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

Alright, Verandah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Butter, flour, sugar, and eggs sent me to China when I was 17 years old. My mother baked and sold homemade cookies from our family’s kitchen to pay for the trip and my father delivered orders. BAK’D came about when I realized three key things. First, I really enjoy being an imperfect creator in the kitchen. Second, there is a huge need for championing travel opportunities for girls and young women from historically underserved communities. Lastly, social impact is the main impact I wish to contribute to humanity. I am the proud product of a six person, low-income family. My family has benefitted from the same kinds of community-serving organizations that BAK’D now supports and gives back to. Travel abroad as a teenager completely altered the trajectory of my life. Because the organization who facilitated those trips abroad no longer exists, I’ve made it my moral obligation to pick up the torch and work towards offering a program like it, if not better. My experiences as a Girl Scout made my product offering a no-brainer. I knew the business of cookie sales, and I knew the personal responsibility of doing good and giving back. My founding of BAK’D is proof of what’s possible to girls and young women everywhere. I’ve had a unique combination of opportunities and blessings in life because someone decided they would support a social cause, and now those same opportunities and blessings are enabling me to be a business owner. My business honors the sacrifices and entrepreneurial spirit of my parents and pays the good I’ve been privileged to experience forward.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

BAK’D is a social impact- driven cookie company specializing in scratch made, preservative free, gourmet and custom printed sugar cookies. BAK’D exists to positively impact the local community and to champion travel opportunities for girls and young women from historically underserved communities. Our tagline is “doing good with good cookies” and it is a statement we live and breathe by. We’re immensely proud of this. When customers buy our cookies, we want them to be confident that they are sustainably made with the best quality ingredients from scratch, and that they are agents of change just by ordering their favorite flavor of cookies. We empower cookie lovers to believe that extraordinary good can come from something as ordinary as pantry staples. For underserved communities the impact is even more urgent. BAK’D exists to re-invest generously in the very communities its customers come from. Families with children, girls and young women, whole neighborhoods, community-serving organizations- they’re all vital to the mission of doing good with good cookies. The impact of BAK’D is bigger than vainglory. The impact of BAK’D is about the trajectory of lives being radically shifted with cookies and it is completely possible. I am living proof.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Always referrals. Happy and satisfied customers have always talked BAK’D up more than I effectively could simply because potential customers will listen to and consider a current customer’s testimony before a sales pitch from the owner. UGC (user generated content) is always such a gift to me and I’m always SO humbled.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

BAK’D was fully funded with personal assets to start. It is a blessing that I know is a privilege. BAK’D currently operates without debt, loans, or investors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mckinneymakes.com/order
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakdbymckinneymakes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakdbymckinneymakes
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verandahmckinney/

Image Credits

photo credit: Verandah McKinney