How the Chocolate Chip Cookie School Came to Be

What is all those great math, science, reading, history, cooking and food origin questions that come up when teaching kids how to cook could become a series of books that kids could use to learn their school subjects?

The idea first came up while making batch #47 of chocolate chip cookies with my niece and nephew. In particular my niece has been what they call nowadays a “reluctant reader.” Yet when she was motivated to make a recipe, by golly she did what she had to read closely, carefully, and to comprehend what she was reading.

I was ready to combine my love of coaching kids, sustainable food business and design thinking with a desire to make a real difference in kids’ lives.

1. I put my stake in the ground while at the World Domination Summit (whose adopting the conference’s mantra of Community, Adventure, Service as my own). When I got home I cancelled my unemployment benefits to say “I am NOT looking for a job. I AM creating the Chocolate Chip Cookie School!”
   The lesson: Discover your purpose and follow your call to the journey, knowing there will be challenges, ups, and downs. Life is a journey, and it’s yours to live.
2. A generous designer friend and web developer Xiomara Cotton quickly created several logo concepts based on my input. LOVE them!
   The lesson: Create a win-win to get volunteers to help out. Xiomara loved the cause, and I promised to spread the word about her great web design and development services.
   
3. I elevator pitched the idea to teachers, parents, after school program managers…anyone I could think of who might react positively or negatively to give me a sign as to whether this idea had legs. (I even tested on a mom and her kid, when they sat with me at a communal table both eating chocolate chip cookies. Talk about a sign!)I also pitched it to Elance, a freelance marketplace, trying to win a couple thousand dollar prize. I almost won, but got a $200 consolation prize.
   The lessons:
   1. The chance to refine my story and the proposition.
   2. The practice of pitching a tech-centric audience in 2 minutes.
   3. The feedback from a team of funders.
4. I developed a prototype to test. While I didn’t win the Elance competition, I invested a couple thousand dollars in fabulous illustrations, materials and other work to get a “proof of concept” together. (I have Ariane Elsammak to thank for the illustrations.)
5. I connected with experts as advisors through friends who had developed games for kids at LeapFrog and MightyPlay. The project got me acquainted with friends who teach everything from high school to K-12 in all new ways. Their knowledge of what works and what kids love was so exciting to learn, and I soaked it all up like a cookie in milk.Someone I’d met long ago connected on LinkedIn, then introduced me to a bunch of UC Berkeley students, one who would become an intern. Her age proximity to my target reader’s age was a fantastic eye opener!

   I joined the Oakland community’s education mailing list and found myself at local schools where local parents and educators heatedly discussed Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
   The lesson: You can do anything new to you if you approach the project with a Beginner’s Mind and find people to teach and advise you.

6. I decided to create Once Upon a Chocolate Chip Cookie for 8-10 year olds, with a serious (and seriously humorous) look back at what had to happen for the chocolate chip cookie to come to life in the 1930s.
   The lesson: Make a decision so you can make progress.
7. I presented it to a tough audience: 30 kids, after school. This was scary. It was the first time I’d “taught” a class; previously I’d done lots of 1 on 1 coaching or helping kids’ in cooking classes in an interactive way. After recovering from their mild disappointment that we weren’t making cookies (in a library room with no kitchen or Susie Homemaker) this potentially antsy group of kids got totally engaged in discussing the cookie ingredients’ history and in cookie analyzing, comparing, and purchase decision making. My first set of Cookie Detectives was underway!
   The lesson: The rewards of stretching out of your comfort zone are always greater than keeping it safe or wishing you would have.
8. I pivoted! That techie parlance for “changed course.” The Children’s Book Academy  chapter book-writing class online connected me with amazing writers and illustrators, as I learned what makes chapter books beloved to kids. (Part of this project’s joy is hearkening back to my childhood of long summers reading Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown, lying in the sun back when there was an ozone layer.)Much to my dismay (and relief) only a few weeks before the Kickstarter campaign, a children’s book writing consultant and writer Hillary Homzie convinced me to focus instead on How to Make Smart Cookies. 

   Duh! My book for grownups Good Food Great Business is coming out later this year. How amazing to connect with both kids and adults to inspire and educate on food, business and life by deconstructing and then constructing a dream food business.The lesson: No matter how convinced you are, changing course based on input or feedback is essential!

9. I met more educators and illustrators and writers at an awesome open house day at UC Berkeley. And, now, I must stop writing to attend an illustration class taught by an award winning chapter book illustrator.The lesson: While I don’t envision becoming an award winner myself, the more skills you have in your pocket, the more free you are to create or direct those who are creating for you.

More to come!