ANN ARBOR, MI — The Retail Bakers of America is pleased to announce the appointment of Amie Smith as its new RBA Board President. Smith is owner of AMIE® Bakery located in Osterville, Massachusetts.
During her term as president, Smith is poised to help facilitate the organization’s growth and brand recognition by drawing on over two decades of experience in corporate marketing, branding, writing, and teaching.
“One of the biggest mistakes I made when I started my bakery was not joining the RBA,” says Smith. “At the time, I didn’t fully understand the value of membership. After joining, I discovered the treasure trove of available information and resources. I realized that an RBA membership is something you cannot afford to not do. Being in the RBA means you aren’t alone and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Whatever challenges you have, whatever highs or lows you experienced, whatever formula you need, whatever piece of equipment you’re considering—someone out there has been in your shoes and can guide you—and our members are eager to help and generous with their time. Our board is working hard to foster these connections and help ensure our member’s businesses continue to thrive by leveraging our vast resources.”
After working in high-tech marketing and teaching writing at Northeastern University, the 2008 economic downturn handed Smith a surprising mid-life career change. Needing to reinvent herself, she attended pastry school at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan which ignited a buried passion from childhood. Smith opened AMIE Bakery in 2014, serving a broad range of sweet and savory pastries, cakes, cookies, and pies as well as breakfast and lunch sandwiches. She also launched AMIE Académie as an extension of the business, bringing baking and cooking classes to the community.
Now authoring her first book she is eager to share her journey that’s equal parts storytelling, lessons learned, and tips to success, while reflecting on how to navigate a career change at any life stage.
At its recent annual board meeting in Ann Arbor, now past president Scott Calvert passed the gavel with words of encouragement. “This year, our annual meeting welcomed several new board members as well as our new Executive Director, Marissa Sertich Velie,’ says Smith. “We had a valuable training session led by Zingerman’s ZingTrain program and outlined the pillars of our strategic vision, as well as revisited and refined our mission statement. The RBA is poised to continue to its mission to connect, educate, and support the baking community while developing new programs to further increase the value of RBA for our members.”
About The Retail Bakers of America
Since 1918, the RBA has supported and promoted the retail baking industry. The organization’s mission is to connect, educate, and support the baking community to grow a vibrant and sustainable industry for bakery professionals. As a trade association, the RBA provides industry-specific training and small business programs, resources, and networking opportunities to help bakers stay current on the latest trends and developments in the industry—and ultimately help them run successful businesses and thrive in a competitive marketplace. RBA’s community-building platform, RBA Connect, is a key component for its members where fellow bakers—from novice to experts—can share and guide each another by exchanging knowledge and experiences. With education as an RBA cornerstone, RBA creates industry standards through professional certification, industry research, and school programs and is a critical component for retail baking industry’s success. By establishing clear standards and best practices, the RBA can help ensure that all members are operating at the same high level of quality and professionalism, which ultimately benefits the entire industry.
About AMIE Bakery
Founded in 2014, AMIE Bakery is a specialty bakery and café in Osterville, MA, a quaint village on beautiful Cape Cod. We scratch bake daily in small batches using high-quality ingredients—sourced from local producers when possible. We offer a wide range of both sweet and savory options from cakes and pastries to breakfast and lunch sandwiches—as well as a full bar to enjoy your favorite cocktails. At AMIE Bakery, we are restoring the neighborhood bakery experience of yesteryear. From our food to our casual-upscale ambience that evokes a Parisian vibe, AMIE Bakery is a welcoming place where friends can gather for any occasion. To share our passion for baking and cooking, we offer classes at AMIE Académie that provide an opportunity share our knowledge to help enable students to craft sweet and savory pastries at home and get a first-hand look at how we create our products. For more information about AMIE Bakery visit amiebakery.com.
