Meet Rileigh King | Cookie Lady & Revivalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rileigh King and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rileigh, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve always loved baking drop cookies like chocolate chip or oatmeal, mostly as stress relief during college or a little family competition with my sister over whose recipe was best! I honestly never tried roll-out sugar cookies seriously until spring 2021 when my daughter’s first birthday was coming up and cute cookies for her party were on my mind. We had one busy weekend in particular and attended 3 different events (a 5k, a first birthday, and a baby shower) that all had decorated sugar cookies made by 3 different bakers, and they were ALL disgusting! My husband said he would never eat a decorated sugar cookie again! I thought to myself, I bet I could do this AND make them taste amazing. So I immediately started testing recipes for sugar cookies, then moved onto icing recipes. I knew if I could get a great tasting cookie, add a great tasting icing, I could work on my design skills and get to the point where people would probably hire me to make custom cookies. I’ve always felt I was pretty good at drawing and spent years and years as a cheerleader and a cheer coach painting banners and decorating for pep rallies and Homecoming with artwork, lettering, creative details… similar to most all of the things you see on cookies! So I started practicing, posting photos on my personal social media, and it took off from there! I’ve always wanted a side business that could be both a creative outlet and income source for my family. I never really saw how the two were related until I started it! To this day, taste is still my #1 priority I don’t budge on – even with costs rising for all of my ingredients. I know that customers will prefer my cookies over others’ simply because of the taste.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My huge priorities are my family and our ministry. My husband and I are evangelists (I like to say revivalists!) and we’ve done just about everything in the ministry from traveling to television to tent meetings. We are planting Revival City Church in Fort Worth this year, which we are so excited about! When I started the cookie business, I first started selling cookies at the product table at my husband’s meetings. People loved them and I learned so much from their feedback. I had a friend tell me I’m giving people “cookies and Jesus!” I loved that so much, I made it my tagline! The cookie business is a business, but I want people to leave feeling like that through their interactions with me, they also encountered Jesus. I’m also a stay-at-home mom to my sweet Caroline who is now two years old. She’s my inspiration and my reason why. I take very limited orders because of our ministry schedule and so I can prioritize caring for my daughter and spending quality time with her while she’s little . It’s been a challenge to balance all this, but my husband and I do everything together – not apart from one another. And we are there for one another when things get out of balance. We’ve learned new routines that work for us in this season and made new boundaries as well. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have his support. Some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned really just come down to time management… whether that’s tweaking my weekly routine a bit, or working ahead to let cookies fully dry before packaging. I try my best to schedule pickups for Fridays so I’m not working all weekend or waiting around on clients, etc. Guarding our time together has been the best lesson learned for me!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We are firm believers in making your home your favorite place to be – best food, best lodging, most fun! But when we get out and about in the city of Fort Worth, we love to visit coffee shops and Mexican food restaurants! For coffee, our top 3 are Love Local, Buon Giorno, and Rodeo Coffee Co. Our favorite Mexican restaurants are Maria’s Grill, Mesomaya, and a little unexpected neighborhood restaurant near us, Habanero’s. It’s always fun taking our toddler to experience new things, too. We honestly love just taking her to Barnes & Noble and watching her go crazy! But she loves the duck pond near Trinity Park, going for bike rides off of the Clear Fork Trailhead, and of course the Fort Worth Zoo and mini train. We grew up in Fort Worth and still love to go places to learn about its history – the Stockyards, areas around downtown, etc. But you really see a fresh perspective of how Fort Worth if you do it on the bike trails rather than the city streets.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband, who fully supports me in life and business! He helps me in every way he can – behind-the-scenes technology, business spreadsheets, washing dishes, grabbing takeout & watching our daughter if I need some extra time! He’s also my #1 taste tester, of course! But my favorite thing he does every day is tell me he’s proud of me.

My friends: Samantha Cellette, Agape Designs Texas, an event planner and graphic designer who helps me on tons of my work! Sydney Cummings, Creative Forces Design Co., who designed my logo and branding; Jonny & Shannon West, Simple Things Furniture, who are the best friends anyone could ever hope for; Sharon Tinsley, Sherry Blossom Bakery, my dear friend who initially provided instruction and encouragement; and everyone in my KCC Clients-Only Facebook group who have been with me from the very beginning, ordering, sharing, and giving me valuable feedback. I have many people I can’t name that have sown into my business at different times – whether that be a huge opportunity, a huge tip, a huge order, or purchasing some big equipment as a gift for me. I couldn’t do what I do without these amazing people in my life.

Website: www.kingcookiecompany.com

Instagram: @kingcookiecompany

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingcookiecompany