From baking alongside her mom to making it a daily part of her life, sophomore Hannah Beeler has cultivated her talents into creating her own business, the Tearose Bakery. For over a year, Beeler has run her bakery through her Instagram account @tearose_bakery.

“I have been baking since I was very young. I started out helping my mom make holiday pies every year. I was in fifth grade when I started getting interested in baking macarons,” Hannah said via email. “Baking is something that has always made me feel happy and I have always loved doing. I feel like it is almost like a second language to me.”

One significant experience transformed baking from a side hobby to her passion according to Hannah’s mother, Jan Beeler.

“When Hannah was in the 6th grade, she decided to ask a friend of hers to help bake some goodies to raise money for a Girl Scout project to donate to a local children’s program,” Jan said via email. “That experience seemed to be when she got hooked on baking, especially when she could share it. She saw it as a service to others, and she has since continually donated a portion of her earnings to non-profits that she supports.”

What inspired Hannah to start a business was the vast amount of recognition and joy she felt and received as she would share her delicacies.

“I often brought my macarons to school to share with my friends. They really seemed to enjoy them so every time I would bake some I would bring them to school,” Hannah said. “Additionally the summer before my freshman year I brought some macaroons to drill team practice and they were a real hit. The fact that all these people enjoyed my baked goods really inspired me to just go for it.”

One of Hannah’s customers is Red Rhythm teammate, senior Abby Strater.

“I personally really like her red velvet and birthday cake macarons”, Strater said via text message. “I would definitely recommend her bakery and she also makes special flavors for various holidays and seasons.”

Although Tearose Bakery sells a variety of sweet treats, its macaroons tend to get more of the focus.

“My bakery specializes in macarons and cookies. Macarons are definitely the more popular out of the two,” Hannah said. “The most popular flavor of macaron at my bakery would most likely be red velvet. I also do pumpkin spice macarons during the fall and those have been very popular as well.”

But getting her own bakery going hasn’t been easy as pie.

“Some of the challenges that Hannah faced when she started her business was first, marketing her products, and then it was organizing her time once she started getting orders,” Jan said. “There were other situations where she needed to improve on some recipes or get some supplies that we didn’t have, but those were easily rectified.”

Juggling a business as well as school and extracurricular activities is one of the daily challenges Hannah has to face.

“I manage both school, extracurriculars, and my business through a lot of scheduling/ planning ahead and through prioritizing certain tasks. I usually wait until the weekends to bake so I can focus on schoolwork during the week,” Hannah said. “I make a schedule for myself on the days I bake so I have plenty of time to both bake and do things like extracurriculars and homework.

Hannah describes her journey of creating her own bakery to be strenuous but rewarding.

“I would describe my experience as both fun and tiring. It has really been a learning experience. I have picked up many new skills and improved the ones I already had,” Hannah said. “When I first started the business it was a lot of trial and error, it honestly still is. But as long as you love what you are doing it will all be worth it in the end.”

This story was originally published on Wingspan on September 22, 2020.