Where there is a whisk, there is a way!

Your will is a strong factor in helping to guide you as you figure out your way in life. For me, as a baker and a Recruitment Coordinator (Global Staffing Administration) lead at Cisco, my motto has become, “Where there is a whisk, there is a way!”

I’ve always had a love for food, and baking has been an extension to my passion for all things yummy. For the longest time, I was just baking for my family. I would, of course, share my creations on Facebook which started a few playful taunts around the office, “Preeti, when are you going to bring those delicious treats we see on Facebook all the time to the office?”

And then the time finally came to treat my co-workers! I made batches of cupcakes for the team at work and it was very well received. Yet, even then, baking was still just something I did for fun.

One day a friend of mine called in a frenzy – her baker had just backed out from baking her son’s birthday cake four days before the birthday! She wasn’t sure what to do with such little time, and then she offered, “Why don’t you make the cake, and I’ll pay you?”

I was shocked! I had never thought of this passion as something beyond providing treats for my family. I asked what she had in mind, and it seemed possible – so I went for it! And that is how my first professional cake came to be.

Soon thereafter, a Cisco co-worker asked if I could possibly do 150 cupcakes for an event she was hosting. Up until then, I had never made more than 24-30 cupcakes at any one time, and now I was being asked to do 150! There is truly something to be said about the level of trust, and confidence your Cisco co-workers place in you. She was convinced I was the baker for this event, and so…I took up the challenge! I have since baked for a couple of teams on multiple occasions and each one has been a rewarding experience

You might be asking yourself, “What does any of this have to do with working at Cisco?” And I would say, “A lot.”

Working at Cisco and baking are very similar in my eyes, most especially because both are work that is driven by passion. By bringing my baking into the office, this has also shown me so much about the Cisco culture and the amazing people that I work with every day. They do not need to take an interest in my passions outside the office, but they do – because we really care about each other. I also love that Cisco’s flexibility encourages you to pursue your passions outside of the office. Your love for something besides work is appreciated here, and – to me – is all the encouragement one needs to chase after ALL of their dreams in life.

Innovation and change has been key here at Cisco, and what I have come to realize is that the same goes for the world of baking. Working at Cisco has opened my eyes to see how innovation is around us daily, and I see a world that is constantly changing, innovating, and reinventing itself.  Why shouldn’t it be the same for my baking?

Creating my desserts is no longer about simply mixing up a batter and loading it with frosting. The list is endless with what I can do with cake – yes, cake! From gravity defying cakes, rotating cakes, hanging cakes – there is so much that can be done when the options are endless, and I am ready to embrace the challenge.

This is something I’ve learned because I’ve worked at Cisco. When you #LoveWhereYouWork – you end up stretching your limits to learn something new, face challenges, and discover what you are truly capable of.

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