Interview with Tara Satnick
Tara Satnick is a baker.
The Queen of Side Quests
Contents
MR: It sounds like you have a lot of hobbies.
TS: 100%. I am the queen of side quests.
MR: Are you someone who sticks with one side quest for a long time, or are you bopping from thing to thing?
TS: I run a challah company called Braided, which really started as a side quest. The fact that it has lasted this long means it’s no longer really a side quest — that means a lot because I used to have a new side quest every few months.
It wasn’t because I ever got bored of old side quests — it was just so much excitement about a new idea that the others would end up falling to the bottom of the priorities list. It was side quests getting replaced by new side quests.
MR: And what are some of the side quests that have gotten replaced in the past?
TS: I had two podcasts. One was interviewing old people. I would ask them what advice they would give to their younger selves.
MR: What was your main takeaway from their answers?
TS: I’ll never forget: I was interviewing a top cardiologist in New York City. He was a very decorated doctor. I asked him what health advice he would give his younger self. I thought he was going to say something about diet and exercise and whatever. He said, “The one thing that I wish I could go back and tell myself is to stretch. That is the one thing that actually contributes to disability in your old age. It’s not whether you can run 10 miles…that doesn’t matter. Can you touch your toes? Can you bend over and lift a box?”
And that stuck with me so much. We should all stretch more. It’s the one thing that you skip at the end of your workout. Nobody actually prioritizes the stretching part. He said young people don’t appreciate the flexibility they have. I thought that was really wise.
MR: What was your other podcast?
TS: So I have a thing, I don’t know why, but I always become really close with Uber drivers. And I have crazy stories about Uber drivers I could tell you — and I will tell you. But I wanted to start a podcast just amplifying their voices because I feel like people tend to get into Ubers or cabs and think it’s just a random cab driver. However, we’re in New York City, and statistically, most cab drivers here are immigrants, and most of them have overcome the craziest life circumstances to even get to New York City, and they have such crazy stories to tell.
This isn’t part of the podcast, it’s just something I still do. Last week I asked this Uber driver — it was actually five in the morning, he was picking me up after challah baking — what brought him to New York. He moved here because he is an orphan and he had such an amazing experience in his orphanage that his dream has always been to make enough money to open up his own orphanage. He’s been working so hard to make money to open an orphanage. And I just remember thinking it’s so crazy that someone would get in this guy’s car and just see him as an Uber driver…a blue-collar driver.
MR: Are you worried, as a woman, talking to random people?
TS: No. If anything, it’s not a woman thing — occasionally I’ve had the thought as a Jewish person. But what I almost always do…I’ll have an amazing conversation with an Uber driver. We’ll connect, and then right before I leave the car, I always say, “By the way, I’m Jewish.” And then I get out of the car.
MR: But did they ask?
TS: No, it doesn’t matter if they ask. The point is, a lot of these people have never met a Jewish person in their lives, and they probably don’t know much about Jews. And so I feel like I’m almost given this opportunity to represent Jews well. Let me tell this person just so they know the person they just had a really nice conversation with is Jewish.
The Free Association
MR: Do you want to be famous?
TS: I used to really want to be famous, and I think I still have an appetite for that. People tell me all the time, “You could be famous.” It’s interesting.
I’ve realized being famous for the sake of being famous is different now because of the era of the influencer. Everyone has kind of been famous. And I’ve gone viral many times now, so I know what it’s like to have that kind of attention on you online. I think it’s really cool not just to be famous, but to have influence in your community. That’s something that I’m more excited about. I feel like I wouldn’t just want to be an influencer everyone knows exists. But to be someone in the community who everyone’s like, “Oh, she makes the best challah.” People know who I am because of what I do. I do think that’s really cool.
MR: Do you bake bread other than challah?
TS: No, but I actually just started doing the craziest projects. I got hired because someone was looking for someone to make a bread sculpture. A 72-foot bread sculpture.
MR: 72 feet?
TS: 72 feet.
MR: That’s like seven stories tall.
TS: Crazy.
MR: 72 feet?
TS: I got connected to this person because they have access to a crazy 100-foot tunnel oven through a friend. It’s very hard to find. But as you know, I’m a great networker, so I have contacts for all kinds of things.
Anyway, for this project, I’m actually not using the tunnel oven. I’m using a different oven called a deck oven. We’re going to do it broken up into eight-foot pieces. But they wanted bread that looks like wood.
My new mission is that, through these custom challah sculptures, we can get challah into cool spaces it would never otherwise be in. And I’m super stoked about it.
MR: How many people are in your phone book?
TS: My number is high. 2,240 people.
MR: Do you keep notes on the random people you have conversations with?
TS: I remember every conversation I have. I think at this point my memory’s pretty good. And if I met you and you were a cab driver, I’d put “Uber driver.” I do have a lot of Uber driver phone numbers in my book.
MR: Do you nap during the day?
TS: All the time. I love a nap. I love a nap so much, but I feel like it’s usually because I’m doomscrolling at night. It’s so bad.
MR: And when do you go to bed at night?
TS: When do I or when do I try to?
MR: When do you try to, and when do you actually fall asleep?
TS: I would say on a typical night, I probably fall asleep around 11:30, 12:00.
MR: Where’d you learn how to cook?
TS: I don’t know how to cook.
MR: Where’d you learn how to bake?
TS: I only know how to bake challah.
MR: Where are you from originally?
TS: New Jersey.
MR: Where’s your family from?
TS: So I’m Ashkenazi, which surprises a lot of people. My family is Polish with a little bit of Russian.
5 Years Time
MR: How long have you lived in New York City?
TS: I’ve lived in New York for five years.
MR: What did you do during COVID in the city?
TS: I feel like we just did a lot of side quests.
MR: Who’s we?
TS: My friends. We side-quested so much.
My birthday during COVID is probably my favorite birthday ever. My friends and I, we made a time capsule on my 21st birthday, and we basically took this video and then wrote letters to ourselves, and we set an alarm on our phones to watch the video in five years. And this past year on my birthday, the alarm went off and we had all totally forgotten about it. And I was like, “Guys, we have to watch the video.” So we assembled as a group. Everyone left work and came to have lunch, and we all circled around to watch the video.
MR: And what did you say?
TS: I stand by what I said so much. The question was: What was the best day of your life? And I said, “The best day of my life is today, and that’s going to be my answer every day for the rest of my life.” And I remember just thinking I would so still say that. I love when current me agrees with past me. It’s such a good feeling. Do you know what I mean?
MR: In five years, where do you want to be?
TS: I think I still want to be working on Braided.
Also, I will say that’s the second time capsule I’ve made — I made another one when I was in seventh grade. I was actually so proud of this. You make a time capsule in seventh grade and then you open it at graduation.
So what I wrote was that I really wanted to be a fast runner, which, crazily, I ended up doing…I stuck by that. And then the other thing was I recorded — I literally burned a disc — a video of me singing my favorite song so I could hear myself sing it again when I’m older. Because I was just like, that’s going to be the thing that I want to hear the most from myself…how did I sing?
MR: What was the song?
TS: “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray. It’s my favorite song. When I was singing that song, I felt like I was on a Broadway stage. It just made me feel like a superstar.
MR: So what would you want to say to yourself five years from now?
TS: Can I ask your answer too? Am I not allowed?
MR: No.
TS: Okay, fine.
MR: I’m interviewing you.
TS: I know, but I want to know you too.
Five years from now, what would I want to tell myself? Don’t live with regret. If you have to make a tough decision, think about which decision you would regret making or regret not making, and make sure that you don’t do the second one.
Hermione Granger and Michael Corleone
MR: Do you have any apps on your phone that other people might not have heard of?
TS: Are.na.
MR: What is it about?
TS: It’s super cool. It’s a very unfiltered corner of the internet where people just post their thoughts. It’s like if Pinterest and Reddit were combined.
I love Reddit. I think Reddit is the most incredible website because it’s so honest. Whenever I want to know the truth about something or about someone’s human experience, I’ll write the question and then “Reddit.”
MR: I do that too! So what are some of the last things you asked?
TS: “What’s the most unexpected flavor combo that you discovered by accident — Reddit?” That type of thing.
“New Yorkers, what changes have people seen in Mamdani’s New York — Reddit?”
“Why would someone want to be a Navy SEAL — Reddit?”
“What’s one prompt you think everyone should put into ChatGPT — Reddit?”
MR: You asked Reddit that instead of ChatGPT?
TS: Yeah, Reddit users.
MR: That’s amazing.
What was the answer? Did you do it?
TS: I don’t remember. That was a couple weeks ago. There is one ChatGPT prompt that I love, and I always get people to try, which is: ask your ChatGPT, “Based on what you know about me, what TV or movie character do you think I’m the most similar to?”
MR: What would yours be based on?
TS: I don’t know if I stand by the answer, but ChatGPT told me that mine was Hermione Granger.
MR: Let me ask mine.
TS: What does it say?
MR: Mine said Michael Corleone.
TS: Isn’t it a good prompt?
MR: Yeah, that’s great.
Do you have any interesting habits with food?
TS: I had a boyfriend who brought this to my attention — he said I smell everything I eat before I eat it. It’s almost instinctive. Before I eat something, I will always smell it. I didn’t even realize I did that until he said something.
MR: Even if it’s a potato chip?
TS: Anything. I smell things without even realizing it, and I don’t know where it comes from. I think it’s a curiosity thing.