Lifelong martial artist Charles Taylor changed careers with ICE s Pastry & Baking Arts program.
As a child in Queens, Charles Taylor (Pastry, ‘19) would bake box cakes and sell them at his church fair. He then dedicated 30 years to martial arts before pivoting back to pastry at the Institute of Culinary Education.
January 13, 2021
“My uncle was a pastry chef and I used to watch him make these huge, elaborate cakes,” Charles remembers. “I knew I wanted to do that someday, but I got into the martial arts with my cousin, Malik, and that dream went away for a long time.”
Charles concentrated on training through his adolescence and studied at Adelphi University after high school. When his father passed away in 1991, he was forced to drop out to help his mother pay the bills. Charles took on endless odd jobs, from security to sales, to make ends meet.