We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allison Kociuruba. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allison below.

Allison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents have always been supportive of me no matter what crazy idea I presented to them. From watching me as a competitive synchronized swimmer traveling all over the country to making it possible for me to go to University of Richmond and move far from home (I grew up in New York). They were always encouraging me and setting an example by working hard to achieve their own goals. My Dad made a brave move in the middle of his career, starting his own marketing consulting business and he worked from home before it was cool. My mom worked with him on the accounting while being a dedicated stay-at-home mom to my sister and me. They valued hard work and appreciated my creativity from an early age.

When I took my first job out of college at an advertising agency in San Francisco, they were there to help me move, give advice and provide a listening ear during all of my homesick phone calls. I knew that on the other end of the line was a family that believed I could succeed and would always cheer me on. I made the decision to move from San Francisco to NYC to attend culinary school leaving a promising career behind and they never revealed any fears over my bold shift. Instead, my mom bought herself a set of new knives and shared in my cooking discoveries. It was no surprise to me that 20 years later when I called to say I was now going to start a custom cookie business from home (once my kids were back in school following their time at home during COVID), my parents were enthusiastic and eager to learn everything about what would make my new venture a success. They were also thrilled to be taste testers yet again.

Allison, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In January 2022 I started a home business selling custom decorated sugar cookies. With over 20 years in the culinary industry, I have worked in restaurants, bakeries, Good Housekeeping Magazine’s Test Kitchen and in the marketing department at Whole Foods Market. Since starting our family 10 years ago I had been freelancing from home doing research, writing and recipe development. Following a few years with my two kids at home because of COVID I was looking to find a creative outlet that was also a way to make money and the best use of my time while they were at school. I rediscovered cookie decorating and realized how far things had come since I had last made cookies for a friend’s wedding during culinary school.

I love to make unique, custom-designed cookie sets for clients’ celebrations. Food is my love language and it is a dream to get to do this for so many people. I appreciate when a customer gives me the creative freedom to design their cookies and work to create something personalized and special for their event.

When creating my cookies, I spend most of the time working on how they will look, however what I am most proud of is that clients repeatedly comment on how good they taste. I buy high quality ingredients, I bake the cookies to be as fresh as possible and my recipe makes a soft cookie that’s rich in flavor. Sadly, with many store-bought decorated baked goods, the expectation is that they might look great but their taste doesn’t match up.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

My strategy for growing the business is to get my cookies in front of people’s eyes and into their mouths. I started practicing more seriously about 6 months before officially starting to sell. I would find any opportunity to make cookies for friend’s birthdays, the teachers at school, and family holidays. By the time I was ready to start the business I knew of enough people who would be willing to buy. I have done some strategic charity orders as donations and am now able to rely on word of mouth and my Instagram presence to find new clients.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I feel like my whole career has been a series of pivots! I started on the business side of a creative industry in advertising and that drove my desire to pursue culinary arts. Quitting my job and going to culinary school in my mid-20s felt like a crazy shift but it led me to where I am with so many adventures along the way. I worked in a busy NYC restaurant immediately upon graduation but ultimately realized that I did not want to be a chef running my own kitchen. I had entered culinary school with the goal of getting into food editorial and I couldn’t do that with the exhausting hours of working at the restaurant. I left and worked several jobs until I got a shot at breaking into magazines. After almost 5 years in the Test Kitchen at Good Housekeeping, I got engaged and my fiancé was going to grad school in Austin, Texas. I combined my business background with my culinary experience and worked my network until I connected with someone at the corporate offices of Whole Foods Market eventually landing a job in their marketing department. Several years later after having our first child I tapped into my network yet again to start freelancing from home doing recipe development. Now, here I am, pivoting once more, utilizing my culinary skills with the time constraints of having two young kiddos to begin a new venture.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugardreams.cookiestudio/
• Email: [email protected]
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akociuruba/

Image Credits
Kitchen photo credit – Caroline Tipton