Ben Marcus Rules

Right off the bat let's clear the 600 pound gorilla from the room. How do you pronounce your last name properly? I don't think it rhymes with “dunce.” Is it like “bunch-ee?” That’s kinda how Brazilians pronounce Giselle Bundchen’s name “Beench-ee.”

My last name Bunce sounds similar to “bunt cake” but “-ce”.

Okay I consulted the Oracle - Chat GPT - about the origins of the name “Bunce.” I was thinking German or Nordic but nope:  “The surname Bunce is of English origin. It is believed to be a variant of the name Buns, which itself may have originated from a nickname or a topographic name for someone who lived near a hill or mound (from the Old English word "bunt" meaning "hill" or "mound"). Another possibility is that it could be a variant of the surname Bunce found in Kent, England, which may have originated from the Old French personal name Bons (meaning "good" or "kind"), introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066.”

So your name kinda means “Good buns.” Excellent choice for a baker.
Thank you. I feel enlightened.

SOME PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG BAKER

The baking thing goes way back with Miss Bunce, except for the last one.

Where are you from originally? Can you in 50 words or less describe the rainbow arc that landed you on the beach in Malibu you lucky gal? 
I couldn’t get it in 50 words but I tried - I’m a lot of things. Born in Oceanside, CA, grew up in Irvine, CA. 

Oceanside and Irvine! Two of my least-favorite places! Well done! Continue…
First two years of college in San Diego. Visited NYC and after one trip, I knew I needed to move there.  Back in SD, I broke my elbow skateboarding. Two surgeries later I developed multiple adult onset food allergies and intolerances (this is why my Bakery is allergen friendly). A few months later, moved to NYC, then graduated from FIT (State University of NY, Fashion Institute of Technology) two years later. 

I have a friend who went to FIT. Visited him in 1982 passing through NYC en route to Europa for the surfing. That joint was jumpin’! So they're teaching computer science at FIT now? (Good Heavens I just realized why FIT is a good name for a clothing design school. Never caught that before. Doh!)
Working in fashion didn’t feel right, so I risked my savings and took a three-month web design bootcamp at a local tech school called General Assembly. I loved it and started my career as a web designer (note: this took a while). While working as a web designer full time, I taught web design classes at General Assembly (passing the torch).

Okay that’s 146 words already but you’re rolling. Keep going. 

After four years of this, it didn’t feel right again. I wanted a different lifestyle and missed California. I moved back to CA, and changed my career again, this time to Data Science. Did a six-month full time Python bootcamp. I loved it. I eventually got hired as a Business Intelligence Analyst in LA - a remote job, and I lived in Brentwood. After some time working in Data Analysis, I realized how much I missed the full funnel experience of building software applications. There’s an iterative process to design, different from writing code to pull data, generating a report, then move on to the next report. I pivoted back to design, but with a Data Science influence. (spoiler: I haven’t pivoted since).  I designed software for Starbucks, then for Meta for a couple years, and now for Amazon. 

Solid. You like coding. Your brain likes coding. Mine understood it, but didn’t like it.
I was always coming to Malibu to play tennis, hike and surf (eh, attempt to surf). I got introduced to a property manager who showed me the apartment in Malibu I live in now. I've been here for 2.5 years.

Malibu puts the hook in people like New York but in a different way.

I’m a full-time remote worker and got my home kitchen certified by the LA Health Department, for Bunce Bakes, LLC - that’s how I make both jobs work.

Your website states: “Alison Bunce is a patented Product Designer @ Amazon AI who teaches UX Design and Data Science.”  Speaking slowly and clearly to someone who took a year of computer science at Berkeley in 1982 programming Apple 2s with floppy disks using Pascal (!!) can you please explain to me what it is you do?
When you request Alexa for information, for instance, “Alexa show me a recipe using salmon and spinach.” how might Alexa respond?

If Alexa was programmed with a sense of humor, Alexa would say “Aw gee Uncle Popeye! We hate spinach!”

If you’re asking Alexa via a screen device (like a phone), what screen might you see? What buttons might you see? What words might Alexa respond with, given your query?  My job is to design the screens and flows (steps you take) to best answer those questions with my colleagues. 

(At this point, Alison produces some of her healthy snacks: A carefully-wrapped tray of chocolate chip muffins, a tray of blueberry muffins and something she describes as “gluten, dairy, soy, and nut free tiramisu using my maple sea salt cookies muffins.” Eager hands sample all of it, and there are nods all around.)

Let’s try something trickier: “What would you call  tiramisu made without gluten, dairy, soy, and nuts using maple sea salt cookies muffins?”
Did you get an answer?

Airamisu.
Clever!  But does it taste like air?

Nope, it tastes like Tiramisu.

Okay then.

Do you worry about families who named their children Alexa and didn't know what was coming? Have there been incidents?

Alexa is a wake-word, meaning that once the robot hears you say this word, it begins to take in information. Anyone can change this in their settings. 

Second Boomer question: is it true blondes have more fun? (Ask Alexa or Chat GPT what that means)
Ha! I was born blonde and 33 years later, still am. Can’t describe how my life might be different in a darker hair shade. 

A CLAIROL CAMPAIGN, FROM THE 1960S

I've been using Chat GPT a lot lately and it's getting a little scary. There is a personality in all that code. I asked it a question about how to say something in Spanish, and it answered with a Latin accent. Geez. What kind of universe is this?

The engineering mindset is that anything is possible, come up with an idea or collaborate on an idea, and figure out how to build it. My personal take is that tech in our world will continue to snowball on this idea of, “build what does not yet exist, then build something else to fix or improve it”. 

You work from home so I imagine you scurrying around your kitchen in a smock and ordering Alexa to do your work while you bake fine baked goods.
Ha! I wish. Bunce Bakes cushions my time around my 9-5. Once my tech job is done for the day - if I’m not running off to an event (sometimes I have 4 events a week) -  I’m baking, cleaning, emailing customers, preparing packaging, managing business finances, doing inventory audits, researching next steps for the business. I have very full days.

I also read that you practice lip syncing while doing your baking. Which songs do you lip sync to?
Lip syncing helps me bake at midnight. I go through phases. Currently, I’m groovin’ to The Mamas & The Papas, ABBA, Laura Branigan, Cher, Gloria Gaynor and John Denver. 

There you go: Another 21st Century gal with Boomer taste in music. I praise you.
If you heard my vocals, you’d run for the hills.

Let me see if I'm guessing right: You have a corporate job and a part of a very large machine and might not have the autonomy you'd like. So to contrast that you create baked goods and are your own person and have complete creative freedom. Is that right? Am I getting the Yin/Yang of it?
Correct. Two very different jobs and mindsets. I enjoy the contrast. Both pull and challenge me to think in different ways.

Please reveal as many secrets as you dare about these baked goods you create and how you create them. 
Only if you sign my NDA…

Is baking something else you learned at FIT?
Baking was always a hobby, beginning with my Easy Bake Oven. 

Wow, another Boomer reference. Do Easy Bake Ovens still exist?

I googled it and they do. Seems you can get them at Walmart or on Amazon.

Does that school have a Home Economics Department? (That's another Boomer joke you might have to ask Alexa about) Okay, instead of dumb questions and Boomer jokes, I’m looking at your website and I see wonderful things: Chocolate-chip cookie muffin. Lemon poppyseed mini-muffin, maple sea salt cookie-muffins? 

Nope - but there was a sewing class. I mostly took classes on Sourcing and Sustainability. That’s where the Bunce Bakes eco-friendly commitment originated.

Bunce Bakes specializes in cookie-muffins (looks like a cookie, but with the texture of a muffin) and mini-muffins. All of our products are made with ingredients like maple syrup instead of sugar, coconut oil instead of butter and unrefined coconut flour instead of white bleached flour.

Your website states: “My attention to clean ingredients grew after being diagnosed with adult-onset food allergies and intolerances at 21. Can you say what foods you were allergic to and what effect they had?
Absolutely. As a consumer with food allergies, I’m always looking for clean products that won’t make me sick. The majority of gluten-free, dairy-free prepared foods are made using nuts, almonds specifically. I can’t eat nuts, nor can 6 million other people in the US. Also, oftentimes the first ingredient in these products is sugar. I’m picky and I like options, so I made one.

And you seem to use coconuts as a base which is very smart.  Coconuts are a good thing. Coconut is probably up there with salmon and blueberries as a pure thing to eat. I read somewhere that salmon is the healthiest food for humans and blueberries are second. Let’s run that by Chat GPT.

Okay the condensed answer is: “The healthiest foods for humans are generally nutrient-dense, meaning they provide a high amount of nutrients for relatively few calories. Here's a list of some of the healthiest foods:

Leafy Greens, Berries, Nuts and Seeds, Fatty Fish, Cruciferous Vegetables, Whole Grains, Legumes, Avocados, Garlic and Onions, Yogurt and Fermented Foods. Olive Oil, Sweet Potatoes, Eggs, Turmeric, Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa or Higher)”

(Just between you and I, I ordered avocado toast as I wrote these questions. I hope I don’t turn into a hipster. I am hipsterallergenic.)

(As long as you don’t start wearing an orange beanie and overuse the word vibe, I think you’re safe.)

Are your coconuts ethically sourced? Do you climb the trees yourself and hack them to the ground?
I could still make my gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, organic claims without the quality of ingredients I’m using. To me, every ingredient matters. I take it to the nth degree. I research every company I buy inventory from, and am proud to say that the ingredients I use are also Fair Trade Certified. I believe that the ingredients affect the taste and quality. I wholeheartedly believe in my products’ integrity. My products are not dietary supplements (ie it’s not a fiber cookie or a protein muffin) but because of the nature of the ingredients I use, my products contain clean nutritional value.

I’ll also note that as an eco-friendly company, my packaging is either compostable or fully recyclable. Another step I chose to take. 

Good for you. How long have you been in business and how is business?
Officially launched in May 2024.

How are you hoping to expand your business - other than being interviewed in Malibu Times?
I sell primarily online (buncebakes.com) and am slowly expanding my distribution with local LA healthy grocery stores and restaurants. I’m focusing on expanding sales of products we have now (online and in stores). Once the brand has secured enough distribution partnerships, I’ll eventually move production outside of my home and into a commercial setting. 

In what directions are you going to expand your product line?
I use the polling feature on my company’s instagram (@buncebakes) to ask customers directly what they want to see next. This helps me determine my product line and expansion.

That’s Data Mining isn’t it? Clever girl. I don’t want to sound like a smart aleck but have you considered selling on Amazon?

Yes, but I’m not there yet. 

I sometimes wrangle invitations to afternoon tea at a house on the cliffs of Point Dume that has a mesmerizing view over Little Dume and off east along the California Riviera. If they ever invite me back, I would like to bring some of your specialties.
I’d love that - you have my info :) 

How far in advance do I have to order?

Online orders are typically fulfilled within 3 days. I have coordinated in person deliveries as well.

And how are deliveries made?  Amazon drones? Air Alexa?
Would be pretty neat to fly your cookie-muffins directly from my oven to your home via drone…

And now for the other 600 pound gorilla in the room: Can you promise your customers that if they eat your muffins they will be transformed into someone as vibrantly blonde and healthy as you?
I can’t promise that, but it’s said that eating a healthy diet makes you your best self, and my products fit in very nicely there. 

Would you like to make a final statement?
This wasn’t asked, but I also volunteer monthly with UCLA Health. I do baking demos at The Tiverton Hotel (a UCLA Hospital Hotel designated for hospital patients and their families). I started as a volunteer in Patient Transport at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Hospital in 2023. I had a pager, and would escort hospital patients via wheelchair to the pharmacy, to a different room or to discharge them from the hospital. I did this weekly in four hour shifts. Given my bandwidth, I have since changed my volunteer work to monthly demos and game nights at The Tiverton. 

Well you are a healthy, decent, intelligent, hard-working person in a world that is increasingly lacking in all of the above. I wish you every success.
Thank you.