April 14th, 1989 (30)
Gender / pronouns: Cis Female / She & Her
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Occupation: Co-Owner of Dough Re Mi Bakery
Face-claim: Melisa Asli Pamuk
The life of Norah Kaplan began as many do, with involuntarily invading the presence of a family that already considered itself complete. Norahâs family was the most recent and certainly most important generation in a long line of politicians, executives, high-powered corporate lawyers, and altogether big wigs that had emigrated from Turkey in the 1920s, with four adult or near-adult children and a very cultivated public image already in place. To Senator Kaplanâs constituents and his ongoing campaign for reelection, that snapshot was enough to carry the idea that he represented everything good, hardworking Americans stood for. Norahâs reality was a lot colder. There was very little love in that big, Victorian estate, and what affection was shown was stilted and superficial. If her father was ever home long enough to run into her, which maybe happened a few times a month, the conversations were just reminders that nobody in her family really knew her or cared about how she grew up, as long as she smiled pretty for photo opportunities.
The sentiment that Norah was alone in her home life carried her away from the house once she was old enough; always the one to come over for a sleepover or stay for dinner, but never the one to invite anyone over. The isolation from her family catapulted her into the arms of her friends and, especially as she got older and really grew into her personality, created bonds that meant exponentially more than the ones she was given by her family. High school crashed into Norah at a hundred miles per hour and she stopped being the girl from a wealthy family that people started rumors about because of what she wore and what she drove, and became the carefree, artistic, sugar-sweet, supportive friend that made her loved ones love her. That confidence and certainty in herself fueled her as she left home behind her, though she never really was able to leave her hometown goodbye.
Seattle was always the light at the end of the tunnel when it came to growing up, for Norah. No matter how bad things were under the surface at home, Seattle was a bright, lively place that Norah felt connected to from a very young age when she didnât feel at home in her own home. Moving out and becoming independent by going to college and getting an education when her parents not only expected, but actively tried to force a very old fashioned, traditional lifestyle for her. In an attempt to appease her parents, especially her father, she attended his alma mater, the University of Washington, but it became clear to her early on that her experiences there werenât going to live up to her familyâs standards. Instead of the business and communication classes, she took art classes upon art classes with painting and sculpture, and early morning yoga electives; poetry courses and enough literature lectures to be able to teach them herself.
During her third year of college, Norah took an introductory drafting and design class, taught by the teacherâs assistant when the professor couldnât be bothered to show up (read: all but the first and final days). During the course of the class, the conversations, and the secret looks that she couldnât help but leave the TA with every day, she fell head over heels for him. That man would be the one to take her out of the Kaplan lifestyle and into her own life. Her parents, who had arranged for her to meet the son from another elitist upper class family and been ecstatic when she had gone on a couple of dates with him, were furious when she broke up with him to begin dating her teacherâs assistant. This marked a real shift in their opinion of her. Though she had always been treated as the âextraâ child, they favored ignoring her after she defied their first direct wishes in years. That cutting of ties forced her to face her independence and rather than flounder when her marionette strings were cut, she truly spread her wings. With the feeling of being in total control of her future, Norah made the biggest decision of her life so far: two semesters away to Paris, France where she could learn the art of French pastry making (patisserie) firsthand.
After coming back home to the States and paying her own way through her final year of college without her familyâs financial help, Norah started baking full-time at a prestigious nearby bakery known for separating out the wheat from the chaff. There were several years when Norah put her own well-being to the wayside in favor of her hands-on education and experience. It was during this time that she lost a lot of her friends, the teacherâs assistant that had changed her life included, and it was the grieving process of their breakup that snapped her out of the obsessive culture in which sheâd been absorbed and saved her passion for baking from burning out with the practices the bakery had taught her.
Six months after her earth-shattering breakup, which she worked out was completely her fault after leaving her first bakery, Norah started meeting with her friends from college and patisserie school to once again discuss the dream that had gotten them through the long nights and insane finals weeks that originally brought them together. Dough Re Mi, as they unanimously decided after someone came up with it during the aftermath of an hours-long winetasting, was opened twelve months later. The process, which had ripped together groups that knew each other far better than Norahâs, taught them how to communicate and compromise, which was not any of their strong suits prior. Now, almost a year after opening the bakery, things in Norahâs life are beginning to balance and becoming more exciting all at once. One of the promises she made to her partners before they opened their doors was that she would never overwork herself like she did at her first bakery. The work involved with self-care became a break to connect with herself, and every moment moving forward has become about exploring that balance of work, life, and possibly even love.
+Â passionate, nurturing, imaginative
â stubborn, naive, emotional
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