When Calista Wong graduated from university in 2019, she joined Singapore Airlines as an air stewardess and planned to stay for just two years.
However, she quickly grew to love the job and stayed for six years instead.
Despite her passion for flying, she decided to clip her wings last December to focus on running her home-based bakery, Wkndbakes, full-time.
In an interview with AsiaOne, the 30-year-old shared that she had felt the urge to leave at various points during her career, but kept postponing the decision due to a “nagging feeling”.
“Last year, it finally hit me that I wanted to leave,” she said.
Calista explained that her goal was to lead a more “family-centric life”, especially since she was caring for her ageing parents and two dogs, as well as planning for her wedding.
This proved difficult when she was an air stewardess, because her packed flying schedule left her with fewer than seven full days in Singapore each month.
“I think in a different universe, I would probably be flying for a very long time. But after missing a lot of important occasions, like my dogs’ birthdays, my parents’ birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings of my best friends, that was when I realised that I shouldn’t do this long-term,” she said.
Calista added that she would not be going back to the industry, despite having enjoyed her time as an SQ girl.
“I love flying, and I love the company and experiences that I had. But I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I am moving towards the next chapter of my life,” she said.
“It’s a chapter that I will never forget, and I have to close the book, but the book will always be on the bookshelf.”
Deepening her love for baking
As a child, Calista enjoyed baking with her elder sister, often making treats for family and friends.
Despite her love for baking, she never considered turning it into a career until the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
During that period, the sisters baked items like brownies, packed them with handwritten notes, and delivered them to their loved ones.
They received positive feedback, and people soon began requesting for more.
“It was very casual at first, but through word of mouth, we grew, and I started taking small orders,” Calista recounted.
“From there, the consistent demand helped us turn this into a full-scale bakery.”
As the aviation industry was impacted during the pandemic, Calista, like many of her fellow air stewardesses, was given the option to explore other roles in areas such as nursing, transport, and call centres.
Although she was offered a role in transport, she chose to focus on her home-based bakery instead, and named it Huarantine. She also sold flowers together with her mother and sister.
Even after the aviation industry returned to normalcy, she continued running her home-based business, albeit not as often.
Most of these bakes were for friends, or friends of friends, and she would get about three orders a week. Her mother would also help her with the orders when she wasn’t in Singapore.
After a few years, she decided to take a leap of faith and manage it full-time.
Initially, Calista had only planned on running the business on the weekends and focusing on bakes, so she changed the brand’s name to Wkndbakes.
“But because of traction and the consistency of orders, I made it an everyday thing,” she said.
One factor that encouraged her was her supportive customers.
“Repeat customers would text me personally and send me pictures of their family and friends eating the bakes. That was what really pushed me to build the brand more,” Calista shared.
“And once in a while, when I see larger order volumes, it is very motivational.”
On regular weeks, Calista receives an average of three orders on weekdays and 10 on weekends.
But during seasonal periods like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, she gets a massive spike in orders.
Her busiest period so far was during one Christmas, when she received several corporate orders on top of her usual orders.
She was so busy then that she barely had time to sleep.
The first thing Calista ever sold — and her father’s favourite — was brownies.
She shared that she went through around seven rounds of R&D for the brownies before deciding to sell them.
“It was really hard to get a crackling top and fudgy interior, but I really wanted to nail that,” she recounted.
Mainstays on her menu are cheesecakes and brownies, but recently, she has begun experimenting with something she calls “flavour drops”.
She releases “flavour drops” every now and then — typically after a successful round of R&D — which are new brownie or cake flavours that she wants to test out in the market.
Calista noticed that these attract a lot of new customers, and she also keeps the flavour on the menu if it is popular.
A recent one was the S’mores Brownies, which Calista proudly told us has received a lot of love.
Ups and downs of entrepreneurship
One struggle Calista faces while running Wkndbakes is manpower.
Previously, her sister and mother would help run the business, but this changed after her sister got married and moved out of the family home.
And while Calista’s mum helps mostly with inventory and planning, Calista is the one doing the baking 90 per cent of the time.
“There are not enough hours in the day. I have to do marketing myself too, and if I bake into the night, I won’t ask my mum to stay up with me,” she said.
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Calista added that she is also the one who talks to customers and settles delivery arrangements.
External factors took a toll on Calista as well.
Earlier in February, around Valentine’s Day, Calista’s dog became paralysed and had to undergo spinal surgery.
“I still had to keep it together and push on, because the orders were placed way in advance,” she said, adding that despite the emotional toll, she did not cancel any orders.
Around the same period, her mother underwent cataract surgery and struggled with recovery.
She ended up messing up an order during this tough period.
“I managed to salvage it. I guess it shows that if your heart is not there, it’s difficult. But I still had to compartmentalise everything and push through,” Calista shared.
Despite the challenges, Calista plans on running Wkndbakes for a “long, long time”.
“It’s the amount of job satisfaction and how happy I get, not just from baking, but also from the interaction with customers and the feeling of completing a whole day of orders,” she explained. “I don’t think I can leave this for another job”.
While she has always wanted to set up a brick-and-mortar bakery, she isn’t in a rush to do so.
“It’s not out of the question in the future. It’s a dream, but I don’t know if it’s feasible, because I’ve heard so many stories from other people [about it not working out],” she said.
“But honestly, finances aside, I would 100 per cent open a brick-and-mortar store. I think the experience of entering a shop that has an identity would be so nice.”
For now, she is sticking to deliveries and pop-ups.
“I only started doing pop-ups this year, and I am falling in love with them, because I get to interact with people. I think the customer service part of me never left,” she said with a chuckle.
Thinking of starting your own home-based business but scared to take that leap of faith? Calista advises aspiring entrepreneurs to follow their passion.
“There will definitely be fear. There will definitely be people discouraging you and people encouraging you. But honestly, follow your gut, and you will know when the right time is for anything,” she said.
“Don’t give up, because even a small order is still an order. And eventually, you will know what direction you want for your business, be it a bakery or anything. Once you know your direction, and if you stay true to it and understand your branding, you will get there.”
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