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“I was spending so much time baking, I was like I might as well start a bakery,” she said.ĭespite opening up in December 2020 during the pandemic, the local San Antonio community immediately supported her and helped keep the business afloat.

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She dedicated every moment – and every penny – to learn how to make everything from cheesecakes to French pastries.Īs she read book after book and spent hours on YouTube learning the intricacies of the art of baking, Afanasieva found herself spending day and night practicing.

She was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, which Russia is now preparing to bomb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk announced Sunday.ĭuring the coronavirus pandemic, she discovered her passion for baking. 'My homeland is bleeding, and therefore I am.'Īfanasieva moved to the United States in 2013 for a student exchange program but stayed when she met her husband. Seen left to right are Bohdan Andrukh, Oleg Opalnyk, Elizabeth Dolgicer and Yuriy Babak. I’m detached from my life here in the US. “I don’t know how to put into words how much my heart is breaking. It’s where I was born, it’s where I grew up, so this is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to me,” Afanasieva said. “I’m as close to Ukraine as I could be, almost everyone I love is there.

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If Afanasieva could have it her way, she says, she would join her people on the front lines of the war and fight until her country was free again.īut for now, she says, selling cakes is the most she can do to help. “They weren’t there for cheesecakes, they were there to help” Her beloved country, where she left behind friends and family and her most cherished memories, was under attack.

It wasn’t real.”īut after checking social media, the young business owner realized how real the situation had become. “I was trying to calm her down because I didn’t fully believe anything could really happen. “I told her don’t worry, it has to be the Ukrainian army doing military exercises,” Afanasieva told CNN. It was a Wednesday morning when Afanasieva was grocery shopping for her bakery store in a nearby supermarket where she received a call from her mother in Ukraine.Ī large explosion was heard, her mother told her, but Afanasieva refused to believe it. Anna Afanasieva and the Laika Cheesecakes and Espresso crew working to make cakes.