A Pastry Chef with a Big Heart Paola Velez, Co-Founder of Bakers Against Racism, shared inspiration behind the organization’s efforts toward Racial Justice
by Natalia Garcia “I saw that you did a month-long pop-up for undocumented immigrants, and I was wondering if you wanted to do one more to set up relief for bail funds?” “I [asked] her, “Is that enough? Is this worth doing? Is anything gonna change if we do this one thing?” I told her, “Give me some time to think about it, and if I can participate, I will.” Throughout that time I was ranting to my husband, “How could the world be like this? Don’t go outside. I can’t believe that people would choose to hate each other during a pandemic...when does it end?” Finally I thought, “I wish there were more people like me who would do these bake sales,” and I realized, if Willa and I team up together, then we double our efforts, and if I do a call to action, we could quadruple, we could [multiply] it by a hundred.
Tell us a little about your background. I’m from the Bronx. I was born and raised there. My mom is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. I currently live in D.C., but I went to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu, worked many years in New York, and my family owned restaurants in Manhattan called Mary Ann’s in the 80s, the 90s, and the early 2000s. Other than that, I’ve won many awards for being a pastry chef, although I’m not classically trained as a pastry chef. I went to culinary school for savory and only took two courses in pastry. So when you put your mind to it, sky’s the limit. It sounds really cool. What inspired you to start Bakers Against Racism? The organization was founded in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. It was built out of a lot of frustration, anger, and helplessness within myself. My husband and I are Afro-Latinos; knowing that we live below the Mason–Dixon line, it scared me when I saw that happening to George Floyd. Chef Willa [Pelini] reached out and said,
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So I charted out everything that I’d learned throughout my pop-up...I created all these documents and forms to help people understand how to do what I did, [and do it] themselves: how to partner with chefs, how to accept payment when you’re a home cook, what laws you should be looking out for. I reached out to Rob Rubba, and I was like “Hey, you know how to do scrappy design, and I want to get some graphics from you,” and he was like “Yes!” I said, “Not only do I want graphics, I want you to stand with me as a co-founder of Bakers Against Racism. And he was like, “This is totally rad, I love it, yes.” I gathered everything, and I sent it over to Willa. “I know you wanted to do just one thing, but what if we did this instead? Are you willing to participate and do you want to be a co-founder?” And she was like “Yes, absolutely.” And then she (as a white woman) went [out] and started giving resources to people who were not people of color. Because I can speak through my experience, you know? I don’t know how to relate [to white people] like that. She was able to spearhead podcasts, make documents about how to be an ally, how to be kind, how to be introspective. We launched on a Thursday and went completely viral. Probably one of the biggest viral movements in the baking community. We grew exponentially overnight, and by the time that we launched the actual bake sales, we had raised over $1.9 million. In the spirit of
transparency, I don’t want people to just look at the amount raised, but look at the impact. At small business owners who were able to use these [resources] to open up their own shop. People who were able to utilize their businesses to donate and give back to the community. Organizations like Auyda D.C. who were able to go national, as opposed to the localized platform they’ve had for years. I consider Bakers Against Racism a lighthouse organization where we vet and point people that want to do good, to organizations that are boots on the ground. I really admire that. As someone whose parents were also undocumented immigrants, it’s good to see that there are people out there willing to give others a chance. Of course. If we’re being frank, the restaurant industry wouldn’t be what it is without the undocumented workforce. If we don’t take care of the undocumented workforce, and not only help them have a better quality of life, but have pathways to citizenship, the industry won’t be around for much longer. That’s a very big, uphill battle that a lot of chefs, especially Latino chefs, are fighting right now. What obstacles did you encounter when starting out? As a woman of color, I know it had to be difficult. Very difficult. I was told when I was starting culinary school that I’m too shy, too nervous, too small to make a dent in the industry. I was told [by some] that I would be a good housewife with the skills I was learning. It was, from the jump, very difficult to exist in the culinary industry. There were moments of sexual assault, things I wish I would have never encountered. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to insulate and protect myself, but one of the biggest challenges was protecting my mental health. I would say the biggest hurdles have been believing in myself, taking a chance on myself, learning how to tune out the rejection, to keep moving. Totally hear you. I go to a high school focused on cooking, so it’s hard to stand out when everyone’s always trying to do something. But we have to try.
