Chatting with ... Maya-Camille Broussard ’04 MA

What do you love about being one of the four bakers on Bake Squad? 

I love that it’s a friendly competition. We don’t win anything. There’s no money involved. However, we definitely compete for bragging rights! Each of us is tasked with baking a beautifully designed dessert for a special event, such as a birthday or theme wedding, and then the guest client chooses their favorite dessert. The joy that we get from “winning” comes from seeing the client be absolutely amazed with what we’ve created for them — that’s the value for us. 

You founded Justice of the Pies in honor of your father. Did you grow up baking together? 

It wasn’t until after my father [criminal defense attorney Stephen J. Broussard ’70, ’73 JD] passed away in 2009 and my cousin wanted to start a foundation in his memory that I began baking pies. My father was obsessed with baking pies. But I never really baked with him; rather, it was his sister, my Aunt Sandy, who had the patience to bake cakes and cookies with me. My dad loved to hoard his recipes, and he would not share them with me, probably because he wanted me to come up with my own!  

Social justice is baked into the name of your business. What issues are important to you? 

I am an advocate for people living with disabilities because I am living with an invisible disability and I understand how it feels to not be accommodated. So when I was thinking about the brick-and-mortar store for Justice of the Pies, I made sure the space was accessible.  

You’ll see that we have a wheelchair ramp, Braille on all our signage, and each tile on the floor designates the kind of room you’re in. For example, if you’re in the retail area, there is penny tile there, but if you go into the demo kitchen area, there are big slate tiles. The bathroom has smaller tiles, so when someone is walking with a cane, they can determine the space they are in simply from the changes in the floor texture. The countertops are accessible in height, and we also have seating for children and little people. So those are the primary ways that we provide justice for those living with disabilities.  

A lot of my work also surrounds fighting food insecurity. That includes providing culinary workshops for children who reside in lower-income communities that are affected by food apartheid. The goal is to help children become more self-sufficient in the kitchen.  

How have you used your Northwestern degree?   

I received my undergraduate degree in theater from Howard University and my master of arts in theater from Northwestern, and those liberal arts degrees are important to my career because I am essentially a storyteller. Telling my story creatively through food is why I started this brand. People don’t always buy what you make — they buy why you make it.  

One of my favorite professors at Northwestern was Rives Collins; he taught a storytelling class, where I learned about the nuances that come into play when you are sharing or creating a story. So when I’m crafting a new recipe in the kitchen, I’m always thinking, “How can I tell a story on a plate?” And I owe a lot of that approach to professor Collins.