Hi you,
Last time, I told you about the little entrepreneur in me — that seven-year-old girl with her own library, charging ten cents a day, and later trading shopping cart coins for Douwe Egberts points.
And in a way, this story continues seamlessly from there. Because building something beautiful doesn’t just mean building a brand, a webshop, or a business. To me, it also means building a world where my daughter (and your children, and you) can feel safe, seen, and welcome.
Recently, Evy was at home colouring with us.
And she said something like: “I’m going to colour it with skin colour.”
My husband immediately reacted. “Skin colour?” he said. “Which skin colour do you mean? Mum has a different skin colour than you. You have a different one than me. So which colour is ‘skin colour’?”
Evy looked at us as if we were being a bit difficult. Because yes — her teacher had taught her that that colour was called “skin colour.” And if the teacher says it, then it must be true.
So there we were. A pencil in hand, and a conversation that suddenly became much bigger than a drawing.
I come from a mixed family: a Dutch father and a Surinamese mother. And my own family is mixed too: me with Surinamese roots, and a Dutch husband. Together, we’re raising Evy with the awareness that there are many different kinds of people — and that everyone is equally valuable. Equally unique. Equally welcome.
Not long after that, Evy proved she really does listen to mum and dad: she was happily colouring with her cousin when her cousin asked, “Can I have your skin colour?”
And then something happened that secretly made me smile so much.
Evy said, very firmly: “Do you mean my skin colour, or yours — or my mum’s?”
And she started naming them the way colours should be named: beige, salmon pink, light, dark… instead of one colour that’s supposedly “the default.”
To me, that’s also what Pride Month is about.
Making space. Showing respect. Seeing diversity not as something to simply “accept,” but as something genuinely beautiful. And being allowed to be yourself, without having to fit into a box first.
It matters to me that my bakery — and everything I build — is a place where everyone feels welcome. Whether you’re celebrating a wedding, a birthday, a baby shower, an office moment, or simply because you have something to celebrate.
And maybe that’s the common thread in everything I do: celebrating moments, with care. And, quietly — very gently — making the world a little kinder.
Love,
Faryel
Amsterdam Cupcake Company