Her college degree prepared her for a desk-bound career. Soon realizing she wanted to do something different to earn a living, she changed her career path and overcame several challenges to forge her own path which combined her hobby with determination to proceed as a business owner.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Ashley Huston (AH) was born in Arizona, moving to Philadelphia with her family at age 5.
CHILDHOOD
The Huston family’s arrival in Philadelphia coincided with a snow blizzard. As AH recalls, “The snow was as big as me!” Her family moved within the city several times, from Nicetown to Kensington to the Northeast section.
AH grew up loving to bake and cook. “I had dreams of being a chef or being on Iron Chef and stuff like that. But as a kid, I was like, ‘That’s never gonna happen.’”
EDUCATION
Following her public high school graduation, AH attended Temple University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in finance due to her interest in someday owning her own business.
FIRST CAREER PATH
After surveying potential job openings within the world of finance, AH soon realized that she didn’t want to deal with someone else’s numbers all day while working from an office desk. Thinking she would enjoy the opportunity to see more of the world while interacting with people more than numbers, AH joined the Peace Corps, which assigned to work in Tanzania, a country in East Africa, the home of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain and a population of nearly 62 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator. Official languages are Swahili and English.
After serving out her several year time commitment to the Peace Corps, AH retained her appreciation for city life in the U.S. and had also her hope for someday starting her own business in Philadelphia, possibly combining such a venture with her love of baking.
CAREER CHANGE STARTS SLOWLY
Opening a bakery had been a long-percolating ambition for AH. She realized she had a lot to learn about the business of food preparation, so she talked herself into starting somewhere in the food business as an employee, finding an opening as a line cook at a small restaurant in Philadelphia. AH credits that employer with taking a chance on her and allowing her to experiment with dessert specials, despite the absence of a formal dessert program offered by the restaurant.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE A NEW BUSINESS
During the covid pandemic which spread nationwide in early 2020, AH (and everyone else) had extra time on her hands. She had long been baking birthday cakes for friends – a hobby which had led to one-off custom cake orders – but the downtime prompted her to brand the endeavor and market it on Instagram.
By this time, AH had moved to another job within the world of food preparation, starting as a manager and a baker, eventually becoming part-owner of the small business. But within several years, the business owners were unable to agree on their future business plan to the extent that lawyers became involved, and the owners agreed to part ways, each proceeding in their different business directions.
The business break-up could have resulted in AH choosing to return to the working world as someone else’s employee rather than assuming risks – and hoping for the rewards – of ownership. Believing in herself as a positive force, AH decided to throw all her energy and attention into creating and growing her own business, which she named Dreamworld, providing custom baking orders, popups, and catering, slowly gaining a citywide reputation for its sparkly, seasonal, buttercream-frosted cakes and imaginative spins on classic treats.
To grow her business beyond a hobby for friends, AH ratcheted up production, taking cake commissions and catering jobs, advertising monthly menus of cakes, cookies, doughnuts, and hand pies. She worked with collaborators within the local food industry before launching Dessert People’s Club, a monthly subscription-based dessert box.
Soon business was too bustling to be a one-woman show, so she paused the club to begin planning to move it into a ‘brick and mortar’ setting – her own storefront within a building she co-owns with one of her former business partners. This requires outfitting the space with new equipment and working with an architect to rejigger the former café’s layout. While most of the baking will take place in the basement, there will be a redesigned coffee bar/kitchen area and seating toward the front of the store. Fortunately, AH also has a passion for interior design, leading her to envision green tile throughout and a wallpapered bathroom.
Dreamworld will still fulfill custom orders and work the pop-up circuit to broaden its customer base. AH plans to sell three cakes including Baby Spice, which she considers her best cake: a cardamom sponge cake with passion fruit curd, mango chai mousse and tonka beat Italian buttercream. Slices will be priced (in 2024) on a sliding scale from $15 to $25.
CAREER SATISFACTION
While this career story is still unfolding, AH already has the satisfaction of starting her own business and growing it to occupy a retail store location.
“There was always a little part of me that, since I was a little kid, was like, ‘I want people to come to my space and eat my food,’” says AH. “It kind of worked out.”
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This career story is based on several sources, including a news article written by Jenn Ladd, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on February 1, 2024, plus internet research.
