Emilie Sandven grew up alongside her mother and grandmother in the kitchen, whetting her appetite for cooking. But it was a high school culinary arts class that stirred up her dream of becoming a pastry chef. She started hostessing in a hotel restaurant to get her foot in the door, and from there, she moved into the pastry department, where she rose from a seasonal apprentice to supervisor. 

The food and beverage sector offers a broad menu of specialties, and Emilie took advantage of each opportunity to grow along the way. She worked at several other hotels and restaurants and then moved to bakeries. In each position, she expanded her knowledge in a unique facet of food, from marking composed desserts and working with chocolate, to preparing banquets and managing operations to learning about baking bread and creating pastries.

As the Executive Chef of the Helena Avenue Bakery, she finds herself excited about going to work every day and appreciates the opportunity to be active, focused, analytical, and creative all at once. The tight-knit community within the industry provides continual encouragement and support for the hard work, and when you meet and make friends there, they are friends for life.