The sky's the limit for these women who are baking bread. And now the bakery caught a big break.
What do bread and a path to success for women have in common?
For a group of bakers in New York, the answer is a whole lot.
First, take a minute to feast your eyes on these delicious creations:
YUM! All photos taken by Evan Sung, used with permission from Hot Bread Kitchen.
And these:
Or how about these little pieces of heaven?
Now that you're thinking about delicious, warm bread, let's get to the reason I'm torturing you with baked goodness: Hot Bread Kitchen.
Hot Bread Kitchen's almacén location, where those delicious bread items are sold.
Hot Bread Kitchen is a New York City-based bakery, and so much more... It gives foreign-born and low-income women a real opportunity to build a secure future.
Here's how it works: The bakery raises money for training programs by selling multiethnic breads — like Armenian lavash, Mexican nixtamal tortillas, Moroccan m'smen, Persian flatbreads, and Bangladeshi chapati — that are inspired by the women it serves.
(Even better: They don't use any chemical preservatives, colors, or flavors, and they source locally grown produce and grains. Double win!)
Jessamyn Rodriguez, CEO and founder of Hot Bread Kitchen, explains: "We help women who have skill and passion around the culinary arts become successful in the baking industry."
The delicious byproduct? "A line of multi-ethnic breads that we sell to help pay for a high quality training that includes math, English, and job skills."
Rodriguez told me that they're basically the United Nations of bread! (I love that.)
It might be hard to picture a bakery changing lives. But it has.
Take Altea, for instance. (Name has been changed to protect her privacy.)
Rodriguez shared her story with me: In 2011, Altea's dream came true. She won the green card lottery and migrated from Albania to America. In New York City, Altea found a job as a childcare provider for an Albanian family. But she wasn't making much money and she felt isolated. She wanted more opportunities for her future, but she didn't know how to get them.
A Hot Bread Kitchen graduate told Altea about the paid training program, and she started in 2013. Before long, she was a pro at mixing and shaping dough.
But she still wasn't fluent in English and faced an uphill battle as a result. She didn't let that stop her, though. Altea kept learning and soon was working on the commercial ovens where, Rodriguez said, "her true talents shined. It is one of the most difficult tasks in the bakery."
Altea's full-time position at Hot Bread Kitchen allowed her to earn 35% more money than her previous job, plus she gained healthcare, paid vacations, and other benefits.
In 2014, Altea was offered a full-time position as a shift manager at Hot Bread Kitchen, "earning 35% more than her job in childcare with paid vacations, healthcare, and other benefits," Rodriquez said.
Altea's hard work paid off. Today, she's a lead baker at Hot Bread Kitchen. She trains other bakers on the ovens, all while devoting time and energy outside work to developing her English skills.
"I am thankful for Hot Bread Kitchen for learning how to speak English and to work at a job I love," says Altea.
A baker working in Hot Bread Kitchen.
Graduates of Hot Bread Kitchen's training program work at bakeries all over New York City — "changing the face of a male-dominated industry," says Rodriguez. And, she adds, "We get excited sharing the traditional bread recipes from around the world that many New Yorkers haven't had the opportunity to taste."
Just last month, Hot Bread Kitchen earned a game-changing opportunity: a mentorship with JetBlue airlines.
Called "BlueBud," the JetBlue initiative is designed to foster relationships with environmentally and socially responsible food companies and start-ups.
The goal is for Hot Bread Kitchen to learn how to become a supplier for large commercial companies — like airlines. To accomplish that, JetBlue offers tours of catering centers, speaking and taste-testing opportunities so that JetBlue employees and customers can become familiar with Hot Bread Kitchen. And the bakery will have access to JetBlue so that they can learn everything they need to know about becoming a vendor.
Rodriguez told me that for a growing social enterprise, it's a tremendous opportunity. "We are hopeful that access to JetBlue's audience will allow more people to hear the stories of the women who we train and increase awareness of all of the incredible multiethnic bread offerings that New Yorkers might miss out on if organizations like ours didn't exist," she explains.
For Hot Bread Kitchen, the mentorship opportunity could open so many doors for women just like Altea.
I asked Rodriguez where she hopes her organization will be in five years.
"I see New York City as the proof of concept — we have, over the last five years, proven that there is a market for our mission-driven company," she explained. Now, she wants to replicate the model all across the country. "Our partnership with JetBlue is synonymous with our hope to travel beyond our New York roots to prove that our business can impact the livelihood and prosperity of women in many geographies."
I hope it does just that!
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.