This article was written by Emily, an InfluenceHer Collective Member.
Like most of us, I love cookie dough. So when I found out about Cookie Dō, the edible cookie dough shop making waves in NYC, I had to check it out. I arrived at the shop around 3:30pm and there was a crowd inside. Everyone from locals to even a group from Michigan was there to test the dough. It was just THAT popular.
The shop itself was in an adorable area, only a few blocks from Washington Square Park and NYU. The decor inside was very on trend, with pastel colors and chalk board styles signs. It felt like a trendy ice cream shop, which Kristen Tomlan, the founder of Cookie Dō, mentioned was her intention. Inside the shop was a large glass window where you could watch them making the cookie dough right in front of you and see exactly what goes into the process.
Needless to say, it was very popular, and was very PACKED.
I tried two kinds of cookie dough. First, I tried Kristen’s personal favorite, Heavenly, a sugar cookie with Nutella, chocolate chips, caramel bits and sea salt. Then I tried scoop of their seasonal dough Coffee Toffee, which was a signature base with espresso and dark chocolate toffee pieces with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. So. Good. The seasonal Coffee Toffee flavor was my favorite! It was perfect for the fall turning into the winter months.
I caught up with Kristen to pick her brain about how to turn a passion into a business (and ate a bunch of cookie dough along the way).
Emily: Who was your cooking inspo growing up?
Kristen: My mom definitely, I kind of grew up in the kitchen next to her. She taught me everything I needed to know about navigating the kitchen, especially the mixer. I really had a huge sweet tooth growing up so I was always one that was making cookies, and kind of became the baker of the family.
Emily: What was the hardest part of building your own business?
Kristen: Everything. I think just figuring it out, there’s not really a book that tells you what to do. Every business is different and you kind of just have to trust your gut and go with your intuition, and just figure it out along the way.
Emily: Personal favorite Dō flavor?
Kristen: Heavenly, which is a sugar cookie with Nutella, chocolate chips, caramel bits and sea salt. So it has a little bit of everything.
Emily: What inspired you to launch Cookie Dō?
Kristen: Honestly just my love for baking and eating cookie dough so I wanted to share that with as many people as possible. I think eating cookie dough always brings me back to a very happy place and so I was just inspired by sharing that with others. I wanted to see if there was a business around edible cookie dough, since there wasn’t anyone doing it.
Emily: What advice would you give young women who want to launch their own business?
Kristen: I would say to just do something, kind of jump in even if its little by little. I think a lot of people are paralyzed by the fear of the unknown. There’s so much to do when starting your own business, you kind of get bogged down with, “Omg where do you start?”
My advice is to always just start somewhere, even if it is a little bit at a time and baby steps. Eventually those baby steps add up and it’ll become what you want it to be. But you really have to dedicate time and start somewhere.
Emily: What would you tell your college self about starting a business?
Kristen: I would probably tell myself to just trust your gut, I feel like a lot of times you just second guess things or you are concerned about so many things you are trying to think about it all. The decisions I have made where I have trusted my gut and kind of gone with that instinct have been the ones that have been the right decisions.
Trust yourself, have confidence in yourself, I think confidence is huge because you just have to be confident in a decision and just go with it. I would encourage myself, you can do it, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Just reminding myself to trust myself.
You can hang out with Emily on her Instagram.