It took all of three weeks for Steinhardt junior Sara Hunt to land a job at one of New York City’s most popular bakeries.

Hunt, a nutrition and food studies major, is no stranger to the restaurant industry. She’s already hosted a cooking demo on a local news channel, worked as an executive pastry chef and is a brand ambassador for seven different companies. Hunt’s journey, which began when she was just six years old, combines a love for cooking with a practical approach.

“I started cooking when I was six years old,” Hunt said. “I was homeschooled at the time, and one day I told my mom I was really bored. She said, ‘go bake some muffins.’ I was terrified of the oven but ended up doing really well. I enjoyed it, and I started cooking here and there just for fun.”

She realized she could turn cooking into a career after she joined a culinary program at her high school, where she won one of the program’s competitions. Although she initially dreamed of attending culinary school, she chose NYU instead, initially studying hospitality, travel and tourism management at the School of Professional Studies. Feeling unfulfilled in her classes, however, she became inspired to enter New York City’s restaurant scene. 

Hunt landed a job as a hostess at Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery, a buzzing NoHo cafe that had recently gained fame for its Suprême croissant. A few months later, she became a pastry chef at the restaurant — something that she saw as pure “luck.”

“One of the pastry chefs almost dropped one of her pans of croissants, and I caught it for her — so no pastries went to waste,” Hunt said. “I ended up asking her, ‘do you have to go to culinary school to be a pastry chef here?’ I thought you had to be the best of the best to work here.”

The bakery was hiring, and soon enough, she was working 60 hours a week. Hunt, who also pays for school by doing social media work, is currently working as a brand ambassador for seven different companies, from Kendra Scott and Hollister Co. to TurboTax and Pringles. But juggling all of her many commitments has also been a source of struggle.

While Hunt has found numerous successes in the last couple years, her time at NYU has also been defined by hardship. In the fall of her first year, she was sexually assaulted by another NYU student. Dealing with a Title IX investigation — on top of being a full-time student, working as a pastry chef and paying for school — created further obstacles.

“There have definitely been times where I was cooking during a shift and I would burn something, drop something on the floor or dirty a dish,” Hunt said. “These things all pile up to a breaking point, whereas once you start prioritizing your mental health, issues just don’t feel as big anymore.”

As her challenges started to accumulate, she recognized it was time to put her mental health first, which she believes is crucial for the kitchen.

“That’s kind of what got me into baking in the first place — that sense of control,” she said. “Mental health and food go very hand in hand.”

She later applied to be a server at The Appalachian, a modern rustic restaurant back home in East Tennessee, during the summer after her first year. But thanks to her work experience at Lafayette Bakery, Hunt ended up landing a spot as The Appalachian’s executive pastry chef. That summer, she designed recipes for the restaurant’s dessert menu, including a blackberry beignet sundae and a strawberry lemonade mille-feuille pastry. 

While she still doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do in the future, she hopes to one day open a bakery or explore other career paths in food and nutrition.

“I’m so lucky to have so many people in the professional industry, as well as peers, believe in me,” Hunt said. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Contact Chinara Dorancy at [email protected].