Inspiring Conversations with Stephanie Lower of Holly Court Cookies

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Lower.

Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always been a creative person and lifelong learner. I started seeing a lot of cookie decorating videos on my Instagram feed a few years ago and found them both intriguing and soothing. I thought it would be fun to learn how to decorate cookies, so I asked a friend to go to a fall-themed class Cami’s Cake Co. was hosting in the West Bottoms in September 2018. I had a blast, but my cookie decorating stopped there. Fast forward to July 2019. My mom bought me tickets to a summer-themed decorating class for my birthday. It was hosted by KC Cookie Co at Cinder Block Brewery and included a free beer (score!). I was able to take home the leftover icing from the class, so I baked up some cookies and played with the remaining icing the next week, but I still had no intentions of starting a cookie business. I made some Oktoberfest-themed cookies for my brother’s surprise 30th birthday, Chiefs-themed cookies for a dessert competition at work, and Christmas cookies in the months that followed. I took extra Christmas cookies to work, and one co-worker loved them so much he asked me to make cookies for his daughter’s 5th birthday party. He was my first official order in February 2020. Since then, I’ve continued to watch countless Instagram and YouTube videos, read blog posts, and take classes from other cookiers to learn more decorating techniques and perfect my icing consistencies. I continue to work full-time – I’m a Senior Marketing Manager at an insurance company by day and cookier by night. It’s been so fun to see my business expand outside of family and friends and connect with so many other talented people in the cookie community. I love playing a small part in my customers’ celebrations!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Truthfully, I fought starting this business for a while. I have a lot of hobbies (probably too many) and they seem to always be expensive and time-consuming, so I told myself I didn’t need another one. When my coworker asked me to make cookies for his daughter’s birthday, I wanted to say no. But I struggled with saying no and I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of making the cute horse cookies that little 5-year-old deserved! For the majority of 2020, I wasn’t very intentional about growing my business. I took orders here and there and posted the finished sets on Instagram. The growth of Holly Court Cookies has been pretty organic and largely due to word of mouth. My friend owns a local coffee shop (Scout Coffee in Blue Springs), so I did a giveaway around Christmas time that included mini Christmas cookies and a Scout gift card in a Scout-branded mug. That giveaway helped expose Holly Court Cookies to a lot of Scout regulars and expand my business.

Because I am a home bakery, I operate under the Missouri Cottage Food Law (my kitchen is not subject to inspection). Trying to understand the rules around baked goods and just starting a business in general has probably been the biggest struggle in my business. My other challenge is time. Cookie decorating is a labor of love. It takes more time than you might think to make the dough, bake, and decorate. Finding time between work and all my other responsibilities can be a challenge. I’ve spent many late nights decorating, sacrificing sleep and time with my husband for the sake of my customers’ cookies!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Holly Court Cookies?
Holly Court Cookies is a home-based bakery specializing in custom-decorated sugar cookies. Every cookie decorator has their own personal style and I think my graphic design background really helps set me apart. I’m consistently told that my cookies not only look amazing but taste amazing as well, which is the best compliment! I’m most proud of how much my skills have improved in such a short time and that I’m mostly self-taught. I built Holly Court Cookies from the ground up. Everything – from the name, logo design and branding, to the cookies themselves – was created by me. It’s such a fun experience to create little edible works of arts to celebrate my customer’s life events.

Contrary to popular belief, my name is not Holly! Holly Court Cookies was named after the street where my husband and I bought our first house.

I offer both standard size (3-4″) cookies and mini cookies (2″) to fit a variety of budgets. Because I’m a one-woman show and have a full-time corporate job in addition to running Holly Court Cookies, I’m limited in the amount of orders I can take on. I always recommend requesting your custom order at least two weeks in advance, but the earlier the better! My availability, pricing, and custom order request form can all be found at https://linktr.ee/Hollycourtcookies.

What were you like growing up?
I think my parents would say I was a handful (or maybe just energetic) and my brother would say I got away with everything and was “the favorite child”. I had an active imagination and loved to create things – crafts, stories, you name it. I loved to play school and house, with my many American Girl dolls starring as both my students and children. I tried basically every sport at some point but ultimately stuck with soccer and dance. I started dancing competitively when I was five years old, which took me all over the country for competitions. I also played soccer until high school, when I stopped to focus on dance team. Fun fact: I served as co-captain of my high school dance team and was part of 2 Nebraska state championship teams. Creative, independent, and adventurous are three words I’d use to describe my younger (and even current) self!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://linktr.ee/Hollycourtcookies
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollycourtcookies
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HollyCourtCookies