Meet Alice Chen

We were lucky to catch up with Alice Chen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alice, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Ever since I was a little girl my favorite books to read were books about all the different types of dog breeds and my favorite shows to watch were AKC dog shows. Often times my parents would take me to the local animal shelter to help feed the dogs and spend time with them. So at a young age I knew I had a love for animals and that I wanted to be a vet. It wasn’t until high school I realized I am not good at biology at all which made me try other things and consider other career paths.

I eventually ended up finding an interest in marketing, but I knew deep down inside my heart still goes out to dogs and animals. Which ultimately made me start Cookies & Co. where I am able to combine my love for crafts, my skillset in marketing and also my love for dogs to create a small business that gives back to local rescues.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Cookies & Co. is a small business based out of San Diego, California where we focus on handmade dog accessories with a focus on style and quality. We first started our small business with handmade snap-on dog bandanas that fit the tiniest pups to the biggest dogs! We’ve now expanded our product offerings into dog mom gear including hands-free leashes and collars.

One very important part of our brand is that we are always focused on giving back to local rescues. 10% of our proceeds currently go to The Animal Pad rescue here in San Diego. We also recently worked with them to provide biothane leashes for their dogs waiting to go to their forever homes.

Another key part of our brand is we love supporting other small businesses, so in each of our orders we include a complimentary dog treat from a locally sourced dog treat company in hopes to help share their brand as well!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Sewing! Honestly, prior to Cookies & Co. the last time I used a sewing machine was a fashion class in high school where I learned how to sew for the first time. There definitely was a few months of learning for me but having the foundation of how to use a sewing machine helped a lot!

Another important quality was having the knowledge of dogs. Having two dogs myself and lots of friends who have dogs of all sizes I was able to measure their sizes to make sure our products are safe for them to wear and sized correctly to fit various sized dogs. Knowing common dog behaviors was also very helpful, for example dogs sometimes like to chew up bandanas specifically, the snap-on buttons so we opted to keep our buttons plastic rather than using metal for safety. Having knowledge around how dogs are from size to behavior really does help.

Lastly, marketing. I was fortunate enough to gain marketing skillset from my full time jobs to be able to apply to Cookies & Co. When you have a small business and not a lot of resources, hiring help for social media and marketing isn’t always an option and when you’re trying to get your small business out there having the marketing knowledge was key.

My advice for others early in their journey is don’t be afraid to fail, and if you do take it as a learning experience and keep moving forward. It took me months of trial and error and yards after yards of wasted fabric to figure out the perfect bandana size I wanted, but I promise it’s all worth it.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
This is something I’m still constantly reminding myself of and working on personally. Currently as I’m still working my full time job and Cookies & Co. being overwhelmed and burnout happens often. My advice for those of you and for myself is it’s okay to slow down. No matter what your occupation is your health comes first, because without you there is no business.

I’ve started a Cookies & Co. calendar where I’ll input my tasks and set deadlines for myself and that has helped me in staying organized which in turn made me feel a bit less stressed when I have a million things on my mind.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Erin Wiese Photography – https://erinwiese.com/

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