This is the story of one tough cookie. From nearly losing her business, to seeing a 10,000% spike in sales... Maya Madsen is baking the world a better place (see what I did there?)
Maya Madsen is the owner of Maya's Cookies. And she's being called the top Black-owned gourmet Vegan cookie maker. Just recently, Maya opened up her first storefront in San Diego...but it didn't happen overnight.
For roughly 15-years, Maya worked as a personal trainer. But even trainers need cheat days, right? Maya realized she couldn't find a good Vegan treat for herself, so she decided to start making her own. She had another motivation, though...her children. She needed to find ways to make extra money to send her boys to school. So Maya started baking cookies. At first, selling them to members of her spinning class, then bringing them to the local Farmer's Markets.
Things were going pretty well for Maya, until the Pandemic. The impact of Covid-19 shrunk her San Diego-based vegan cookie company, to a staff of three. But in June, Black Lives Matter supporters flocked to social medial to help elevate Black-Owned businesses and that's when things changed for Maya and her cookies.
Maya started getting orders from nearly every state, hitting a daily high of nearly 2,000. Maya was able to create more jobs, hiring a staff of 35 people and renting a space for warehousing and shipping. The local vegan bakery became a sweet success---and a national one at that---turning Maya's Cookies into the number one Black-Owned, woman-owned Vegan cookie company in the country.
Earlier this month, Maya's Cookies debuted its first retail store at 4760 Mission Gorge Place. It's open from 10am to 3pm Wednesday through Sunday.
And as her success continues to rise, Maya is still giving back to the community. The sweet business owner shares her commercial kitchen with other woman-owned businesses like Kula, whose vegan and gluten-free ice cream is available by the pint. Maya also uses part of her profits to donate to charities that matter to her.
So what's next for Maya? She says she wants to be the national go-to for vegan cookies, which would mean expanding her operations.
But for now, you can visit Maya's Cookies at...
4760 Mission Gorge Place Suite G
San Diego, CA 92120
OH and how could I forget to mention?! Her cookies are DELICIOUS.
To see the whole story, visit CBS News here