Her passion for baking started with helping her family in the kitchen at Christmas time. Her first baking responsibility was getting to mix in the chocolate chips into the cookies. It was one time of the year where she got to see her green snowman spatula and it always brought her joy. 

Sophomore Audri Fleming has started a bakery business named C3 bakery, where she sells cupcakes, cookies and cakes. Audri started her bakery in eighth grade to help her mom fund a trip to London. 

“It was about $300 that I raised to help my mom not worry about [paying for the trip] because it was really expensive,” Audri said. “I think I continued [running my bakery] because it gave me something to do and then I realized that it was my passion, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do forever.”

Audri has been able to accomplish her goal of starting her bakery with the help and support of her mother. 

“She’s had to be very responsible, managing her time, what she can and can’t do, how long it takes,” mother Crissy Fleming said. “It’s hard to own your own business.”

After high school, Audri plans to continue pursuing her passion by attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. From there she hopes to open her own store.

“I want to go to the Culinary Institute of America which is in Hyde Park, New York,” Audri said. “They will teach me everything I need to know related to baking and business running.” 

Audri grew up baking with her family, before she discovered her passion, she wanted to be a teacher. After she began watching “Cupcake Wars” in fifth grade, she set a goal for herself to start baking.

“In fifth grade I binge watched three seasons of Cupcake Wars in a week,” Audri said.“I was so fascinated by all of it so then I made the goal for myself to start baking and here I am.”

Throughout this experience, Audri has gained a lot of support from her family and friends, especially when it comes to her future in baking. Even though Audri is not taking an average route after high school, her friends have a very positive outlook for her future.

“Ever since I met her in sixth grade, she has always wanted to be a baker,” sophomore Saba Ali said. “I think it’s actually pretty cool. It’s not a normal career path; it’s kind of different, unique to her.”

Audri hopes that by running her business as a teenager she can inspire others to follow their dreams as well. The hard work that she puts in always rewarded by the customers satisfaction.

“[You just have to] go for it, don’t give up just because you don’t have a consistent amount of orders, it’ll be rough at first but just keep going, push through it,” Audri said. “[It makes me] really happy, especially when you see the faces of people when they get their dessert– they smile.”