An alumna of Kennesaw State took the leap of following her dreams and created a business that the masses have grown to love — including a few celebrities.
Elise Akin graduated in May 2017 with a degree in business management from KSU. She is now putting her degree to use, managing “Bake and Skate,” a bakery and longboard shop she has been operating completely by herself for the last year and a half.
Bake and Skate not only offers vegan and gluten-free goods, but also the opportunity to purchase hand-painted longboards and hand-stitched apparel.
“It had been my dream since I was about 15 years old,” Akin said when asked how the idea came about. “I’d always watch my older cousin bake at her job and think, ‘That looks like so much fun. I want to do that.'”
At 17, Akin found the inspiration to incorporate longboards into her business plan.
Akin remembers the idea of naming the business Bake and Skate as somewhat of a joke.
“You know, I should just open both of them and call it ‘Bake and Skate.’ It kind of rhymes,” Akin said. “But then as I got to college, I was like, ‘Hey, I should actually do this. It’s super unconventional, but why not?'”
Akin credits her former entrepreneurship professor at KSU for having much to do with her transitioning from an idea to a tangible business. He would always stress that his students create some kind of online shop, she said.
“I guess I had been putting it off a while because I thought that if I opened the shop and made a website, I was all in,” Akin said. “I had to start paying a monthly fee for the eCommerce platform, so it really hit that I was invested in this shenanigan called Bake and Skate.”
Starting off with a little traction from a few Instragram influencers, Bake and Skate has now grown exponentially and reached the hands of several different celebrities.
Bella and Sadie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty,” musician Childish Gambino and the McKnight YouTube family have all received products and shown support of Akin’s creation.
Although the business has reached new heights, success did not come overnight for Akin. She recalls the troubles of having people see and believe in her vision.
“I would have heaps of older businessmen and professors meet with me and say things like, ‘You know, Elise, I like the bakery side of it. But I just don’t get the whole bakery-meets-longboarding part. Maybe you should just stick to one of the shops, and you’ll be much more successful,'” Akin said. “And I would always politely explain that my dream wasn’t just for ‘bake’ or ‘skate,’ it was for ‘Bake and Skate.'”
There have been times where Akin wanted to give up, wondering what having a normal nine-to-five job would be like. But the thoughts barely lasted once reality hit, confirming that normal would be the last thing she wants in life.
“I don’t want to be in a cubicle counting down the seconds until the weekend,” Akin said. “I want to wake up every morning and get so excited to paint things and stitch things — that’s the dream.”
Akin encourages students who want to start their own business to just do it.
“Don’t save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. It’s going to be tough times sometimes, and you probably won’t always get the support of everyone you want, but there are going to be so many people who root for you and watch you grow,” Akin said.
For more information about Bake and Skate, visit the shop’s instagram @Bakeandskate.
