Kayla came into the program feeling nervous and intimidated, a mindset that wasn't typical for her since she's usually so sure of herself. Sprouts connected her with Tarts de Feybesse under Chef Monique Feybesse, and stepping into that new environment meant proving to herself, and to the team, what she was capable of.

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Once she settled in, Kayla's confidence grew quickly, something she attributes largely to the hands on mentorship Sprouts helped her access. Chef Monique and Chef Paul were both extremely busy but consistently hands on, offering corrections and detailed explanations along the way. Kayla loved working with the range of people on the team, since each technique she learned came from a different chef, and she made a habit of asking each one how they got into the field, genuinely enjoying hearing everyone's different paths. Her piping control improved the most; during a dinner party prep, she was able to pipe an app in clean parallel lines, relying on instincts she hadn't had before. She also worked hands on with a sheeter for the first time, getting an in depth lesson on how and why it worked, something she found genuinely exciting to learn. Timing was harder for her at first, and she found herself constantly checking her pace and looking for ways to shave off time, but she steadily got the hang of it on tasks she repeated. She also got to work with fruit caviar for the first time, something she'd heard of but never tried, and sampled a variety of items around the shop along the way.

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By the end of the internship, Kayla described it as a genuinely great bridge into the culinary world, whether for a young adult or someone stepping into their first adult role, and said she would recommend the program to a friend without hesitation, a strong marker of how much Sprouts shaped her experience. She left with sharper piping control, hands on sheeter experience, improved prep speed and efficiency, and a much stronger sense of confidence in the kitchen. Her interests deepened too; she got to dig further into pastry, which she'd hoped to explore, and found herself wanting to keep working with fruit desserts. Her career goals, once only half formed, became clearer through the experience: food writing had always been in the back of her mind, and the confidence she gained in the food industry made that path feel more real, alongside a growing interest in stepping back into a pastry kitchen or moving into recipe testing. Chef Monique offered her a position after the internship, but Kayla wasn't able to take it since she's moving to LA, though she left with a lot of respect for the team and the experience overall.

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