I think its easy to know the difference between a Talent and a Skill. Talents are what you are naturally good at, excel at, interested in; whereas, a skill is something you learn, train to do, test and attain levels of proficiency. Both are amazing to have but does it take both to be successful in life?
For me, I found that I always loved making things very orderly and beautiful– from childhood to now, there’s something about having balance and beauty that brings me peace and harmony. But does that feeling make a career? Not technically, but could it? Well…that’s what I had been pondering for many years. Let’s dive in.
I attended college and received a B.S. Degree in Human Ecology; Concentration in Foods, Nutrition & Dietetics. Was my end goal to be a Registered Dietician? Honestly, I had no idea…but all I knew is that that was the road at the time. Somehow it all came to a crossroads when I ran upon an ad in a magazine saying “Become A Pastry Chef…” with the page being sponsored by Johnson & Wales University. I took a step back, reread the page and looked up and said to myself “….well, I do like chocolate and I love making things pretty…” And that ladies and gentlemen is literally the reasoning I had for applying for Culinary School. Literally the quickest thought plan of my life. Its a bit of a story on how I got there, what all I did and when I graduated, but in the end, I found myself with a passion for excellence, art, foods, training, uniform, customer service, determination…Oh I was ready to conquer the world– or at least my first job.
The completion of culinary school, of which I received a degree in Baking Pastry Arts, was a huge milestone and opened up so many doors as I started to dive into internships, full time positions, competitions, local groups, chat rooms (yes, even AOL had pastry chat rooms!), professional clubs, accredited programs…I was all over it developing myself and the learned skill. Upon the continuance of pastry and working on the bench, and moving into a more corporate role as I grew up, what I found was it was certainly a very strong mixture of skillset and talent. I felt that the more I developed the skill of pastry arts, the better my natural talents of artistic flow became. It literally went hand-in-hand.
For this new venture of mine, I do bring a lot to this concierge platform. I bring a skillset of baking, but my natural talents are with placement, vision of experience, interfacing with people, and combining things to create a vibe that no one can do like me. I cherish every challenge, experience, and run-in I’ve had in my life for it all provided me with the tools to do this job quite well.
So does it take both to be successful? For me- it sure does! Cheers- Kami Kamaill