When Jessica Nguyen graduated from SFU Beedie in 2020, she had a marketing job lined up at a tech start-up and was ready to join the workforce. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Like many others, Nguyen lost her job offer—companies were no longer hiring.

As it turns out, the pandemic may have been the best thing to happen to Nguyen and her brother, Andy. The two of them are now co-founders of a wildly successful cookie business: BAK’D Cookies. Born in the beginning of the pandemic, their cookie business shone a ray of light in the dark, early days of COVID-19 and brought positivity and hope to their local communities. BAK’D also won the 2021 Coast Capital Venture Prize competition’s Local Impact Award through SFU’s Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship and has since grown their revenues to over $250k. Since November 2021, BAK’D has been part of SFU’s Coast Capital Venture Connection incubator program, where they received incubation services including paid mentorship by serial entrepreneurs and were also connected with SFU’s Ancillary Services to operate a sold-out pop-up cookie event on campus in February. BAK’D will be a highlighted vendor at this fall’s upcoming #MadeBySFU marketplace.

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