Meet Soraya Medina | Owner & Pastry Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Soraya Medina and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Soraya, what role has risk played in your life or career?
We all heard that saying, No risk, No reward! My husband, Daniel Medina and I believe in that and that’s exactly what we did to pursue our dream. We were both tired of working for other people in NYC and we knew our jobs weren’t going to be our career. So we decided to leave everything we know including our family and friends and move to Arizona. Without taking that risk we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
We are a bakery who offers organic desserts with gluten free and vegan options. We make everything from scratch with a lot of love. Our baked goods does not have preservatives, GMOs, refined sugars or flours. Our #1 goal is to educate the masses that they can have a healthier dessert without sacrificing any taste. It has been a long journey starting from back home in NYC. I went to the Institute of Culinary Education for the pastry program. I worked in NYU from 9 to 5pm and went to school from 6pm-10pm for about 2 yrs. That included my externship which was during the weekend, so I basically had no social life. It hasn’t been easy, we’ve had our breakdowns, tears, burns, sweat, sleepless nights and doubts. But through it all we always found a solution and made it work. We came a long way to just give up. The lessons we learned through out the years is that you can’t do it all. You have to stick with your talent/skill and have someone else help you with other aspects of the business. We also learned that you can’t get too far on your own, you eventually will have to partner up with someone who can help you grow your business. We are very proud of our product. We care a lot of what we put into our baked goods. For someone who had a near death experience due to a vaccination and discovering the toxic ingredients in them, I vowed to bake with healthy alternatives and organic ingredients.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There are a lot of places we haven’t gone to yet that we know are good but the ones we have are Little Miss BBQ, they have the best ribs and brisket. We love to drink at Bitter & Twisted Cocktail. For desserts we love to go to Lux Central, they always have a great variety. When we want to feel like we’re back home we go to Millie’s Cafe, they serve Puerto Rican food.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There has been a lot of connections we made in Arizona and a lot of friendly people who helped us along the way which we’re very thankful for. But we would like to give a big thank you to our partner Robert Van Arlen. He believed in us and our product. He helped us with our new branding and elevated our business growth.

Website: www.saludeats.com
Instagram: instagram.com/saludeats
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saludeats/

Image Credits
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