Jordan Rondel started The Caker in 2010, which she now runs with her sister Anouk after she left her job as a lawyer. Based in Los Angeles, the pair spend all their time together, as sisters, best friends and business partners
Jordan
My earliest memory of Anouk (pictured right) is helping her pick flowers from our grandparents’ garden in France. Like most younger siblings, I think she really looked up to me and always wanted to be a part of what I was doing. We have always been the best of friends and I consider myself extremely lucky to have had a companion like her for the last 28 years.
A few years ago, Anouk was working as a lawyer and I was extremely busy building The Caker brand and running myself a little thin because I simply didn’t have enough help. She could see that and was also starting to realise that being a lawyer wasn’t her calling, so she asked if she could come and work with me. The answer was a non-hesitant ‘yes’, and the rest is history.
Our roles are intertwined to a large degree and over the last two years we really needed each other’s skill sets in order to expand the business into the US. While I am the more creative one who writes the recipes and is more the face of the brand, Anouk runs the business behind the scenes. She’s more practical than me, while I am more of a dreamer and I think this creates a wonderful balance — we are like yin and yang. She can fix anything and is super handy with a drill!
Anouk is the most intelligent, practical, kind and gorgeous person I know. She’s someone I can trust my life with, someone who is unfalteringly loyal, and someone to always have fun with. We are joined at the hip, and when we’re not working, we’re cooking dinner together, having a glass of wine, or going on an adventure.
My favourite thing about her is that she’ll always be there for me, no matter what.
Anouk
Jordan (pictured left) is almost four years older than me. My earliest memory of her is when I found a little lizard in the garden which had no tail and she told me, “Don’t worry, it will grow back!”
Growing up she was everything I wanted to be; she was the epitome of cool. She was also fairly quiet, but looking back now, I realise maybe I was just loud and she was happy for me to be the clown in public.
We always had our own rooms but at one point when we were a bit older, she had two single beds in her room and I slept in one for a long time—even though all my things were in my room, we preferred sleeping together.
A few years ago, I realised the corporate world of lawyering wasn’t for me and I nervously approached her, asking if I could try working for her. She was so desperate at the time, that thankfully she took me up on my offer!
While we are very different in the way we work—I am the business side and she is the creative side—we consult each other on almost everything. I am more analytical and Jordan is more spontaneous, and it’s the thing we are most grateful for because we complement each other perfectly. She is still the epitome of cool, but she now takes centre stage!
My favourite thing about Jordan is that I can trust her one million percent! I admire everything about her and she’s the best smelling person you’ll ever meet. Her room, her car, anything she has worn just smells like heaven.
I feel like my sister and I exist in this world almost as one person and I think she would agree. It’s weird and beautiful and I am so grateful to our parents for having us both.
