In each edition of our alumni newsletter, we speak with one of our alumni about their time as a student at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (previously iBMG and SAG) and what they are doing now. This time, we spoke to Samare Huls, whose path has turned out differently than she thought it would.
After completing a bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Economics, a master's degree in Behavioural Economics and a PhD in Health Economics, she has been working as a sourdough baker in her own Bakkerij Draai for a year and a half.
Originally, you started studying economics. What made you choose that?
I chose economics because I enjoyed doing maths. However, I also wanted to do something that had a purpose – maths was too abstract.
Did that also play a role in your choice to pursue a PhD?
Yes. I thought Behavioural Economics was great, but I had no desire to go into finance or marketing. A marketing internship confirmed for me that I care about the purpose of my work.
Teaching has always appealed to me – I’ve tutored and been a student assistant. I did a lot of teaching in that role, which was something I really enjoyed. I also liked research, but not in a commercial setting. After talking to a friend and my former thesis supervisors, I decided that a PhD would be a good fit for me. All that was left was to find a place where I could do it.
So why did you choose to do a PhD at ESHPM?
Compared to other universities and faculties I had applied to, I found ESHPM to have a very nice, open atmosphere. I also really enjoyed the multidisciplinary nature of the work and working with people from different backgrounds and areas of expertise.
My PhD was about measuring health preferences. The subject really appealed to me and I learned a lot about data science during those years.
Yet here you are, a sourdough baker. Was that ever in your plans?
Absolutely not. Baking wasn’t for me, until I suffered a concussion while doing my PhD that meant I wasn’t able to return to full-time work until nine months later. Many of my hobbies were too exhausting, and I was missing a purpose in my everyday life. A friend gave me a sourdough starter to entertain myself, and it worked out well.
The nice thing about sourdough is that you can work on it continuously: it takes two days to make a loaf. That allowed me to do something that yielded results again, and I enjoyed it. I now teach people in workshops how not to let their lives be dictated by their sourdough starter and bread, but back then I threw myself into it completely.
As my hobby continued to develop, so did my recovery. I obtained my PhD at the end of 2022. I then joined the government as a data scientist and stayed at ESHPM for four hours a week to develop a course on data literacy. A year and a half later, the unit I worked for at the government department was disbanded. This made me think about my next steps. I decided to quit my job.
At first, I planned to look for a new job in data science, but after two weeks I decided to do something with the ideas I’d had for a while and made an appointment at the Chamber of Commerce. The ideas were developed and Bakkerij Draai was established.
It is now well over a year and a half later. How is it going so far?
It's going well. Originally, I wanted a part-time job alongside baking, but I realised that if my plans for the bakery were only half‑baked (pun intended), I wouldn’t get what I wanted out of it. That’s why I went all in from the start.
I started driving a cargo bike around neighbourhoods so that people could collect their pre-ordered bread. It was a nice way to try out baking on a larger scale. I also did some catering jobs and workshops.
Last summer, I tried out a pop-up for six weeks; I enjoyed it so much that I started looking for a new pop-up location. I found one at MONO, and I’ve been running a pop-up there since October.
You are now doing something completely different from what your studies and PhD were about. Did you get something out of it anyway?
Besides baking, I occasionally teach programming courses. It’s a nice way to convey what I’ve learnt over all these years.
Apart from that, I think you always learn all sorts of things from your studies. I had to retake a course on bookkeeping several times, but it’s coming in handy now! During a PhD, you also learn many skills without realising it at the time: perseverance, being able to draw a lot of strength from within yourself and actively seeking out partnerships. These skills continue to be useful to me today.
When I started my PhD, I didn't expect to become a baker. And yet, I’ve not regretted my PhD and my work in data science for a moment.
How do you see the future?
I enjoy doing many different things and working with different people. Luckily, beautiful opportunities keep coming my way. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on an assignment as part of which we introduce young people in Rotterdam to baking. This way, we’re addressing the staffing shortage in the bakery sector and giving young people, such as refugees, a chance to get ahead by learning a trade. I like to work on projects that benefit others, and this is a great step towards that.
In conversation with… you?
Do you also have fond memories of your time at SAG/iBMG/ESHPM that you would like to share with fellow alumni? Or is your path a little unusual? Let us know by sending an email to alumni@eshpm.eur.nl.
