How Pie is Teaching Iowa Girls Confidence, Leadership and Financial Success

[CHARITY NEBBE] Although it may look like it from the outside, this is not your standard pie
shop.

[CHARITY NEBBE] Sure, you can purchase delicious servings of strawberry rhubarb, triple
berry, or apple pies, but they aren't made by professional pastry chefs. They're all prepared by a
group of teenage girls from across the Cedar Valley who are learning valuable life lessons along
the way.

[SARAH HELLESO] Our mission is to empower a diverse group of teen girls with life and
leadership skills through meaningful work. And so we really do hope to gather a diverse group of
young women from different schools, different socioeconomic statuses, lots of racial diversity,
just making space where those students can be alongside other young women that they might
not otherwise meet and get to recognize the value in each other and how much we need each
other and can learn from each other.

[SARAH HELLESO] So students work after school from 3:15 to 6:15. They'll come to Try Pie
storefront downtown Waterloo and clock in.

[WOMAN] Today we're doing strawberry rhubarb and rhubarb raspberry lavender. So summer
flavors.

[SARAH HELLESO] Each shift has a shift lead that will take a look at the board and see who's
assigned to what jobs and help welcome in the students as they get here for their shift.
[GIRL] And then for filling, we have Kaya. It tells you how many batches you have to make up.
There's only one batch of each.

[SARAH HELLESO] They kind of operate like a assembly line. So we'll have rollers, filling,
topping, and they each kind of take charge of that station as we get through the pies that we
need to make for the day.

[ANDJELA GOLUB] Today I'm part of toppings, so I'm making all the different crumbs. We're
doing oat crumb for strawberry rhubarb and then almond crumb for raspberry rhubarb lavender.

[SARAH HELLESO] I think there's a lot of opportunity, naturally, in a job to build confidence and
self-sufficiency and leadership and, and also teamwork and recognizing the value in ourselves
and each other. And so giving the students the chance to take the lead on some key parts of Try
Pie, whether it's our marketing or our recipes, or just serving customers in the storefront, that
really builds their confidence and helps them see themselves as meaningful contributors to the
program and to our community.

[CHARITY NEBBE] Over the course of a year, the girls will make more than 20,000 pies that
are sold through wholesale partners, catering events, food truck pop ups and storefront sales.

[SARAH HELLESO] Has everybody had a chance to update their goals?

[CHARITY NEBBE] Beyond working in the kitchen, the girls also get paid to participate in
monthly educational workshops. They also have one on one meetings with mentors, and each
serve on committees to flex their financial literacy, job skill development and communication
muscles.

[ANDJELA GOLUB] Classroom workshop really is something that brings us all together and
kind of gets everyone more so out of their shells. It gives us more time to come together while
still like working towards something. It's not just like a lazy day where we can all just sit and
chat.

[DANIESHA WATSON] We express our goals, which encourages us to meet them. And so we
have work goals, financial goals, and personal goals. One of the financial goals that I'm most
proud of would be when I saved up enough money to buy my first laptop plus the case. Each
time we have a classroom workshop or like whenever we have the time. I just love expressing
my goals and then hearing that encouragement and like applaud for meeting those goals.
(applause)

[CHARITY NEBBE] So in this bakery, pie is secondary. It's not all about making a perfectly flaky
crust or mixing together an award winning filling. Here, pie is a delicious tool used to teach these
young women valuable life lessons in building confidence, leadership, and self-sufficiency.

[MEGAN TENSEN] I think there's something that happens as students work alongside of each
other just doing a simple task. As you are rolling out a pie crust, it's really repetitive. You know,
they might roll out 100 pie crusts in a shift, but as they're doing it, it's just a unifying thing to have
a task next to someone else who's different than you. And as you're doing that together, you can
really build a relationship and get to know one another.

[ANDJELA GOLUB] So the other day I was crimping and Haley was crimping, and I was like,
you can tell what Haley was crimping, what I crimped, was mine is really, really bad.

[ANDJELA GOLUB] We're more than coworkers. These friendships and bonds have been built,
and they're going to be strengthened over the years that we're here. So we just kind of want to
prove to each other, like, I see you as a person and I see you more than just someone who's
helping me complete my job.

[SARAH HELLESO] It's really fun to see how something as simple as pie can offer a chance for
them to develop some really deep, long lasting skills.

[MEGAN TENSEN] Pie communicates hospitality. You know, sharing a slice of pie, I think
there's something really just shared in that experience.

[SARAH HELLESO] It's a good way for people to gather and share something good.