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Amy Sisti-Baum
Retail Sales and Account Manager
Tom Cat Bakery
April 28, 2010

A woman on a mission, Amy knew she wanted to work in food from the get-go, and managed to forge a unique path to her predestination.  With a degree in Food & Nutrition in Business from Arizona State University under her belt, she went in search of a job in a test kitchen. But such openings were few and far between, so she moved to NYC and got in the game from a different angle. She found her niche in cheese, working her way up from fromager at Picholine, Manager of Murray's Cheese, cheese-making in Italy and upstate NY, and then back to Murray's to run their Mail Order business.  In February 2009, she moved over to Tom Cat Bakery to sell bread to the best food establishments around the city.

What attracted you to a good food job?

Food is the common ingredient in almost all of my greatest memories. Before I had chosen my career in food, the times that mattered most to me from childhood were ones spent around the stove, preparing for holidays, learning from my grandmother and eating foods that my mother and I would forage from every specialty grocery.

When it came time in college to choose a career, I explored the science of eating (nutrition) and decided I was much more interested in the art of eating. So, I thought the only option was to work in a kitchen. As I immersed myself in the food world, publishing specifically, it became clear just how many opportunities were out there. And so many of them led me to New York City.

Over the years, I stripped away certain elements to get to the heart of what I love most about food. Discovering it, talking about it and sharing it with others.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

My current work doing outside sales for Tom Cat Bakery, an artisan bread bakery in NYC, is a sum total of my past experiences. Working in restaurants helped me to understand the language and quick movement of the kitchen, working in a 3-star outfit taught me how to handle difficult situations gracefully, working for a small company helped me to be flexible and accommodating and working as a cheesemaker helped me appreciate the elements of what I work with and the people who work so passionately to produce it.

What advice do you have for others in search of a good food job?

Be flexible and humble when you are starting out. Don't think you are above any job. Because the people who make it to the top of their career are generally the ones who had the dirtiest fingernails at the end of a shift. And those are the people I like best.

Also, the food industry is a tight-knit group. Everyone knows everyone. Be kind. Karma.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

If my magic genie came along, I might ask for same pay with less hours. What would I do with that time? Bake more cookies.

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