The Monkey Diaries: The Price of Fame

About author / Rebecca Michaels

Queen of the desserts and pastry chef extraordinaire; graduate French Culinary Institute; Golden Scoop Award winner; Flying Monkey Bakery founder

Editor's Note: This article is another installment in the chronicles of Chef Rebecca Michaels' activities in opening her new patisserie, Flying Monkey, in Philadelphia. Click here to view previous chapters.

One of the most difficult aspects of opening the Monkey for me has been the publicity element.  I'm a naturally introverted person and having to 'sell myself' is not something that I feel remotely comfortable doing.  But I recognize that it is a necessary evil for me to do this.  Hopefully it has gotten me out of my own comfort zone and given me a new edge of self-confidence that will be helpful in my bakery pursuits.

I've done several interviews over the past couple of weeks.  The first followed Reading Terminal's 114th birthday party.  I supplied the cake and lots of samples of my products to formally introduce Flying Monkey to the good people of Philadelphia.  Passing out samples and talking to people one-on-one was actually a lot of fun.  I enjoy chitchatting with people generally.  I've been working for myself for so long that it's been nice to shmooze a little.  After the party, someone from one of the local radio stations asked if he could interview me.  He pulled me aside and started asking me about the origins of the Flying Monkey name.

"Well, I have a bit of a monkey fetish!"

I said that!  Yikes!  Yes, it's true, I do have a thing for monkeys, particularly monkeys in clothes, but a fetish?  I need some serious public speaking coaching!  In any event, the reporter laughed it off and said "Ha ha!  Can we say that on the air?"  Ha ha is right!

Fortunately, I never got to hear that interview.  Truth be told, it probably didn't come off as badly as I thought, since we are always our own worst critic.  But I pretty much blew my opportunity to 'sell' the Monkey and extol its delicious goodness.  Oh well, if anyone heard it, it's not likely they'll forget it for a while!

Most recently I did a phone interview with Philadelphia Magazine for the first page of Taste, the food section for the April edition.  The interview was short and sweet and this time I actually had time to prepare my responses.  I felt much less pressure, though, because a large part of the piece was a photo spread of some of my work, not my words.

What's funny is that one of the things that appealed to me about working in the kitchen was just that: back of the house, doing my job, enjoying my work, part of the team behind the scenes.  I think there are many introverts who choose this line of work--other than the small minority of chefs who have the need for fame and celebrity.   If you don't enjoy the everyday aspects of this job--the long hours, the exhaustion, the cooking and cleaning, the relative solitude--you won't stick with it for long.  Notions of fame and fortune are not enough impetus for many people to put up with the drudgeries of chef life.  Fame is a long way from that kitchen.

So, wish me luck.  The next few months guarantee much needed publicity for The Monkey.  Hopefully, I can pick up a few acting techniques.  I'll be sure to pass them on.