By: Elena Mart
At just 16, Sneha Vaddadi is already juggling school, tennis, and a successful homegrown business – and she’s doing it all solo.
Launched in February 2025, Sneha’s cookie venture was born out of a quiet determination to turn her love for baking into something tangible. “I’ve always loved baking,” she says. “During COVID, it became my escape – something creative that made me feel like myself again.” Isolated during the pandemic and looking for a way to stay productive, Sneha began experimenting in the kitchen to channel both stress and creativity. “It was about more than just cookies,” she adds. “It gave me structure, and a way to stay connected to something joyful.”
What started as a personal way to cope quickly turned into a business. Sneha set up pre-orders, introduced a changing menu, and established a loyal customer base during her high school years.
She began with a smart trial run, giving her classmates free red velvet cookies to gather their opinions. “I just wanted to get honest feedback,” she explains. The response was very positive. Within weeks, she received her first paid orders, starting with half a dozen chocolate chip cookies from a friend. Since then, she has regularly sold between 30 and 50 cookies each week. She charges $3 per cookie, earning profits of between $50 and $150 per week.
Her current menu features over 11 cookie varieties – a blend of classic and innovative flavors, including Brookies (a brownie-cookie hybrid), Kinder Bueno, Cookies & Cream, and Red Velvet Oreo. “Some came from flavors I loved growing up, others I just invented by combining things people are obsessed with – like Oreo or Kinder,” she says. “S’mores Cookies were a hit right away.”
What’s impressive is not only the creativity of her products but also the care she puts into her operations. She handles costs and margins and improves packaging and delivery. Sneha has managed her cookie brand like a small business. “I bake everything myself, and I’ve had to create systems that fit around my school and sports schedule,” she says.
In the early months, she offered two baking days per week. But during tennis season, with practices running until 5:30 p.m., she adapted. She now accepts pre-orders throughout the week, bakes on Sundays, and delivers on Mondays – a shift that allows her to balance demand with academic and extracurricular priorities. “It’s taught me a lot about capacity management,” she says. “I’ve learned how to say no when I need to, and how to stay consistent.”
Sneha handles every aspect of the business herself – from product development and social media to baking, packaging, and hand delivery. Her customers are almost entirely from her school, where she’s gained a strong word-of-mouth reputation. “My classmates are my biggest supporters,” she says. “They’re always willing to pay for good food – and the fact that they keep coming back means so much.”
Her largest single order – a 60-cookie catering for a birthday party – felt like a milestone. “I was nervous,” she recalls. “It felt like a leap, but it also showed me I could scale up when I need to.” The catering gig not only validated her business but also sparked interest from parents and teachers, opening up a potential pathway to expand beyond the student market.
Beyond weekly orders, Sneha has begun to think more broadly about what this venture could become. She’s interested in donating cookies to local food banks or shelters and sees that kind of outreach as central to the future of her brand. “Right now, I haven’t donated yet, but it’s something I’m actively working toward,” she says. “Cookies bring comfort, and I want to share that with people who need it most.”
Her motivation has always been deeply personal, not just entrepreneurial. “Getting an order from someone excited about your product makes my whole day,” she says. “It makes the hours of prep and baking feel worth it.” The joy of running her own business has helped her create a long-term vision. She hopes to open a bakery of her own one day, one that combines creativity with caring for the community. The experience has also shaped her understanding of leadership. “You learn to wear every hat – creator, manager, delivery driver,” she laughs. “It’s taught me how to troubleshoot, how to negotiate pricing, and even how to stay composed when something burns and you’re short on time.”
Sneha’s family, especially her father, has been instrumental in encouraging her entrepreneurial instincts. Though she has interned at an AI company and volunteers by mentoring younger tennis players, it’s the cookie venture that has given her the clearest sense of purpose. “I’ve learned more about myself through this than anything else,” she says. “I know now that I love building something from the ground up.”
As she thinks about her college plans, she is leaning toward a degree in business or entrepreneurship. Her resume already includes practical work in operations, customer engagement, and product innovation, which many students can only dream of. “Entrepreneurship is the one thing where I can use my creativity and my structure,” she says. “It’s the space where I feel like my full self.”
For now, her focus is on maintaining the business’s stability while managing school, sports, and college essays. But she’s not done dreaming. “If I ever open a bakery, I want it to feel like a space where people feel at home,” she says. “Where the cookies are good, but the feeling you leave with is even better.”
It’s a vision that began with a bowl of dough, a free cookie, and the courage to believe that her passion could become something real – one customer at a time.
