Jamie Li was in the world of cosmetics, working on everything from sales to beauty marketing. But when she was diagnosed with cancer, she found a way to combine what she loved. NBC Bay Area’s Gia Vang spoke with Li to understand her journey and how baking has become her career.
Jamie Li was in the world of cosmetics, working on everything from sales to beauty marketing. But when she was diagnosed with cancer, she found a way to combine what she loved.
Li, a stage 2 breast cancer survivor and owner of Cakes by Jami Li, said her journey was "unconventional" but allowed her to find ways to work with food, design, and art.
"It was really something that I didn't actually stumble into, and I feel like my journey was really unconventional," Li said. "The stars aligned, and here we are.
She said baking a few cakes during her treatment helped keep her "calm" and "focused on things." Before deciding to return to work, Li took a baking class to see if she liked it.
Li now runs a bespoke cake company from her peninsula home and was selected as one of 13 competitors in the Food Network's "Spring Baking Competition," vying to win $25,000.
Food Network "reached out and [...] I looked at that email for about a good month before I responded," Li said. "It was something I thought to myself, 'Am I actually going to do this? Am I going to put myself out there? Why the heck not?' With every second, it's once in a lifetime."
According to Food Network, in the first episode that aired on March 10, bakers were "challenged to use flavor, texture, and design to craft a flower-themed dessert that reflects their unique personalities. "
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Throughout the season, competitors will "take on enchanting challenges, including 'squared off' fruit entremets celebrating the blocky, adventurous world of A Minecraft Movie, intricate butterfly-shaped napoleons, ice-cream-filled cake bombs with a glow-in-the-dark twist, three-layer cakes inspired by Marie Antoinette’s iconic gravity-defying hairdo and more."
"The comradery. What you see there and how we help each other out it's a little bit unexpected, you would think, from a competition show, but you're going to see a lot of that on this show," Li said. "The competition isn't so much against the other bakers as it is with yourself and the time clock."
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"Spring Baking Championship" airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. on Food Network, Max and Discovery+.
Gia Vang has the full interview with Li in the interview above.
