Austin Peay alum competing in Food Network’s ‘Holiday Baking Championship’

Austin Peay State University alum Jeffery Gray, a fine arts major turned baker, is competing in this year’s Food Network “Holiday Baking Championship.” In the first episode, which aired on Nov. 2, Gray is given the nickname “Santa from Atlanta” because his love for creativity and baking shined. Gray found out he was on the show in April and announced he was going to be on the show on Oct. 22 on his bakery’s Facebook page. “I hope you will please watch and cheer all of us on, I was in the company of 11 other amazing bakers (now friends) and it was an experience of a lifetime,” Gray wrote in the announcement. Gray launched Papa Bear Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this year after spending 33 years in the advertising industry, according to the show’s website. He got his inspiration for baking from his mother and grandmother and hopes to carry on their legacy of baking. Gray graduated from Austin Peay in 1986 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in advertising and design. “Holiday Baking Championship” airs at 8 p.m. CT every Monday. To learn more • You can see Gray’s bakery at its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/papabearbakery. • For more about Austin Peay’s Department of Art + Design, go to www.apsu.edu/art-design.

Jeffery Gray (courtesy Food Network)

(Posted Nov. 9, 2020)

Austin Peay State University alum Jeffery Gray, a fine arts major turned baker, is competing in this year’s Food Network “Holiday Baking Championship.”

In the first episode, which aired on Nov. 2, Gray is given the nickname “Santa from Atlanta” because his love for creativity and baking shined.

Gray found out he was on the show in April and announced he was going to be on the show on Oct. 22 on his bakery’s Facebook page.

“I hope you will please watch and cheer all of us on, I was in the company of 11 other amazing bakers (now friends) and it was an experience of a lifetime,” Gray wrote in the announcement.

Gray launched Papa Bear Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this year after spending 33 years in the advertising industry, according to the show’s website. He got his inspiration for baking from his mother and grandmother and hopes to carry on their legacy of baking.

Gray graduated from Austin Peay in 1986 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in advertising and design.

“Holiday Baking Championship” airs at 8 p.m. CT every Monday.

To learn more

You can see Gray’s bakery at its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/papabearbakery.
For more about Austin Peay’s Department of Art + Design, go to www.apsu.edu/art-design.

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