What could be better than having a well-paid job, a friendly team and fair bosses? Every person dreams of such a gift of fate, but not the heroine of our today's history, Alexander Zhebrak. Career growth, a salary that allows you not to deny yourself anything, stability and confidence in the future - all this the girl exchanged for taking a step into the unknown and trying to find herself in this world. And this is what came of it.
From Voronezh to Tel Aviv
Alexandra was born in Voronezh, but for some reason the idea of spending her whole life in her hometown frightened her frankly. From the age of thirteen, the girl dreamed of how to escape from here, because there were so many interesting places in the world. However, mom was categorically against it. She told her daughter that first you need to finish school, then university, somehow get settled in life, and only then, having gained financial independence, think about changing your place of residence.
Alexandra entered Voronezh University, as the parent wanted, but she had enough for six months. The girl learned about the possibility of studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and, without thinking twice, moved to Israel. Our heroine entered the faculty of economics and statistics, since she liked mathematics from childhood. However, the study was not as simple as Alexander had suggested. Due to ignorance of Hebrew, she did not understand anything at lectures. After classes, she had to take notes from classmates and translate them into Russian.
However, at the age of seventeen, even such a problem as a language barrier seems to be a mere trifle. Our heroine was quite optimistic. After receiving a diploma, she went in search of work.
Golden cage
First, the girl worked as an insurance agent, then as an accountant, and then as a financial analyst at the bank. The salary was quite decent: it was enough for renting comfortable housing, food, clothes, entertainment, and even for saving. The team was quite friendly, relations with the authorities also developed well, but soon Alexandra became very bored.
It seemed to her that life was passing by somewhere, that she fell into a golden cage, which she really wanted to get out of, but she was scared, because at stake were material well-being, stability, confidence in the future. However, there were many shortcomings in the work: from morning to night you sit in the office, rewrite the numbers from one column to another, then to provide reports to serious uncles who will make important decisions. You see the sea only from the window, because there is simply no time to go to the beach. Longing, and only.
Looking for yourself
In order to somehow unwind, our heroine began to walk through cafes and restaurants. Most of all she was attracted to establishments where one could see the kitchen and the work of cooks. Alexandra sincerely admired their skill: how can you create such exquisite dishes from such simple ingredients?
Then the girl decided to try to cook such dishes at home. Through trial and error, she was able to understand the principle. The praise and compliments of friends who tasted the homemade delicacies of the Russian woman gave her confidence.
Alexandra went to a six-month pastry course at the Israeli Institute of Culinary Arts in Tel Aviv. Our heroine chose this direction, because she believed that making desserts is the highest level of skill.If you can make cakes, pastries, pastries, then with the main dishes you will definitely not have problems.
The girl did not quit work. In the afternoon I was engaged in bookkeeping, and in the evening I attended courses. In parallel, she signed up for a personal growth training to better understand herself, her dreams and her potential. At the end of the courses, Alexandra made the final decision and filed a letter of resignation of her own free will.
Invaluable experience
During the period of work in the bank, our heroine has accumulated enough money to not work for some time. Alexandra needed to gain experience, so she began to look for jobs in various institutions: either in a confectionery factory, then in a chocolate boutique, or in the best restaurant in Tel Aviv “Toto”. Somewhere, the girl was purely symbolically paid a penny, somewhere just allowed to practice for free (like an internship).
During this time, our heroine realized for herself the main thing - she found what she was looking for. Cooking is exactly what she would like to do for the rest of her life. However, to work for someone in stressful conditions, when they constantly shout and push you, the girl was not happy. It was necessary to think about starting your own business.
The first steps
After three months of wandering from one cafe to another, Alexandra turned to a business coach for help, who helped her arrange a startup and take the first steps in entrepreneurial activity. The girl began to bake cakes to order, but she felt that she lacked knowledge. Then she went to study at a culinary school in Barcelona. At this time, our heroine started her own page on Instagram, where she shared with users the results of her work. Alexandra wanted to have a small client base upon arrival in Israel.
When her studies in Barcelona ended, the girl was horrified to find that she had enough money for a maximum of six months. Oddly enough, she took an unexpected decision for herself: she left for three months in Altai to rethink the situation and restore strength.
Lucky case
Returning to Israel, Alexandra came to grips with the business. She baked cakes and pastries at home, and then posted photos on the Internet. Once she received an order from the famous actress and blogger Nastya Tsvetaeva. It was necessary to bake a cake for her daughter's birthday: the baby was two years old. Nastya really liked Alexandra’s baked goods, and she published pictures of goodies in her Instagram. For a day, the number of subscribers of our heroine increased by six hundred people. Orders rained down, and Alexandra realized that she had waited for her finest hour.
Future plans
Now the girl plans to open her own bakery, since she was tired of working at home. And there are so many orders that in a small kitchen you can’t manage everyone. In addition to creating desserts to order, Alexandra conducts master classes.