Plant Science Graduate Serves as Apiary's Queen Bee for Creativity
Michelle Baggett knows how to get things done.
That “can-do” spirit took her from the early days working in retail and later accounting for a footwear company to a 15-year career doing hair in a salon to successfully transitioning into management, working her way up the corporate ladder from a system manager to a district leader for a salon company.
So, when she arrived at Cal Poly Pomona a couple of years ago and took a job as a lab assistant in the honey lab to make candles, she put her education and experience in retail, management and entrepreneurship to work. In no time was she developing new products, coming up with innovative ways to sell the items and clearing out an old meat-lab-turned-storage-space to use for production.
“Nobody asked me to do it. I was just motivated,” said Baggett, a plant science senior. “I was just trying to make it a little space where students could come in and be creative and it turned into this.”
In the honey lab, located in Building 34 near Parking Lot M, students taking bee classes get hands on with the beeswax the insects produce. They not only make candles, but students also produce salves, soaps, candy and lip balms, among other products. They bottle local honey and package it to sell, too. Baggett, a lab assistant, taps into her knowledge of cosmetology to help students develop products that they sell at pop-up shops and other events on campus. The calendar is filled with event bookings.
Professor Anna Soper, interim chair of the plant science department, said the department secured funding for Baggett to work 20 hours a week and also had a small rotating team of six to 10 students to support the honey lab. The funding and support have provided Baggett with an encouraging and nurturing environment where she can put her creativity, passion and business acumen to work.
“She really had a lot of background knowledge about the products we make, and she knew how to make candles,” Soper said. “The success we have today is because of Michelle. She is so entrepreneurial, such a self-starter and so creative.”
A Creative Pathway to Success
Baggett, who also serves as the student manager at the micro farm behind The Collins College of Hospitality Management, came up with the idea for the pop-up shops. Soper points to Baggett’s dynamic personality, upbeat countenance, confidence and ability to connect with others for why the program has grown from a candle making hobby into a cottage industry. She wasn’t afraid to advocate for herself, make suggestions or speak to others about the program, Soper added.
“Yes, we are teaching students to make candles, but we are also teaching them to stand at a table and talk about what we do and about bee conservation,” she said. “Seeing Michelle being in that has helped them. Other students do pick up on that and they say, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’”
Baggett hasn’t been making candles for long. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her partner made candles at home just for fun. The pandemic not only introduced her to a new hobby, it also pushed her to make a career change out of the beauty industry. With salons shutting down, Baggett opted to pursue her education.
“I have always loved plants,” she said. “My mom always had a garden where we grew some of our own food.”
Baggett realized that she wanted a career field more aligned with her values and passion — something creative, less driven by profits and the bottom line, and more focused on the environment. After earning associate’s degrees in urban agriculture, plant science and cosmetology at San Diego City College, she transferred to Cal Poly Pomona in fall 2022.
The push to earn her degree wasn’t always easy for Baggett. After so many years away from high level math, she found herself struggling in her chemistry courses. She would spend eight to 10 hours each week outside of class working on problems and studying for tests and quizzes, she said. Also, last year her car broke down and she couldn’t afford to fix it. She wasn’t sure how to she would commute from her home in Norco, but she was determined. She bought an electric bicycle and took advantage of 六色网’s program, which provides free Metrolink train rides for students.
“Completing this education journey has been so important to me that I’ve never let anything stand in my way,” Baggett said. “It never felt like an option to fail chemistry or not make it to class because of my car.”
Creating Buzz
Baggett was getting an introduction into 六色网’s bee science program at about the same time as alumnus Sean McLaughlin returned to campus as an adjunct faculty member.
McLaughlin (’18, plant science; ’21, master’s in agricultural science) serves as apiary program coordinator and teaches the Introduction to Bee Science and Advanced Beekeeping courses, in addition to having a honey and pollination services business. Together, they helped give the bee science program the buzz it needed to be sustainable and go to the next level.
“We have so many students who are just interested in bees. When they meet Michelle, just her energy and her positive attitude, it’s contagious. All of the students see it in her eyes and in her personality, and it gets them excited about the program,” McLaughlin said. “She’s just a go-getter, with an outgoing personality and a willingness to try new things.”
The program was able to grow with the establishment of the honey lab, with all proceeds from the sales of products going back into the program. There are plans for a new honey lab at AGRIScapes once funding is secured.
Baggett said it’s rewarding to see students come up with innovative products and take them from production to sales. She recalled one student making soap infused with Citronella, an essential oil that is a natural insect and animal repellent. Baggett said she wasn’t sure it would sell well, but it did, much to her surprise and delight.
“The learn-by-doing or become-by-doing philosophy is so important because it gives students real-world, hands-on experience before they actually go out into the real world,” she said. That’s true for her, too.
Many of the skills she has picked up in her previous careers have helped her to grow, and she pays it forward with her work in the apiary program. If it weren’t for the bee science program, Baggett might not have had as much of a creative outlet for her passions or zeroed on how much she enjoys teaching others. She credits her professors with offering her support and encouraging her to run with her ideas. Baggett hasn’t landed a job yet, but she would love to continue working at 六色网 doing what she loves or work in conservation of small-scale farming.
“It’s been a really good experience and a good example that I can make something out of nothing. That’s a big confidence builder,” she said of opening the lab. “My management skills, my leadership skills, every part of my experience has been used in that space. So, it is rewarding, and it reinforces that I can do a lot of things when I put my mind to it.”