Career Women Trading in Offices for Kitchens
The collective recipe for success that each of these women share is a strong bond of supportive family and friends.
PASSION PRODUCTS
Cole's Cookie Co.
May Your Cookie Never Crumble
For all you cookie lovers out there, Cole’s Cookie Co. is a must try. It doesn’t matter where you live because cookie master Nicole Citro can ship almost anywhere. North Pole? Maybe. With her natural, creative, artistic talents, savvy marketing skills, and business expertise, nothing seems out of her reach. Baking in the comfort of her charming home kitchen, she swirls and stirs, sifts and bakes.
A small sampling of her scrumptious cookie business includes The “802,” a maple cookie with Vermont maple syrup, and “Crack” cookie, with salted toffee and chocolate chips. It was the first one she created, named by her young nephew and currently her only cookie helper. Her Chocolate Chip cookie made with the recipe passed down by her grandmother is sentimental, bringing back fond childhood memories in her “memere’s” kitchen. With 16 different flavors, her creative ingredients, post-baking decorating, and the numerous renditions to get it just right, her cookies seriously rock.
Nicole grew up with strong women who inspired her. She heard stories of her grandmother opening a restaurant to feed the town’s local loggers and laborers in the Proctorsville/Cavendish area and watched her mother become the first female Allstate Agent in Vermont. Nicole worked one summer at the insurance company and never left. Now, 35 years later, the reins of her mother’s agency have been passed down to Nicole and her sister. Nicole appreciates her loyal clients and finds the work very satisfying, yet it has never been her passion. As a third-generation Vermonter, grateful for her French-Italian family roots that influence a love of good food, she was encouraged by her supportive family to follow her dreams that include many of her gifts: her love of baking, graphic design, and marketing. She saw a meme with the motto “It’s never too late to be who you might have been…” and that inspired her to take her cookies beyond friends and family.
Nicole creates 16 varieties of richly flavored cookies.
As a third-generation Vermonter, grateful for her French-Italian family roots that influence a love of good food, Nicole was encouraged by her supportive family to follow her dreams that include many of her gifts: her love of baking, graphic design, and marketing.
(left)Fresh out of the oven and ready to bring joy into the world; (right)Seems like a worthy mantra for bakers and snackers alike.
Nicole launched Cole’s Cookie Co. in June 2022. In December, she baked 272 dozen cookies! While baking cookies, one dozen at a time, Nicole gets lost in her methodical routine. “It’s cathartic for me and I enjoy seeing the uniqueness of each cookie.”
Whether it’s delivering a large order to a local doctor’s office— 120 sampler boxes of six different flavors—her weekly delivery of 11 dozen for Aviation Deli, or packing up her cookies for Cole’s Cookies Club members, every step is done with meticulous care and all with attention to detail and playful artistry.
According to Nicole, “All you need is love and cookies.” And perhaps a glass of milk.
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