Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Kimberly Houston of Fayetteville

We recently had the chance to connect with Kimberly Houston and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kimberly, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
About 4 years ago I started reading romance novels and it literally changed my entire life. Not to be dramatic, but reading romance novels allowed me to tap into a new level of imagination. Reading books vs watching tv requires your brain to create the scenes, what the characters look like or sound like. It became an exercise in imaginative learning. That simple task opened me up to limitless possibilities of what my life could like. What my relationships with partners, friends and family could look like. It changed how I show up for myself and others I hold dear to my heart and that started with reading the Skyland series by Kennedy Ryan on a layover at the airport.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Chef Kimberly Houston, and I often say I live at the intersection of food, education, and entrepreneurship. I’m a classically trained pastry chef with a Master’s in Education, and I’m the founder of Houston Collective, the parent company that brings together several brands dedicated to empowering bakers, families, and culinary entrepreneurs.

At the heart of this work is Teach Me How to Bake™, our flagship brand focused on baking education for children, with a special emphasis on homeschool families. We design approachable, science-driven baking lessons that make learning both fun and meaningful. My philosophy is simple: baking isn’t just about recipes — it’s about building confidence, practicing patience, and creating memories that last a lifetime.

Alongside that, I support baking professionals through coaching and business strategy sessions. My work here goes far beyond traditional “how-to” advice. I help chefs and bakers diversify income streams, create signature offers, and design sustainable business models so they can step away from burnout and truly thrive. It’s about giving professionals the clarity and structure they need to run their businesses like CEOs — not just exhausted makers.

I also host the Kitchen Table Dreams Podcast, where I share strategies, stories, and real talk about what it takes to grow as a food creator or entrepreneur. The show is about helping people align their ambition with their values, so they’re building businesses that feel good to run, not just impressive on paper.

What makes my work unique is that it isn’t just about food or finance — it’s about alignment. I believe the kitchen is more than a place to create food; it’s a space for healing, growth, and connection. That same philosophy shapes how I approach entrepreneurship: I help people build businesses that rise with intention, not hustle.

Right now, I’m focused on expanding Teach Me How to Bake into a full ecosystem — homeschool curriculum, CE-eligible courses for professionals, branded kids’ baking products, and eventually mobile baking schools that bring education directly into communities. My vision is bold: I see TMHTB growing into a $10M+ brand in the next few years. But what excites me most is the impact — equipping children with real-life skills and confidence in the kitchen, while giving baking professionals the tools and strategies to finally run businesses on their terms.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I believed that as an adult, work would always have to be hard — that success was only earned through struggle, sacrifice, and constant pushing. Like many of us, I grew up hearing the message that if you weren’t always moving, you weren’t working hard enough.

But over the past five years, I’ve come to understand that belief is not a fact — it’s an opinion. Hard work alone doesn’t guarantee wealth or fulfillment. In reality, many people build wealth through strategy, alignment, and intentional action, not just long hours and burnout.

That shift has been life-changing for me. I’ve learned that you can build with ease when you’re aligned with your vision and you have a clear strategy to guide you. Ease doesn’t mean effortless — it means you’re no longer fighting yourself or the process. And while that runs counter to what many of us were raised to believe, it’s become my lived experience.

Now, instead of glorifying struggle, I focus on creating with clarity. I often remind my clients and my community: the work will feel hard if it’s the wrong work. But when you’re aligned, the work becomes a flow — and that’s where real success is built.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of the defining wounds of my life was believing my worth was tied to achievement. From a young age, I thought if I just accomplished more — worked harder, learned more, proved myself — then I would be safe, accepted, and successful. That belief pushed me into overwork and perfectionism, both in the kitchen and in business.

Then came Thanksgiving Day 2020, and everything shifted. I woke up feeling fine, but by the time I needed to remove the turkey from the oven, it was suddenly too heavy. Over the next several hours, my strength kept declining. By evening, I couldn’t hold a cup or even turn a doorknob. Within four days, a doctor told me to close my custom bakery business effective immediately. I spent the first six months of 2021 in physical therapy, working to regain just 30% of my strength and relearning how to do the simplest things — even how to write my name again. That was a defining moment that forced me to completely rethink what “success” meant.

Instead of chasing the belief that hard work was the only path forward, I began rebuilding from alignment. I took the skills I’d learned at Le Cordon Bleu and paired them with new tools: a Master’s in Transformational Leadership & Coaching, certifications in nutrition and entrepreneurship, and eventually a role with the Retail Bakers of America as their Events & Engagement Manager.

That opened the door to speaking at industry conferences, where I now talk about bakery burnout, diversifying income, and the critical mindset shift from working harder to working in alignment — not just for financial success, but for the sake of your physical body.

Healing, for me, has meant reframing struggle into strategy. My mantra now is: “Ease is not the absence of effort — it’s the presence of alignment.” I’ve learned that you can build extraordinary things without sacrificing your health, your joy, or yourself. That’s the perspective I carry into everything I do today — and it’s the message I want every baker, entrepreneur, and dreamer to hear.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
One truth that’s so foundational in my life that I rarely articulate it is that ease and alignment create more lasting success than force or struggle ever will. For a long time, I thought the opposite — that pushing, proving, and powering through was the only way to succeed. But the deeper I’ve gone into my work and my own healing, the more I’ve realized that ease isn’t laziness. Ease is alignment. When you’re aligned with your purpose, your vision, and your values, you naturally build momentum without burning yourself out. I don’t have to “say” this anymore, it’s just who I am.

Another foundational truth is that baking is practice, not perfection. I don’t just mean that in the kitchen, though it certainly applies there — I mean it in life and business too. Every attempt, every “failure,” every experiment is practice. We learn, we refine, and we rise again. That perspective has kept me moving forward even in the hardest seasons.

And maybe the deepest truth for me is this: your worth is not measured by your output. That’s something I had to unlearn after my bakery closed and I physically couldn’t produce at the level I once did. It forced me to recognize that who I am matters more than what I produce. Today, that truth is the heartbeat of my coaching, my teaching, and my speaking — helping people understand they don’t have to sacrifice themselves to succeed.

So much of my work now circles back to those truths. Whether I’m teaching homeschool kids how to bake, coaching a professional through burnout, or recording an episode of my podcast, the foundation is the same: when you’re aligned, you rise.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
I know I’m out of my depth the moment I start leading from fear instead of clarity. For me, it shows up when I’m spinning in circles, second-guessing every decision, or trying to “do it all” instead of calling in support. Those are the signs that I’ve stepped outside my lane and need to pause.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that being “out of your depth” doesn’t mean you’re failing — it means you’ve hit the edge of your current knowledge. And that’s actually a gift, because it gives you the chance to grow and to invite the right people into the room.

I’ve built my career on wearing many hats (chef, educator, coach, strategist), but I also know that I can’t and shouldn’t be the expert in everything. I lean on community, I hire specialists, and I surround myself with people whose strengths complement mine. That shift has been transformational, because it takes me out of survival mode and back into alignment.

My mantra here is: “Leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing when to stop, when to ask, and when to bring others in.” When I can do that, I’m not out of my depth anymore — I’m simply swimming with the right team beside me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kimberlyihouston.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyihouston/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyihouston/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachkimberlyhouston
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@teachmehowtobake
• Other: www.teachmehowtobake.com
  www.kitchenfunwithkids.com