I grew up in Greater Los Angeles County, and I’ve always had a passion for baking, and bartending.

The first time I discovered baking was when I was 7 years old and I saw an EZ Bake oven, and I wasn’t allowed to get it because it was a girl’s toy, and being from a semi-traditional household, it was hard to argue against that, so I opted for the real thing.

I think the first thing I ever baked was those Pillsbury Christmas cookies with the snowmen on them. I remember being so excited with my mom and stepdad, and being a fat little kid, I ate several.

Since then, I remember pleading with my parents to let me go to baking summer schools to improve my skills. I wanted to know how to make more things, I wanted to know how to make not just food, but actually flavorful and good food.

I went to a culinary high school, but took the hospitality route after sophomore year to broaden my knowledge. We were the first graduating class of that school, and I graduated 2nd in my class. By then, I had already begun experimenting with alcohol, trying to make drinks and cocktails by myself with the things I had access to. The first drink I ever made was for a dinner party I tried to host: the unnamed soju blackberry mint with tonic water. This is when I learned that cocktails usually have a sugar element in them.

My schooling and my associate’s degree in business administration led me to places like Disney. I was a bell clerk at the Disneyland Hotel for some time, then I made my way into Club 33. I spent a lot of time there, became a trainer and a bartender, and was considered at one point for every other position there.

This is where the story of Stiff Sweets began.