Business beyond the books

BY ANDREA MASE, STAFF WRITER

DESPITE HER ALREADY busy days, Gables mathematics teacher Rebeca Reinoso spends her free time pursuing an entrepreneurial hobby through her small business: Creative Yummy Desserts.

Teaching for 23 years, Reinoso has a love for both math and baking. After a little convincing from her sister-in-law, she transformed her passion for pastries into a part-time career by selling items such as cakes, cake pops and macarons. Running her business alone since 2019 while continuing to teach has helped her stay organized, taught her prioritization skills and motivated her to continue her business.

“You can do anything you want,” Reinoso said. “The excuse of not having enough time is really on you because, if you organize yourself enough, you can accomplish anything.”

Baking has always held a special place in Reinoso’s heart, as she considers her time baking as time to herself, allowing her to forget about all other responsibilities and focus on what she does best: being creative.

Accordingly, her customers delight in her ingenious designs, including a cake resembling a cheeseburger, a golf course pull-apart cake and owl-themed cookies. She makes desserts for graduations, birthdays and other events, thrilling her customers with the results, so much so that they comment their praises on her Instagram @creativeyummydesserts.

However, this new job did not diminish Reinoso’s love of teaching. This culinary passion began during her time as a math tutor, an endeavor she began in seventh grade, and only continued to grow throughout her journey to becoming a teacher. Reinoso’s favorite aspect of being an educator is experiencing the moments when her students feel confident about their abilities in mathematics, a difficult subject for many. She practices the same persistence in her baking.

“Not everything goes your way, especially when a cake is falling over and you can’t do anything to stop it except allow it to fall and correct your mistakes,” Reinoso said.

Consequently, Reinoso has become a positive example for her students as a teacher-entrepreneur. She makes sure to prioritize her responsibilities, utilizing techniques such as making lists and setting time limits to prevent herself from overworking. She values staying organized and having backup plans to maintain the balance between both passions.

Similar to her students, Reinoso is an extremely busy person, juggling being a mother, a teacher and a baker. She understands her students’ struggles with managing extracurriculars, schoolwork and their personal lives. She feels that with her dual careers, she can understand that her students are under the same amount of pressure. She takes this understanding into her teaching style by, for example, implementing less homework and ensuring that every assignment is meaningful.

“Whenever a student is struggling, she takes her time to help them when she is teaching or tutoring and goes above and beyond to make sure they succeed,” senior Ashley Lira, one of Reinoso’s students and aides, said.

In the future, Reinoso hopes to make her baking business a full-time job after retiring from teaching. Projecting to execute this goal in 10 years, she recommends all teachers who are thinking about pursuing a side job to commit to the challenge because of the many benefits she has experienced, such as bringing in a second income and perfecting a hobby. Juggling two jobs, Reinoso knows what it means to be an innovative Cavalier. Expressing her creativity through multiple channels, she allows her students and customers to reap the benefits of her talents.