by Abaigeal Nicholas, a junior advertising and public relations major from Omaha
With high entrepreneurial aspirations, University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Olivia Wilson decided transferring into the College of Journalism and Mass Communications was the perfect recipe for success.
Wilson is a junior at the university and she has been running a burgeoning baked goods business out of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority's kitchen. Since the beginning of college, Wilson had never felt a passion for her business major.
“I needed a creative outlet, and I was feeling very lost in the business college. Now, I’m taking classes that truly help me market to the niche audience I’m trying to reach,” Wilson said.
Although Wilson has always been dead set on her confectionary dreams, she wrestled with whether she should continue to pursue a business degree for her career. Since she changed her major to advertising and public relations last spring, she has begun to use her newfound advertising skills to curate a memorable brand and gain traction with students on campus. She is now more passionate about her education than she could have ever imagined.
In the midst of schoolwork, Wilson manages to sell cookies once or twice a week. Because the cooks of Kappa Alpha Theta prep meals in the morning and afternoon, she typically prepares the cookies after they have left the kitchen in the evening. Once she has baked the cookies, she markets the goodies on her Instagram and Snapchat, then waits for the flood of responses from customers who come to her sorority to pick them up.
“Since we only get dessert once a week at our sorority, Olivia’s cookies are always a hit. It’s really cool that she has so many students that are already a fan of her business. I can tell she is going to do big things,” said Wilson’s sorority sister Anna Schulz.
Though she is relatively new on the culinary scene, Wilson has inspiring pursuits in mind for her future career. After finishing her degree at UNL, she hopes to attend culinary school at Metropolitan Community College and later run her own bakery. She said she is interested in all things culinary but will spend most of her time honing her baking skills. Cakes and macarons are her baking favorites, but she said she truly enjoys baking anything, especially new recipes with a fresh take.
Wilson gets a lot of her inspiration from trendy social media creations. Bright colors, abstract shapes and an overall mantra of “Push it” is driving the vision for her future bakery.
Wilson is thinking of calling her bakery “OG Bakes,” based on her first and middle initials to create an original brand. Not only does she have sweet dreams for her own career, she hopes to use her business to carry out philanthropic efforts.
“I also want to do something with the less fortunate who don’t have that luxury of getting meals and simply having food on the table,” Wilson said.
While baking is a great source of joy in Wilson’s life, her time in the profession has also brought endless growth and, at times, constructive failure.
“My biggest learning experience is that things don’t typically work out the first time, which is OK. It’s a lot of work and takes time to notice that you’re doing something wrong and you can improve it,” she said.
Despite the constant trial and error required for making new culinary creations, she continues to find new ways to innovate.
“That’s another aspect I love about the College of Journalism and Mass Communications: messing up isn’t failure; it’s simply an opportunity to learn and get helpful critiques,” Wilson said.
