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November 27, 2024 | By Gabriela Forte (A27)

Right before the oral defense of her senior paper on Hegel and Epictetus, Chelsea Frost (A10) was asked by her tutors what her plans were after graduation. She smiled and answered, “I think I’ll go work at a bakery.”

Fast forward 14 years, and Frost owns and operates Pie Girl NJ, a bakery in Hightstown, New Jersey, that sells a constantly changing array of creatively flavored pies made from locally sourced ingredients. The business is small, but it’s made a massive splash since its grand opening in June 2023: Frost’s baked goods have been featured in local magazines, and her Instagram, @piegirlnj, has 12,000 followers. “I’ve been as far as an hour-and-a-half, two hours away from my house, walking down the sidewalk and someone will stop me asking, ‘Are you Pie Girl?’” Frost laughs, recounting the times she’s taken pictures with fans who recognize her from social media. 

Growing up baking with her mother, Frost found running a pie shop to be an easy fit. “I believe that throughout that window of time in my childhood, I was able to absorb all the care and thought and tradition that went into our desserts and meals, and I’ve carried that with me ever since,” she says. “I may not have gone to culinary school, but I have taken bits and pieces of every food memory, past and present, and used them to learn, grow, and become who I am in the kitchen.”

This continuation of memory and tradition, with the twists of a new generation, are especially prominent in Frost’s innovative recipes. One such example is her sun tea pie, which was inspired by the tea her grandmother would make every summer—something that, for Frost, “invokes a good, nostalgic memory.” Frost also experiments with flavor combinations such as salted honey lavender pie (one of her personal favorites) and savory and sweet pies using local produce such as apples, tomatoes, and sweet corn.

While Frost didn’t receive formal kitchen training, she says her St. John’s College education has helped her to thrive as a small-business owner, chef, recipe developer, and also as a person. “The education as a whole was about learning how to learn and then learning how to think, and that has carried over into literally everything I do,” Frost says. “You’ve taught yourself how to ask questions and figure out why something happens, [so] you’re going to look at so many unique ways of solving a problem where other people are so narrow-minded,” she adds. “And for me, that has translated into a very unique business, a unique way that I run my business, and a unique way that I solve problems.”

Pie Girl NJ is currently only open on weekends, running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until everything sells out. “We have a line out the door every Friday and Saturday,” Frost says. She also sells her pies at numerous farmer’s markets and other bakeshops across New Jersey, which she did for years long before she was able to open her own brick-and-mortar location. Using classic ingredients in unique ways to cultivate an emotional, often nostalgic experience has always gone beyond just baked goods for Frost, as she emphasizes that “the most rewarding part of the business as a whole has been connecting with so many customers.”

For Frost, relationships—whether between her and patrons or Pie Girl NJ and other local small businesses—are integral to fostering a strong culinary community. “The restaurant industry used to be so competitive, and as a whole I think it’s kind of leaning out of that and [that] we’ve made it more of a community than a competition,” she says. “Everyone is on your team all the time.”

“As far as that goes,” she continues, “it’s a huge inspiration that there’s all these humans out here doing this thing—and sometimes it’s really hard. And [in these communities] we’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s really hard, but you’ve got this.’” Social media drives much of Pie Girl NJ’s business; "it’s a huge reason that mine has grown so much,” Frost explains. Supporting each other both in real life and across the internet, she says, allows her and her peers “to work together in a really nice way.”

For fellow alums, it’s not hard to look at Frost and recognize how the Program’s model of inquiry and exploration provides a foundation for her work. St. John’s College emphasizes community, collaborative problem-solving, viewing the world in new ways, and asking difficult questions. While plenty of Johnnies enter fields like academia or law, alumni like Frost demonstrate how universally advantageous a liberal arts education can be, and how deeply it can be integrated into one’s life, regardless of the career path taken.

If you are interested in checking out Frost’s creations or possibly even picking up a pie from her shop, be sure to find her on her Instagram page (@piegirlnj) or her website (www.piegirlnj.shop)