Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Tomasello.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started working in the food industry when I was 14 years old. At 18, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in my last semester of high school. Cooking, baking, and eating good food have always been my passions. As anyone who has ever had to follow a medically required diet will recognize and empathize, there is so much hyper-vigilance and anxiety that happens in any situation with food involved.
It was a difficult change for me, especially during college. I felt isolated at times and felt that the once social and easygoing person was replaced with someone who couldn’t participate in anything food related without accommodation. During the early years of my diagnosis, I threw myself into my studies, all the while continuing to work in restaurants & hospitality, and spent my free time cooking and baking. I lived abroad for a few years in places that had amazing gluten free restaurants, bakeries, and a general understanding and empathy for the social & medical necessity of safe food options.
Re-learning to cook gluten free and a 4-year stint of gluten free & vegan gave me back the joy in food and also helped me to connect with the Celiac community. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that has no cure, and is currently only treatable with a strict gluten free diet. Celiac Disease can be difficult to live with because of the constant vigilance needed to maintain a gluten free diet, and any gluten ingested will cause internal damage and a host of uncomfortable and even life threatening symptoms.
As someone with Celiac, I live this experience everyday. I know that my guests want to relax while on a getaway, and I want to eliminate the stress and fear that come along with traveling and dining out. It is an honor to offer a safe-haven to our Celiac guests and their families.
This the why for creating a dedicated 100% gluten free bed & breakfast, which has now expanded to include an on-site bakery.
The Inn Berlin is a beautiful, boutique bed & breakfast in a historic town near the Maryland beaches. If you aren’t a member of the gluten free community, you probably wouldn’t know that everything is gluten free here. We have visitors who have no idea, and just want to stay somewhere fabulous. I don’t blame them!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are always struggles when you’re starting a business from scratch. I completed my masters in business, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. I definitely think this educational background complimented my culinary skills and helped me to navigate through beginning of The Inn Berlin. My husband has been such a supportive partner throughout, and definitely kept me focused on balance between work and family. In the first few years, before growing my family to include two babies, I threw myself into growing the business. 80-100 hours a week. Nonstop drive to grow and be successful. I think that’s super important, but I also think business owners, especially women, need to find balance too. My family and my business will both suffer if I am not 100%, and stretching myself too thin definitely leads to that feeling of burn-out. Hiring some full-time support in the last two years has helped immensely. Delegating some of my responsibilities, and creating a team of equally talented and amazing people, has been such a beautiful relief for some of those struggles. I’m thankful to have people I can depend on to do just as good of a job as if I was still working those insane hours.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a business owner, innkeeper, chef, baker, mom and wife. I specialize in a little bit of everything! Maintaining an inn, especially a historic one, is no small feat. Waking up at 4am to bake & cook, serve breakfast to our overnight guests, work the register at the bakery and answer customer questions, respond to all of our emails and inquiries, create our monthly menus and execute new recipes, post interesting content on social media, and then taking care of my family… I would say I specialize in being a jill of all trades, and most importantly, taking care of people. It brings me joy to feed people, to care for their needs, and to be the source of someone’s smile.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My family. They are the reason I wake up everyday and work. My children are the greatest blessings and I don’t take it for granted that I get to be their mom.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theinnberlin.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinnberlin/
- Other: https://www.boulangerieberlin.com/
