* Photograph by Shane Van Boxtel / Image Studios
Whisk & Arrow Sugar Studio
Like it or not, Nea Hahn says, when someone comes to work for her at Whisk & Arrow Sugar Studio, they’re gaining an extra mom.
“I hate the word staff,” says the owner of the thriving Appleton bakery known for its made-from-scratch goodies and personal, friendly service. “We are a team. I’m not above anybody. We all rise together; we all learn together. If somebody’s failing, the entire team is failing.”
While it took her some time — and the opportunity to pause and reflect during the COVID shutdown — Hahn says she has finally come to understand what drives her: making a positive impact on her community.
Hahn’s path to Northeast Wisconsin was winding, and it started in her homeland of Brazil, where among her childhood memories was being too poor to afford the traditional, fancy chocolate eggs at Eastertime and learning to temper chocolate so she could make her own. She also grew up possessing a knack for English and was pursuing a college degree in the field when a radio ad changed her life.
“The commercial comes on and it goes, ‘Do you speak English? Are you between the ages of 18 and 26? Do you like children? Then there’s an American family waiting for you,’” Hahn remembers. “And I’m like, there is? It was like they were talking to me, and I’m sitting there nodding.”
She packed up and headed to the U.S. to become a nanny. It was when she spent a sliver of her first meager paycheck on a fast food value meal that she truly became hooked on the American way of life — catalyzed by a grumpy McDonald’s employee who gestured haphazardly toward the soda machine after puzzling Hahn with an empty cup.
“I was like, ‘This is the greatest country in the world,’” Hahn says. ‘I get to pick if I want 50% ice in my cup? If I want 50% Sprite and 50% Coke?’ It’s so stupid, but I come from a place where we didn’t have that choice, and I was like, ‘I’m never leaving.’ And I never did.”
Today Hahn’s culinary pursuits lay far from McDonald’s. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, she has operated Whisk & Arrow since 2017 and is set to open a restaurant called FOME, also in Appleton, later this summer or early this fall. Hahn is passionate about bringing more high-quality food choices to the Fox Cities, fostering community within her businesses, and creating good jobs and opportunities for others.
“She has an uncanny ability to create delicious things and make people smile and laugh while doing it. Her confidence and fearlessness to continue in this industry is inspiring,” Hannah Jacobson wrote in her nomination of Hahn on behalf of the Whisk & Arrow team.
“My passion is not cookies or cakes or macarons,” Hahn says. “My passion is people. Because if my passion was baking, I wouldn’t have 30 employees. My husband and I still have arguments about when I am going to take a paycheck, but I’m still growing the business and I’d rather give [my team] bonuses than give myself money right now.”
Selflessness is a theme for Hahn. Whisk & Arrow never sells day-old treats, so it regularly donates leftovers to local fire and police stations, food banks and hospitals. Herself a survivor of domestic violence, Hahn is passionate about her work as a Harbor House board member and frequently donates her time and treasure to the organization. Her next goal is to start a nonprofit organization called United in Pastry — an academy within Whisk & Arrow where Hahn hopes to train survivors of domestic abuse how to start over as culinary artists.
“I want to empower women and help them understand that they are capable of making it themselves,” Hahn says. “So that’s what I’m going to do the rest of my life: connect the people who care about our community.”
