#039 - Saying 'yes' + cupcakes = recipe for success

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💡 THOUGHT

The power of saying 'Yes' (plus cupcakes) 🧁 

Your willingness to say 'yes' in life creates your reality. Just ask Daniella Park, who left high school – severely dyslexic – with just a business plan.

"I begged my parents and teachers to just give me a chance," she recalls.

In this podcast clip, Daniella tells the story of how she landed Malaysian Airlines as her first client. She'd bake ornate cupcakes, put them in clear boxes, and walk around Sydney, Australia's business district (pretending to be on a delivery). Curious onlookers would ask for her card. She'd say she ran out, but give them a cookie instead and ask for their email.

Daniella now runs her own company and is the head baker and spokesperson for an a la carte education company called Baketivity (see more below).

Daniella’s advice to young entrepreneurs:

"Say yes to everything. Most times it works. Sometimes it kills you. But it always gives you lessons."

📊 TREND

Hands-on STEM

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has been perhaps the biggest trend in learning in the past 20 years. Google N-grams shows mentions starting to climb around 2001 and then exploding around 2010.

The push for STEM education comes partly from the recognition that many of the best-paying jobs and opportunities lie in these fields. However, there's also a growing awareness that STEM focus should be balanced with creative thinking, leading to the inclusion of “Arts” in many so-called “STEAM” programs. There's also been a shift towards hands-on, experiential learning in STEM to make abstract concepts more concrete and to engage all five senses to make lessons stick. Which brings us too this week’s tool…

🛠️ TOOL

Baketivity: à la Carte learning has never been so delicious.

Enter Baketivity, a company that integrates hands-on STEM with (checks notes)… baking?

As head baker Daniella puts it, "Baking is like the perfect classroom for your brain. It ignites all five senses, making learning stick better than any textbook ever could."

Baketivity offers a monthly subscription box that includes pre-measured ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and educational content linking the baking process to learning outcomes. From understanding chemical reactions in rising dough to calculating ratios for recipe scaling, Baketivity turns your home kitchen into a delicious, hands-on STEM lab.

Want to try it out? Use code OPENED10 for 10% off your Baketivity subscription.

(COMIC) OF THE DAY

This one’s for the STEM teachers…

That’s all for today!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)