MARCH 2023

COVER STORY
Caption needed
Fame,
Fortune,
and Flour
Genevieve Kashat’s bid for
Kids Baking Champion
BY CAL ABBO
When Genevieve Kashat was 3 years old,
she watched with awe as her mother
made a rich, delicious, and familiar banana
bread for her family to enjoy.
Years later, this moment would blossom into
something much greater: a budding baking career
and a shot at Food Network stardom. The road from
mom’s banana bread to the Kids Baking Championship
requires just the right mixture of talent, hard
work, creativity, and inspiration.
At just 5 years old, Genevieve became a fan of
Food Network’s KBC and dreamed of entering the
competition herself. As it happens, this was also
the year she learned how to use the oven and bake
a cake. Just a few years after that, she was making
macarons.
These two items would become the staples of
her still-nascent career, although Genevieve would
soon excel in many different areas of baking. After
all, she needed to be well-rounded to compete for
the title of Kids Baking Champion.
One of Genevieve’s key inspirations is her aunt
and godmother, who recently became a Chaldean
Sister. “She’s just awesome,” Genevieve said.
This season of KBC was much different than others
in the past, and according to Genevieve, it was
more difficult. The main addition to the show was
an entrepreneurial theme – Food Network now required
that the kids have a burgeoning baking business
in order to compete. KBC featured challenges
and twists that blend baking and business acumen.
How does Genevieve have a business at the
young age of 11? It all started with Sister Rose.
“My aunt had a little gathering in 2020,” Genevieve
said. “I made macarons for fun. That’s when
I was learning.” During the event, she got outstanding
reviews from those who attended the gathering
and numerous suggestions that she should sell her
baked goods. “If my aunt didn’t have the gathering,
I wouldn’t have started the business,” she said.
Through her business, Gen’s Kreations, Genevieve
focuses on macarons and cakes, but she can
make “literally anything you want.”
While Genevieve usually sells at her local
church, she has also served at a Birmingham coffee
shop, communions, baptisms, and other major
events. 10% of every order goes to charity, specifically
a Chaldean orphanage in Iraq.
Genevieve was contacted by the KBC production
team to go on last season. Her family, however,
had planned a vacation for the same time the show
would be filmed. “It was my aunt’s last time before
she goes to the convent so we wanted to spend that
time with her,” Genevieve said. “I thought I might
not be able to go to KBC.”
Thankfully, Genevieve was invited to the competition
again this year, and her business experience
qualified her for the tough competition. She entered
the competition when she was 10, one of the youngest
competitors, and competed against some kids
who were already 13 years old.
The show itself is filmed over several weeks and
sectioned into several episodes. In each episode,
the kids get to work at their own kitchen toward a
specific goal designed by the judges, in competition
with one another.
The competitions are designed differently. In
some episodes, the show will eliminate some kids
in an individual competition. In other designs, the
contestants split into teams and accomplish a goal
together. Genevieve played a leading role in some of
these competitions. She won half of the show’s first
eight episodes and advanced to the top four kid bakers
before being eliminated.
18 CHALDEAN NEWS MARCH 2023