Farah Baig speaks to Mona Shakib, the owner of the online cakery Retro Mama who proves that you can absolutely have your cake and eat it too!
Contrary to popular belief, women can do it all – raise a family, turn a house into a home, stay fit and be a thriving contributor to society, all while pursuing their dreams. “I’m a Bahraini woman who followed her passion, started a successful business and made a brand out of it. I’m also a wife, and mother to two wonderful children who keep me very busy!” – these are the words of Mona Shakib, the woman behind the thriving online cakery, Retro Mama, who has proven just that.
Retro Mama was established as a home business in 2013, but Mona’s passion for baking came to life much prior. “My mother told me that I was four or five years old when she would get me to bake cakes and desserts with her, but I’d always add my own ingredients and make them my own unique version. From then on, I’ve always baked; it’s been my way of expressing my creativity.”
In 2014, Mona opened her cakery and café in the Seef district which served up several crowd favourites. “This included the Key Lime Pie, our Signature Red Velvet cakes, cupcakes and the Tres Leches which I’m pretty sure we were the first cakery to make in the Kingdom, back in 2013,” she says.
Mona puts her heart and soul into her creations, and her efforts have led her to have loyal customers. “I take so much pride in all that I do, from coming up with ideas for desserts which have never been done before to refusing to use anything less than the finest ingredients, and of course making everything from scratch! This made me sure that once people got a taste they would always come back,” she says.
After almost five years of great success at their brick-and-mortar location, Mona made the decision to move the cakery to being an online business once again. “The main benefit of being an online business is that we bake to order – everything is 100 percent made for our customer’s order and I make everything myself. This allows me to balance business and mommy life perfectly,” she says.
“The main challenge of being an online cakery is that there is no display which allows people to physically see the products. However, this has been easily overcome with social media which allows me to display our goodies to a far greater audience,” she adds.
As part of her endeavour to fulfill her roles, Mona has a routine that runs like clockwork. “I always get an early start to my days. Up early, hubby helps me get the kids ready for school then we’re off! I drop the kids to school then I’m back to get started with my orders for the day,” she says.
Before picking up her children from school, she makes sure to squeeze in her daily workout. “Women are amazing human beings; we do so much and are extremely capable. Yes, we are mothers and have a natural instinct to take care of our families and homes, but this does not mean we have to sacrifice our passion and our fitness. If someone has the motivation, they can always make time to do it!” she stresses.
Once she’s picked up her children, it’s back to mommy mode with feeding and school work. “The evenings are for talking to customers, taking orders and marketing my business,” she states.
When asked what her advice for other mothers hoping to do the same would be, she says: “Go for it! Don’t make excuses, take the first steps, put your heart and energy into it, and you can’t go wrong. You have nothing to lose from following your passion. Life is too short to not go after what you want!”
Like-minded women wishing to connect with Mona can reach out to her on Instagram using the handle @monashakib_bh. You can also check out her online cakery, @retromama_bh on Instagram.
