 Today, we're excited to welcome someone who created a whole new category of dessert. Kristen Tomlin joins us to talk about founding dough, an edible and bakeable cookie dough that's safe to eat. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hero, Go Daddy, and I live and breathe at the Hustle of Business. Today, we're filming from the Hustle of It All at the WeWork Time Square in New York City. Everybody, let's give Kristen a big warm welcome to the show. It's so great to have you here. You're a former designer who turned your love for desserts into a thriving business in New York City called dough. Can you tell us what dough is all about? Yeah, so dough is all about making cookie dough dreams come true. We specialize in gourmet, edible and bakeable cookie dough and our brand has both brick and mortar. We ship online. So it's really about allowing people to eat cookie dough exactly how they want it and how they crave it. Well, everybody I think watching has been known to grab a hunk of cookie dough while making dough at home. But you hear things that it's not safe to eat. You worry about salmonella, there's raw egg. How did you go about making a dessert that everybody wants in a safe way? So I was the same exact way. I grew up in the kitchen next to my mom, always sneaking spoonfuls of cookie dough, but I came up with this idea when I was with a bunch of girlfriends. We went on a trip and we happened to be at a cookie shop and instead of buying anything that was baked, we bought this tub of cookie dough and we sat in the car and just passed it around. So you said to the shop, I don't want any of the cookies. Yeah, I mean I love cookies. I want the dough in back. Yes, and we all decided that and they were selling it for you to take home and bake. But we just sat in the car and ate it. We just ate it out of the car. It was kind of like my light bulb moment when I said, why is this not a thing? We have to leave this cute little shop and go sit in the car because we couldn't just eat this cookie dough in front of everyone. So that was kind of what set me off to create this cookie dough that was totally safe to eat and it always gives you the option to bake it as well, but for me, I love it. People are taking notice, specifically publications like Forbes, Time, People, Cosmopolitan Magazine, The Today Show. You're all celebrating your business and they're writing about the line of customers and I've seen that line of customers that it could go on for two hours to get your cup of dough. Did you anticipate this kind of reception when you set out to create your business? You know, I knew that there were other people like me that loved cookie dough, but I didn't realize how far it would go and the extent in which it would resonate with people. I think it has this emotional, nostalgic connection and everybody coming in talks about baking with their mom or when they were kids and it brings you to this very happy place. So regardless of your age, it allows you to kind of be a kid again. Well you have the flagship in the West Village, but you have some pop-ups. You have Chicago Navy Pier, Met Stadium, a time-out market in Brooklyn as well. How do you think about expanding? So for us, it happened really organically. We kind of evaluated different opportunities, whether it was going to company-owned stores or franchising and we really chose, we settled on these locations because their experiences in and of themselves and my goal was to create an experience around cookie dough, so it was easy to kind of add that into a larger experience. And I know that you are not doing all of this on your own, but you're leaning into family and friends. How are people helping to inspire you and help you expand and run your business? Yeah, I mean I have the best friends, the best family. They were the people that when I had nothing, you know, just doing it by myself, they were rolling up their sleeves and I was paying them in wine and dumb as pizza or whatever I could get them. I have the world's most supportive husband and I couldn't do this without him. And honestly, I've been able to build a really great team who helps me be behind the scenes every single day. I'd like to actually drill in a little bit deeper into that. How do you, building a team is key. It's hard, but how do you think about building a winning team that will help represent you and your brand? Yeah, so for me it was finding people that just understood the mission and understood what I was going for and really believed in the brand from the beginning. I thought if I found these people that were really passionate about what I was doing, I could teach them how to do other things, but it really, you can't teach somebody to have that sort of passion. So it starts from finding people like that and then kind of building and growing and seeing what you need as the business kind of develops and changes. Well, in all of the success that you have found, is there any one particular moment that you would say, aha, that's my made-up moment? I mean, the first weekend we opened, there was a four-hour line out the door and that was the kind of oh, s*** moment for me. And I think maybe the I made-up moment was possibly I had a two-page spread in People Magazine that was talking about the business and kind of my journey and had recipes and it was really amazing to shoot and it was such a cool experience. So kind of opening that magazine was like next level. Well, now we are going to play my favorite game called Hustle Time. Can I have 60 seconds? Ready? Drive, stick, shift or automatic? Automatic. Yes or no socks with sandals? No. Most irrational fear? Spiders? Wine, white or red? Red. Peanut butter, cups or M&Ms? Cups. Would you rather have more time or more money? The time. Favorite breakfast food? Fruit. Number of times it took you to pass your driver's test? One. Last person you texted? My husband. If a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish for? Happiness, health and successful cookie dough business. If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? Oh, who would I want to meet? I would want to meet maybe Mother Teresa. Would you rather fly or talk to animals? Fly. King size or friend size? King size always. The best chocolate in the world comes from blank? Comes from, oh my gosh, this is hard, because I have so many different chocolate objects. The best chocolate in the world comes from, oh, friend. But we want to hear. I want to hear. OK. Comes from, I can all. Dough. Dough, exactly. I'll give that one. We have one, two, 13, 14. Favorite part of your day? Coming home to make dinner and pour myself a glass of wine. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Go with your gut. Worst piece of advice. Make decisions only based on logic. How do you use your career to inspire others? Follow your passion, which is exactly what I did. Ever felt like walking away? Yeah, I have. One thing you still need to learn? Everything. What do you want people to learn from you? Think about the experience. What's next for you? My cookbook, Hello Cookie Dough, coming out October 15. Congratulations. That's awesome. Is there anything you would say about it? I have to ask. So it's 110 recipes of edible, bakeable, cookie dough, confections, party tips. It's like the Cookie Dough Bible. I'll have to check that out. Who inspires you? My team and my customers and my fans. Who challenges you? My husband. Well, I have one more piece of advice that needs to be had. And this advice is for the entrepreneurial pug that we have on the social team. OK, perfect. So, meet Noodle. Hey, Noodle. Noodle likes to sneak cookie dough when Jonathan's not looking. But he regrets it later because it always leaves him feeling a little sick. What advice do you have for someone who has a sweet tooth but has some concern around their health? So for Noodle, I would recommend he gets our doggy dough, which is a safe dog option. And exactly, it's going to be a recipe in the cookbook. So, and for other people, you can just get the cookbook because I'm going to teach you all the tips and tricks about how to make safe-to-eat cookie dough at home. So, doggy dough. I'm going to bring you some. There you go, Noodle. So as we close, I like to leave everybody with a final thought. OK. OK? So I'm going to read three quotes. Now I need to listen to the quotes, channel the quotes, and tell us what resonates with you the most and why. OK? OK. One, when something is important enough, you do it even when the odds are not in your favor. Two, life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Three, it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. I think the third option. It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you don't stop. I give people advice when they have a business idea or they want to follow their passion in some way, as I always tell them to start somewhere and just keep moving forward. Well, thank you for all of the advice today and the inspiration and your story. Thanks for having me. You're welcome. How can everybody follow you? They can follow me personally at Kristen Tomlin on social media. Follow dough at cookie-d-o-n-y-c. And then check out hellocookiedough.com for all cookbook updates. And everybody watching can follow GoDaddy across social to hear more inspiring, really cool stories like Kristen's every week. We really enjoyed this. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And if you loved it, follow us and check in again next week for another entrepreneur. We'll see you soon. Bye.