as capable as her in ideation and
conceptualisation.
They’re still quite strict about
launching new flavours – “if I haven’t
tried it, they cannot launch it”. Before
she and Daniel open the doors of
their flagship store in a new country,
they will fly over and bake a couple
of cupcakes using the ingredients
they’ve sourced from within the city, in
an attempt to recreate the ones they
already have in Singapore.
The reason? “Everything tastes
different when you use flour from
overseas countries. So, we have to
alter the tastes of the cupcakes until
they resemble something that I like
to eat!”
Profits don’t drive Jaime. Neither does
the rarefied status that she’s managed
to attain in the cupcake world, thanks
to the successful 15 outlets around
the island, of any importance to her.
Instead, she thrives on something
simpler – the cupcake-stained
smiles from her satisfied customers
munching happily on her products. It’s
always been like that from the very
beginning, at the first outlet at United
Square. Jaime would occasionally
venture out to the front whenever her
hands were battered to submission
by the taxing act of baking cupcakes
and her spirits sapped from missing
Renee too much. Out there, in front of
the crowd, she gained happiness and
the strength to carry on.
“Daniel knew from the first week
that this was a viable business. In
essence, I was just a worker and we
were helping him to push the cart
that he was driving,” says Jaime. “We
wouldn’t have a business without
Daniel but at the same time, he
wouldn’t have a business without me.
We complement each other well and
we can unreservedly say that this
business is ours.”
JAIME LEANS IN
It’s peculiar to hear Jaime
passionately talk about Twelve
Cupcakes and the progress it has
made in the past three years and
yet, in the same breath, discount her
efforts and capabilities. Throughout
the interview, she continually peppers
her answers with humbling adjectives
that downplay her own ability. She
also occasionally switches between
different genders, depending on the
context of the conversation, when
talking about herself. So, I called her
out on it. She laughs.
“I am a female when it benefits me,”
she says with a chortle. She turns
serious, putting her fingers on her
chin, the classic thinking man’s (or
woman’s) pose. “I find that we define
achievements and capabilities by
gender when it really should be about
personalities. There is nothing wrong
with a man being, well, not driven.”
Women in business is another matter
altogether. Jaime believes that
business is a choice – some have the
nuance for it, othe