'Bake' your depression away
Looking at the cheerful Mommy Mel Floriselle-Amburgo, owner of PAMCakes, one wouldn’t think that she had gone thru a painful chapter in her life. Almost ten years ago, she had a couple of miscarriages. “I had a high-risk pregnancy. And despite taking all the needed medications and injections, I had two miscarriages in one year,” she recalls in a recent interview with Pamilya Talk.
“Yung everyday pag nakikita ko ang husband ko, hindi ko siya kinakausap. Feeling ko ang laki ng kasalanan ko sa kanya kasi ko hindi ko naalagaan [ang baby namin],” she recalls. “Sobrang depressing siya to the point na hindi kami nag-uusap na dalawa sa bahay. Ang usapan lang namin, kumain ka na ba? Ano’ng ulam? Pero yung talagang conversation, wala.”
She was on maternity leave for two months, and having nothing to do at home made her all the more depressed. Thankfully, an angel came to help. A friend, who’s a homebaker, reached out to her and that was how she was encouraged to try baking. Around March of 2013, Mel would start baking with premixes, until she learned to bake from scratch.
Mel attended workshops over the next couple of months. “I just wanted to know how the pastry chefs do it, what brands they use, and also their techniques,” she says.
Around August of the same year, however, Mel had another miscarriage and she tumbled back in the deep dark hole of depression. To cope with her despair, she kept herself busy thru baking. “Baking became my outlet [to overcome my depression. Kung hindi siguro ako nag-baking that time, feeling ko mas matagal ang naging recovery period ko.”
Her husband also served as her pillar of strength. He was the reason she never gave up on having a baby. “Maubos man ang pera natin, pipilitin nating malaman kung paano tayo magkaka-baby,” Mel remembers her husband telling her.
The relentless checkups with their doctors and fervent prayers eventually paid off, and the couple found out that they were finally on the family way in January of 2016. God indeed works in mysterious ways, because on the following year, she got pregnant again with their second baby.
“It was an unplanned pregnancy. Unplanned but not unwanted,” Mel clarifies, smiling.
Initially they wanted to have a house first. “Bahay muna bago baby. Eh binigay pareho nang sabay [ni God],” she says. Suffice it to say, the Amburgos were overjoyed.
Now, Mel not only has a happy family, she also has a thriving cake business. “When people started ordering cakes for events, doon ko naisip na, ‘Ah totoo na ito. May nagtitiwala na.’ Na-feel kong legit na [ang business ko] nung ni-register ko na siya sa Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR),” she says, adding that she was thrilled to issue her the first official receipt to a client.
PHOTO: Some of Mel’s best cake designs: Running a bakeshop is definitely not a piece of cake.
She admits though that it’s not easy to juggle running a business and being a mom. “Pag morning [mga kids] muna. Baking sessions usually happen in the evening,” she says.
Running a bakeshop is definitely not a piece of cake. “Actually, mas tiring siya than having a corporate job,” she says, speaking from experience. “But if you’re passionate about it, you’ll keep going.”
Her advice to aspiring bakers: “Stick to your pricing. Do your homework. Do your costing. Ikaw dapat ang magdi-dictate ng presyo ng products mo based sa kaya mong ibigay na output,” she says. “As you go along your journey, it would be better to attend workshops as that will improve the quality of your work. Because of that, mas tataas din ng pwede mong singilin sa client mo.”
Mel says she dreams of having a two-story property where she could have a baking supplies store on the first level, and a workshop area and storage room on the second level.
As for couples who are not yet blessed with children, her message is: “Know in your heart that if you truly want something, you must be willing to undergo the process. It’s a journey. Kung tingin ninyo financially hindi n’yo kaya, maniwala lang kayo that God provides. Meron at merong darating [na tulong]. Tutulungan ka ni God para magawa mo ang gusto mong gawin.”
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