Christine Mendoza

I've been in the bakery industry for 46 years, starting the day I turned 16 when I walked into HEB in Arlington, Texas. I didn't know anything about baking, but they said they would train me, and I just picked up everything and learned. Within 2 weeks, I had learned cake decorating. I was never a cake decorator myself, but I became a leader and got involved in every aspect of baking - I would just jump in and help wherever needed because I thought it was fun. In 1989, I became a vendor working for manufacturers. My favorite part of what I do is teaching and training, because I believe that when you learn a trade or a skill, you have a job for life. I'm most proud of training leaders, managers, and supervisors who started from knowing nothing in the bakery industry. Some of them became leaders for Walmart and different chains. I even helped someone from Mexico who didn't know English. They did most of the work - I just taught them how to learn.