We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Gavin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

For quite a few years before I started my cookie business, I was pursuing art and hopeful I would find a niche that could turn into a business. I’ve always loved art but never committed to one medium/style/etc and so nothing ever really took off. While working full time and before becoming a mom, I always struggled to commit time to pursing the business dreams I had. In slight desperation, in 2018 I started a business called Secret Garden Paper Co without much clear direction or honestly even skill. I simultaneously got pregnant with our first daughter and between not having clear direction, working full time and the challenges of pregnancy, the business was an utter failure. I’m thankful for that failure now, but at the time is was incredibly disheartening. Looking back, the whole process felt forced. Nothing had come naturally and ultimately I think that had a lot to do with its failure.

As I learned better who I was and where I could see myself naturally growing as an artist, the idea of starting a cookie company bloomed. I have always loved baking and worked in kitchens. I actually attended pastry school after high school. In late 2019, I started flirting with the idea of leaving the bakery job I had and doing cookies full time. I was pregnant with my second daughter and desperate to start working for myself. I always said I wanted to be a full time artist/business owner and a full time stay at home mom. I wanted to be able to do both, in whatever capacity I wanted at the time. Walking back through some of the tracks I had already taken when I started my first business, this time just felt different. Opportunities opened up, inspiration flowed, excitement grew. I officially started my business in February of 2020 which, obviously, was not the best timing. But miraculously, pandemic and all, my business flourished. It felt natural and it grew rather organically. Not that there weren’t challenges to overcome, but compared to my first business it was exhilarating and the challenges felt conquerable.

Looking back, especially on the time before I was a mom, man I wish I had taken advantage of all the free time I didn’t realize I had! Life is now a constant juggle of meeting the needs of (now 3) little ones while also trying to find the time to gain inspiration and create – both for my customers and for my own sanity. Not to mention the everyday challenges of running a business. The thing is, I needed to grow as a person and a creative in a lot of ways before any business I started would have been successful. And obviously becoming a mom forces you to grow in a lot of those ways. So while I look back on my younger years and wish I had started sooner, when I had more time and got more sleep, I also know that who I was back then didn’t have all the skills and gumption I needed to start a successful business.

So here I am, dreaming of the day in the future when my time is a bit more my own, where I can pour a lot more into my creative side again. I’m older, wiser, a whole heck of a lot more humble and I have a lot of business dreams that extend past the kitchen. Who knows, maybe a new iteration of the paper company is on the horizon.

Starting a business in the midst of the craziness of new motherhood may not have been the best logistical choice, but it’s shaped who I am and who I’m still becoming and for that I am grateful. So looking back do I wish I’d started at a different time? Yes, but also no. Because I’m so proud of what I’ve built and the person and artist (and mother) I’ve become at the same time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up, two of the constants in my life were spending time in the kitchen (usually baking) and art. I’ve always loved drawing, painting, calligraphy and also baking delicious (and beautiful) treats. So putting the two together to start my sugar cookie business felt pretty natural. I was working at a bakery where I had been asked a handful of times to make custom sugar cookies. The first few times I hated it. But as my skill grew, I started to realize all that was possible and I fell in love with sugar cookie art. I am completely self taught as we didn’t cover anything about this in school. And as any fellow creatives already know, a LOT of practice went into where I am today. I definitely did not start out with the decorating skills I now have. That being said, I certainly benefited from my experience in baking and various art forms.

Part of the fun of cookie decorating is the actual act of decorating. But the more exciting part for me is designing the set before I even step into the kitchen. I think that’s one of the main things that sets me apart from other “cookiers” (as we call ourselves). There are a lot of sugar cookie makers out there. And there seem to be a handful of designs that a lot of them pull from. So scrolling through IG you’ll see a lot of different iterations of the same cookie designs. I don’t like to make those kind of sets. I do my best to create unique designs for each order. And I pull from my experience in a lot of different art mediums when I do. My love of watercolor, calligraphy, color theory, etc. have all helped shape my style as a cookier.

I work with a lot of clients seeking fun additions to the events you’d normally think of – weddings, birthdays, baby showers etc. But I also work with a lot of businesses making cookies for grand openings, Christmas gifts for clients, employee retreats, etc. I love working with businesses to incorporate their logo and brand identity into a set. One of the first sets I did for a business was for a carpentry business. They gave me full creative reign (hallelujah) and I created cookies with little kitchen scenes on them, showcasing the kind of cabinets they made. It was some of the most fun I’ve had creating a set of cookies. I love the chance to translate fun ideas into cookie art. It is whimsical, beautiful, and best of all, delicious!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think one of the biggest misunderstandings non-creatives have is the idea of overnight success or innate skill. I’m sure I’m not alone in the amount of times I hear “oh I could never do that!”. But I can assure everyone, that very few (if any) artists started out with the skills they now possess. Sure there’s something to be said for style and having an eye for design, but I would argue almost anything can be learned with time and motivation. I wish I had receipts of the time spent building my skills as an artist (and by many metrics I still am very much an amateur) and pictures of all of the art and cookies I’ve created over the years before I really accepted the label of “artist”. It can be so easy, especially in the age of social media, to not stop comparing yourself and your skills long enough to just start creating. And keep creating, and create some more. Some of it will suck, some of it won’t. All of it is important. If you dream of becoming an artist, get used to just creating, a lot. I assure you (especially when it comes to cookies), you definitely could do it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I picked a date on the calendar in February 2020 to quit my job and start my cookie business full time, I had no way of foreseeing what would come a month later. As a sugar cookie artist, my ideal clients were planning big celebratory gatherings (weddings, birthdays, etc). Obviously that didn’t exist in almost any capacity for the first few months after the pandemic hit. After a bit of panic and a lot of crowd-sourcing ideas from family and friends, I created cookie solutions to the isolation-related problems everyone was now facing. I still offered custom cookie sets for those celebrating birthdays with their little family units, but I also added in semi-custom sets that were smaller and gave people the idea of sending cookies to the loved ones they couldn’t see in person. I also offered a variety of different DIY cookie kits, focused on providing fun activities to do with the kiddos that were all home from school. Some of them were just for fun, others had little bits of education incorporated like a solar system kit or a Yellowstone National Park kit (complete with little facts about the park). As the first few months of the pandemic wound down and summer came, people were getting out a bit more (but still not having parties) and things slowed down for me. It was hard to go through that season without knowing what the future held. Thankfully, people started getting together for celebrations again, and by 2021 my business was pretty much running as I had initially planned, focused on bringing beauty and whimsy to gatherings and celebrations.

Contact Info:

• Website: secretgardencookieco.com
• Instagram: secretgardencookieco
• Facebook: secretgardencookieco

Image Credits
Madisyn Lee Photography (1st photo) Opal & Ox Photography (remaining photos)