Daily Inspiration: Meet Anna Beth Nagel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Beth Nagel.

Hi Anna Beth, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory
I could say I first got my start making mud pies. Growing up, other than The Muppet Show, my brothers and I weren’t allowed to watch much TV. Instead, for someone forgotten family folklore reason, the backyard was nicknamed ‘The Television.’ As in our mother getting us out of her hair by saying, “Go outside and play in The Television.” The backyard of our red aluminum siding house wasn’t landscaped. Other than a woodpile and a swing set, it was a little leaf canopied playground for building dirtscapes with Tonka Trucks, climbing trees, and digging holes we were sure were deep enough to go all the way to China. I made a lot of mud pies in my backyard years, decorated with pebbles and plucked forget-me-nots.

I could also say I got my start standing on a chair in the kitchen stirring flour in a bowl while my mother got the rest of the ingredients ready to bake a pie. Or a loaf of bread. Or a batch of cookies. But I really got my start the summer after graduating college when I felt the first cold wind of slow death sitting at a blinking lightbox for eight hours a day temping as a front desk clerk in a real estate office as my brain and my journalism degree started to atrophy and decay. Perhaps reflexively pulling on childhood memories of delight, I started to bake as a way to keep my mind alive. And then, when I brought those baked goods into work the next day, I saw how the simple act of making and giving made people happy.

For an introverted, self-conscious young woman struggling to make her way in the world, to be able to bake not only lit up both sides of my brain but also made me feel like I had something to contribute. Luck landed me a career at Wieden + Kennedy, an internationally renowned advertising agency that celebrates an employee roster of oddballs and outcasts and creative savants alike. I immersed myself in film, art, music, photography, culture there, quietly in awe of the professional giants walking the halls with me. And to my amazement, the giants started to offer me money for my baked goods. And when I moved from Portland to New York, giants continued to not only hire me to bake but also told all their friends and their friends’ companies to hire me, which they did. I reached a point where I was working all day, baking all night and functioning on 15-minute naps. It was time to believe in the giants and stand tall myself. So I officially launched Verily from my thimble-sized apartment on Avenue B. Life and loved moved me back to Oregon for a few years and then surprisingly sent me on a new adventure to Georgia. I’ve found an amazing, effervescent entrepreneurial community here, welcoming and supportive of all artisans. I feel taller than I have in years.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not only has the road been rutted with potholes and loose gravel, it’s also been riddled with switchbacks and hairpin turns. The push/pull of maintaining a clear heart, focused mind and strong physical body against the eroding tide of day-job demands and supporting family priorities is an ever-present issue.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The concept for Verily Bakery’s approach to custom confections is rooted in my advertising career. No two brands have identical identities so no advertising agency creates the same commercial for their clients. How much more unique are we as individuals than corporate entities? Our celebratory events and occasions should be as personalized as we are. So all orders with Verily Bakery are customized. I love incorporating customers’ personalities, childhood memories, life journeys into the design, flavor profile and packaging of their confection so the result is truly a one-and-only delicious dessert.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.verilybakery.com
• Instagram: @verilybakery
• Facebook: facebook.com/verilybakery

Image Credits:
Jory Clay Sutton (photographer credit for the two profile photos)