Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin

Harvard Cookie Girl Mixes Business and Pleasure

by Sarah Auerbach

After years in high-tech marketing and non-profit fundraising, Bibi Kasrai (MBA ’96) found a way to blend her talent for business with her passion for cooking. She left the corporate world to start Harvard Cookie Girl, an afterschool enrichment program that teaches kids in kindergarten through fifth grade how to make homemade baked goods. In the process, Kasrai helps kids learn math and measurement, reading and following recipes, the science of ingredients, the importance of hygiene, and the value of nutrition. As the La Jolla Light noted (November 11, 2010), Kasrai’s program is now in more than 30 schools and community centers in San Diego County.

Most recently, Kasrai has partnered with SieMatic of Germany, Subzero, Thermador, and Bosch to build her newest venture, The Harvard Cookie Girl Studio in San Diego. The three-kitchen studio can accommodate both adults and kids. Kasrai’s classes include Corporate Team Building, Girl’s Night Out, and Pre-College Cooking Lessons. Kasrai, who also blogs as the Harvard Cookine Girl, also plans a Chef Series, with top chefs demonstrating their culinary skills, and a supper club. Down the road, she dreams of expanding to other cities nationwide.

In a recent phone interview, Kasrai talked about her career change and how she named her company.

“After HBS you have a sense that the world is yours, and the big salaries are yours now. I was caught in that rat race, and I was making really, really good money. People thought I was possessed when I said I wanted to do this. It’s not a big money-making venture yet. For the first few months [after starting Cookie Girl], reading Class Notes in the Bulletin was depressing. I thought, ‘What a loser I am!’ And then I realized, ‘Who says they’re happier than I am?’ And I really am very happy doing what I’m doing.

“When I delivered my first batch of my healthy cookies to a customer’s door, my ring was answered by a captain of the industry who knew me in my last incarnation as the Harvard girl who went into charity. When he saw me delivering cookies to his wife, he called out ‘Honey, the Harvard cookie girl is here!’ I liked the joke and named my company that.”