SCH’s new Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Maxime Sinal has a love language for his friends and the people closest to him: it’s cooking — specifically, baking.
Mr. Sinal didn’t always enjoy cooking. He began to like it when he moved to upstate New York right out of graduate school.“I really credit YouTube for starting me on that path of wanting to cook because I didn’t like cooking or doing any of that when I was younger,” said Sinal. He is originally from the Caribbean and has a family background steeped in Haitian culture, so his early experiences with food were rich but passive.
Mr. Sinal shared that, “Upstate New York didn’t really have the flavor that I was looking for and my mom was about four hours away.” Living there, he realized how much he missed the flavors of home and decided to learn how to cook for himself. He said that living on one’s own can lead to so many more accomplishments than people initially think.
“Similarly, I had moved to Pennsylvania when I first started teaching, about ten years ago, and again, I’m so far away,” he shared. “All they had was American food and Chinese food and if I wanted anything with some type of flavor, I would have to drive 45 minutes to get Jamaican food …” He lived near Quakertown at this time, where there wasn’t any Haitian cuisine near him and the only option close was Jamaican food which he traveled a great distance.
Mr. Sinal is currently working full-time at SCH and in graduate school to get his doctorate. “Being able to disconnect from all of that and just be in the process and making stuff, not necessarily for me, but knowing that, I’m gonna take a break, I’m gonna bake, I’m gonna cook.”
He shared, “Once YouTube kind of expanded a bit more, I was able to bake more, and then people were liking what I was making, and I appreciated that, and seeing them have a smile on their face, and the joy that I was able to bring to folks made me want to do it more. That’s just because that’s who I am, I just try to make people happy as best as I can.”
Mr. Sinal mentioned that the hard part of baking is shopping for the ingredients, making sure the cooking area is clean, and making sure that he has everything ready to go. “Those are things that are a little bit exhausting, but the process and thinking about the goal gets me going and definitely creates that excitement for me. And that excitement is short-lived when I then see my sink and realize that I have a lot to clean up,” he said. But his excitement gets reinvigorated when he gives his baking to somebody. “I can’t always do it because that does take a lot out of me sometimes, but I still try my best to make it when they ask.”
Putting a smile on a friend’s face is part of Mr. Sinal’s self-care. Cooking and baking, for Mr. Sinal, are about sharing love, keeping his culture alive, and finding moments of peace in a busy life. Whether he is making a fancy cake or a simple meal for his mom, every dish shows the person who he is and what he cares about.
Cooking also helps him stay connected to his Haitian roots. Growing up as an only child with a single mom, food was a big part of his life. Now that his mom lives nearby, he loves cooking for her. Whether it’s oxtails with mashed potatoes or Haitian mac and cheese, it’s his way of giving back to her and sharing his peace and love.
