A full-time Midwifery student, Filipino born Jian migrated to New Zealand with her family when she was 5-years old. Growing up in a tight-knit family, Jian witnessed her grandparents in the Philippines create delicious home-cooked meals whilst her parents were at work. “Food has always brought our family together. As far as I could remember the food on the dinner table unfailingly gravitated a warm sense of togetherness in my household, despite everyone’s differing ventures during the day.”

After moving to New Zealand, Jian’s mother tried her hand at recreating their favourite Filipino baked goods, but those attempts weren’t quite the nostalgia Jian and her family were hoping for! Missing the taste from home, at six-years old, Jian decided to try her hand at baking, making her first Pandesal (a Filipino breakfast bread roll). Her first baking attempt was a whopping success and she’s continued baking ever since. Jian’s love and skill of baking led her to create her business Goodies.

Goodies by Jian creates and sells a variety of baked goods incorporating Filipino flavours. With studying Midwifery, and the demanding hours it requires, Jian knew a regular part-time or casual job wouldn’t work for her. Contemplating her options over the semester break, Jian realized she could use her passion, skill, and love for baking to create her own business, and the idea for Goodies by Jian was born. Jian’s goal is to add a Filipino twist to desserts we all know and love, sharing her Filipino heritage and history through her food.

Jian’s experience with The Kitchen Project has helped her gain the knowledge and confidence she needed to independently run her business. “As a 20-year-old student I felt very underqualified and inadequate hiding behind the “too-young” label. However, the Kitchen Project increased my confidence to be headstrong, and allowed me to further build on my cultural identity through the food I serve.”

“One of the highlights would definitely be learning from various speakers’ rich experiences of all things to do with running a food-business. Additionally, being able to acquire abundant knowledge from the diverse backgrounds of my co-peers from this cohort was inspiring.”

In the future, Jian hopes to see her product in the retail market, found in the cabinet at your local cafe and even on the shelves of Farro Fresh. She hopes her Filipino baked goodies will be accessible to the community and well-known and shared in families.

You can order Jian’s baked goodies currently via her website and you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook for updates!