Rising Stars: Meet Hannah Councilman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Councilman.

Hi Hannah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story. 
I started baking at 2 years old with my mom. She’d sit me up on the kitchen counter, put a whisk in my hand, and let me crack the eggs into the brownie batter. 

It’s my earliest memory of being in the kitchen, and since then, I’ve had a million more. She would always invite me into the kitchen whenever she was making anything, and she was always so patient with me. My mama was (and is) the one who sparked my love for baking and cooking. 

For as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted to wanted to go to culinary school. It just made sense for me. It was the thing I was most passionate about, and it was what clicked in my brain. I would always explore and experiment in the kitchen with recipes. I would want to be in the kitchen more than I would want to be anywhere else. 

After years of baking nonstop at home, trying so many recipes and techniques, and beginning to make cakes and wedding cakes for friends and family, which I did for about 3 three years – I graduated high school and went to culinary and baking and pastry school at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh. I double majored and tried to learn as much as I could during my time there, graduating with 2 4.0 GPAs, several certificates, being named a US Foods Scholar in Fall of 2019, and placing Silver Medalist in 2 categories (Chocolate Showpiece and Celebration Cake) in an American Culinary Federation Pastry Competition. While in school, I met my current boss and started working at Videri Chocolate Factory as a from scratch, a bean-to-bar chocolate maker in downtown Raleigh. 

I’ve been there for over two years now and am now the head chocolate bar maker. I also make chocolate bonbons on the Confections’ team, along with a slew of other things. 

However, in the winter of 2022, I was invited to compete on Food Network’s Halloween Wars as a Sugar Artist on team Squad Ghouls at 20 years old – one of their youngest competitors on the show. I filmed in Park City, Utah for about a month – one of hardest things, yet best things I’ve done. I handled all of the sugar artwork for our displays, and I also designed and made the specialty flavored cakes for each episode. It aired starting in September of 2022, and we finished as Semi-Finalists. We were the team with the least experience and definitely looked down upon by everyone else at first, but it was amazing to go into the competition and give everything we had. It absolutely paid off. The judges were blown away. 

Shortly after, I started food blogging on my own website – RosemaryWhisk.com which is a passion of mine and has been for years. I love food photography, creating recipes, and sharing those recipes with the world for them to enjoy. I have been gluten-free for over 8 years and mostly dairy free for over 12 – so, I specialize in helping those like me have delicious recipes to cook. However, I make and share a wide variety of recipes ranging from southern comfort foods to classic desserts, easy dinners for the whole family, unique flavor combinations, and some of my favorite desserts reimagined. Food truly brings people together and so many cultures together. That’s why I adore it so much. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s definitely not been a breeze. I’ve struggled with a lot along the way. From growing up homeschooled, when homeschooling was not viewed as “cool” to really struggling to read as a child, there have been many setbacks along this journey to where I stand right now. 

Most recently, I have battled a lot of health issues that have put a big pause on a lot of things in my life. It has forced me to reevaluate my goals, dreams, and what is genuinely important. Having to choose where to spend my time and energy has been really hard, but it has been really good for me to see where I am actually spending the energy I do have. 

I am beyond proud of myself that through these health issues, I was still able to compete on Food Network (at 20 years old, and also plan a wedding at the same time.) It was a huge challenge that I wasn’t sure how I’d accomplish, but I did. And it felt really good to prove that to myself. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a 20-something-year-old who has a lot of passions, dreams, and goals. Sometimes that can be overwhelming, but it’s also a blessing. 

I’ve always been a very creative person. As a child, toys never interested me. I just wanted paper and pencil. I wanted to create something. I wanted to make something. That feeling has never gone away, and I’ve just fed that passion as I’ve gotten older. Now, drawing and painting are not my forte. However, cakes are. Food is. Food styling is, food photography is, and creating and making food beautiful is. 

For years, I created cakes and wedding cakes for friends and family, and that was such a wonderful way to express my creativity. I still love doing it, and I decorate cakes every now and then, still. Those skills and sugar work skills that I learned in Baking and Pastry school were what allowed me to do well on Food Network’s Halloween Wars. 

As I previously mentioned, I love making things beautiful. It’s a joy. I definitely have a more artistic style of food photography, while some people are much more zoomed-in, and food-focused. While I still keep the food the star of the photo, I love incorporating other elements to enhance the photo. Creating recipes and learning about food daily is one of my favorite passions, too. I still have so much to learn, and I’m still definitely beginning. I’m grateful to have a wonderful mentor who holds my hand when I need it and encourages me along the way. 

Each situation, passion, hobby, and endeavor I’ve found myself in has been helpful in each new step of my journey, and for that, I’m so grateful. 

What does success mean to you?
I think the definition of success depends on what your goals look like. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to make big goals that are still realistic. That’s not to say that I can’t have goals that are huge and monstrous, because I’m a big dreamer. However, if I define success by achieving THAT one goal – I may never be “successful” by those standards I have boxed myself into. It’s defeating myself without good cause or for reasons I cannot control. 

So, make those goals – make those plans, but don’t box yourself into this idea that if you do not achieve all the things on your “to-do” list that you’re a failure. As a friend once told me, “Make plans, but don’t marry them.” 

Success is giving your all, day after day, working towards something you’re passionate about. It’s not giving up when things get hard when you feel like quitting, or even when people tell you to do so. It’s loving what you do and realizing each day how blessed you are to be right where you are. So many people would give everything to be right where you are now. We’re all so much more successful than we think we are. Success to me does not necessarily mean dollar signs. Start chasing a passion for the love of it, and then the money may follow. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rosemarywhisk.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosemarywhisk/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/rosemarywhisk
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosemarywhisk
• Youtube: https://bit.ly/3FfelE0?r=lp
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/rosemarywhisk/

Image Credits
Rosemary Whisk
Casey Horst Photography
Sean Rosenthal