At home with Ella Stewart

Ella Stewart has two great passions, one is baking and the other is supporting mental health awareness. She has combined them both and created Bake Well Being where she holds workshops, bake-alongs plus one-to-one and group coaching. She talks to Lynda Clark about how it all began, buying her first home and gives some great advice for first time buyers

FTB: You are soon to buy your first home; can you tell us about it?

ES: I am very lucky and in a privileged position because I currently live between my parents’ and my boyfriend’s houses, and they don’t take any rent from me. This has enabled me to save and I now have quite a decent deposit. I have spoken to a mortgage adviser and I am actively searching on different websites like Zoopla for a possible home I can buy within my price range. I am hoping to buy and move in by next spring. It’s very exciting to think I will have bought my first home by the time I am 25.

FTB: When did you start baking?

ES: When I was little I used to spend time with my grandparents while my mum was at work. My grandmother used to bake with me, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and we used to make fairy cupcakes. When I was old enough, I got a Saturday job in a cake shop, which also sold equipment and supplies to professional bakers who would come into the shop and gave me the chance to talk to them, which really inspired me. I stayed at the shop for eight years and loved every moment of it.

FTB: What did you do after you left school?

ES: I have always been very interested in mental health. I went to university to study Events Management and in my third year I pitched my idea in the University of Greenwich Enterprise Challenge and won the Social category. With the funding I got from my prize I decided to train and completed my Mental Health First Aid training and became a qualified Wellness and Resilience Coach. It was during the pandemic, so I had a lot of free time and apart from studying I spent time in the kitchen baking and practising different cake decorating skills. I also, with the help of my boyfriend, renovated a van and put in a kitchen and oven which can host around six people for workshops. It’s the Bake Well Being Mobile, her nickname is Van-essa, and it’s very exciting as I can take it to different places and do pop-up events and get out and about in the community. My boyfriend did most of the work but he did let me put a few screws in! It was a great project and we both had lots of fun while we remodelled it.

FTB: Tell us about Bake Well Being?

ES: At the moment, I run Bake Well Being as a Social Project missioning to get people baking for our wellbeing. I do this alongside having a full-time job as a PA at a school. I am lucky because I get long holidays and finish work at 4.30pm so I am home by 5pm and have plenty of time to focus on Bake Well Being initiatives in the evenings and school breaks. I run workshops and baking classes and host webinars in all the free time I have aiming to get every person talking, baking, and eating cake for their mental health. I’ve recently been working with Bromley Y, which supports young people with their mental health, and I run baking classes with a group of teenagers in conjunction with their mentoring programme encouraging them to use baking as a positive coping strategy.

FTB: Which cakes do you enjoy baking the most?

ES: During lockdown I spent so much time practicing every sort of cake and decoration

“I WOULD ADVISE ANY FIRST TIMER TO THINK WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE IN THREE YEARS’ TIME AND FOLLOW THAT THROUGH WITH THE CHOICE OF HOME YOU GO FOR”

I could image. But, I love to make a good old classic cupcake – it’s simply sponge and buttercream and then I pipe and decorate it in all different creative ways. It’s reminiscent of when I first started making fairy cakes with my grandmother, so it’s a bake that’s close to my heart and makes me feel very nostalgic.

FTB: What advice have you got for first time buyers?

ES: Think ahead as it can be a long process. When I initially started my search, I thought it was a box ticking exercise and it would all be done in a few months. But, one thing leads to another and it can take a really long time. I would advise any first timer to think where you would like to be in three years’ time and follow that through with the choice of home you go for – consider location, size and what you really need and want. Don’t feel pressurised or rushed as it’s a huge decision. I would also recommend everyone to do lots of research, which can be quite overwhelming. When I started looking online I got about 30,000 web results so I had no idea where to start. I think you need to work smarter and not harder and only go to trusted first time buyer sites to gather your knowledge and information and of course First Time Buyer magazine has a wealth of really useful features that essentially does a lot of the work for you!

FTB: What are your plans for the future?

ES: My goal is for Bake Well Being to become a full-time social enterprise one day. I need to be careful though because I have got a mortgage based on my full-time job and I don’t want to mess that up. I see Bake Well Being as my passion project until I am financially stable, but I will continue to follow my dreams in any way I can. I have around 2,300 followers on Instagram and lots of YouTube tutorials which are very popular, so my aim is to grow that number and pass on my passion to as many people as possible.

Instagram: @bakewellbeing Website: bakewellbeing.co.uk Email: info@bakewellbeing.co.uk

“I THINK YOU NEED TO WORK SMARTER AND NOT HARDER AND ONLY GO TO TRUSTED FIRST TIME BUYER SITES TO GATHER YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION”