of the most challenging things I’ve faced as an entrepreneur. There’s no playbook for how to run The Pastry Engineer because it does not exist. I’m still figuring out the most effective marketing and branding strategies for a culinary science company. There have been times and conversations when others couldn’t see or understand my vision. But despite those challenges, my company has been able to highlight the bridge to the science education world and culinary arts. We have been able to create a fun and engaging curriculum and expose a new generation to their professional opportunities in both culinary and the sciences.

If I could offer advice to women starting out as entrepreneurs, I would say know what you bring to the table. Know what you’re great at, identify the market for your unique talent and continue to stay motivated by your purpose. My Christian faith is a huge driver for why I continue to push, because I know I’m aligned with my purpose. When you find alignment with your purpose, even if it’s in a field or industry that doesn’t quite exist, you’re able to find success.

What should we know about The Pastry Engineer? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Pastry Engineer produces workshops, classes, and sessions that use culinary principles to teach science. By associating science with things students love (i.e. cookies, pastries, cakes), I am able to make the content fun and digestible, literally. I take pride in working with students who think they have no interest in the technical and walk away from a workshop excited to learn more. It empowers and pushes them towards thinking about their future career.

While my original focus was school aged students, I’ve generated enough interest and buzz to begin offering classes to adults as well. Most people would love an opportunity to improve their skills in the kitchen, but learning the how and why behind it is truly what makes the classes engaging. There’s currently no one in both the science and culinary space, and I fully intend to take leverage my unique position to make an impact.

Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
Networking, unfortunately, isn’t a one size fits all. Entrepreneurs should understand their industry, and understand how people connect in their industry. But before you can start to connect with people who can take your product or service to the next level, you have to do the work. What evidence do you have of your work product.? There are so many avenues to connect these days, but if you haven’t done the work, you’re not quite ready to take advantage of these.

Something that has helped me to expand my network is offering to help fellow business owners. Someone you want to know has an event coming up? Offer to help with set up. There are so many opportunities to be an asset to those you’re surrounding yourself. If you show them you’re genuine and hard working, they will likely become advocates for you.

Pricing:

• Pastry Engineering Summer Camp @ Hal’s Kitchen June 23-28 $295

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thepastryengineer.com
• Email: info@thepastryengineer.com
• Instagram: @thepastryengineer
• Facebook: @thepastryengineerUS

Image Credit:
VKV Communications LLC (for personal photo, and images 3-5), C Mitchell Studios (images 1 and 2)

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