She gladly traded her dream of holding the microphone and delivering the news, to holding a wooden spoon and whipping up batter. From the studio to the kitchen. This is the story of a woman who took up Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication over a decade ago, but who turned out to be a promising businesswoman who now is called the Sugar Senorita.
Paulyn Barrientos was one of the head turners in the university where I taught when she was in college. She was beautiful, tall, fair-skinned, with jet black long straight hair and yes, she was smart. Her well-modulated voice and command of the English language when she spoke made people who just met her instantly agree that she chose the right course. She was even among the finalists in the ABS-CBN Province-wide Newscasting Competition in 2011. She was also a campus journalist since elementary. Just like what everyone thought, I also expected Paulyn to join the media industry. But fate had other plans for her.
After being so active in school and other co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, she all of a sudden laid low. And after a few years, she surprised everyone when she put up an online shop that sold pastries in 2017. She named it Dulce’s. Dulce is a Spanish term that means sweet.
Little did I know that aside from broadcasting and campus journalism, cooking was among her passions. “I took my love for cooking and baking from my mom, Junelyn,“ she proudly quipped.
But prior to Dulce’s, she worked as a call center agent. “I was working in a BPO firm in Bacolod in 2016. My first product was spaghetti. I sold it to my officemates. Since cooking and baking are both my passions, I decided to stop working and focus on it. I would go hopping from one office to another like banks, selling food to employees. My partner, Noah, was helping me since I started with my small business until I decided to go online,” she recalled.
It was not an easy start. When she was still with a BPO company, she would do her marketing after she clocked out from work. She only had 4 hours of sleep daily because she had to cook all the food she needed to sell and deliver to customers in offices when she woke up.
However, when she opened an online store, she realized business was even better via social media. “That was when I decided to make a career out of it! I went home to Sagay City so that my parents can help me. So it was me, Mama, Papa and Noah who did everything before I was able to hire a few staff to help me,” she added.
Paulyn realized that the detour she took from her original career path was not only helping her family, but also other people. Aside from providing pastries and other food products to resellers in northern Negros Occidental, she was also catering to Bacolod resellers. According to her, running a business and being hands-on in the kitchen is quite a challenge. The pandemic even made it more challenging as she had to also look after her staff’s needs plus the limitations set by the health protocols imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing can stop someone who is both passionate and desperate to succeed according to Pauline, who during the pandemic, already had a food stall in a shopping mall in Bacolod.
To say that this young entrepreneur is courageous is an understatement because even in the midst of shops closing and downsizing employees in the midst of the pandemic, she bravely made the boldest move of setting up her own permanent shop at the heart of downtown Bacolod. Her physical shop opened in September 2021, offering now only her signature pastries but also pasta, salads, gelato, yummy but affordable to-go meals and food sold in trays for parties and family gatherings.
She was able to apply her learnings in Mass Comm on her business. “The confidence I have developed through the activities I have joined in and in all the trainings I have underwent when I was a Mass Comm student, I have all used in my business. I also am very comfortable communicating to customers and marketing my brand is not a problem,” she shared.
“I may have not become a newscaster as I have initially dreamed, however, I have no regrets. This is my bread and butter. I was led by God to a different field where I am still able to apply my learnings in Mass Comm effectively. I have also helped my family and other people through this humble business,” she said.
Paulyn’s success story is one that is founded on lessons learned from the toughest battles she faced and won by the grace of God. As she puts it, if not for the lowest points in her life, she would not have gained wisdom and gained the courage to face the odds and take risks. But most importantly, she believes that with every hardship, one must not only prevail but learn from it and trust in the goodness of the Mighty One in blessing every dream one has in her heart. “You may not get what you originally asked for. But rest assured, He will give you something even better that what you’ve asked for,” a smiling and grateful Paulyn said as we ended our conversation.*
