Meet the Cookie Lady - Elizabeth Kizito

Elizabeth Kizito never walks the straight and narrow.


Elizabeth Kizito
Owner, Kizito Cookies

What has been your greatest accomplishment? My children. I have two boys: Brian Thornton, 30, and Essie Bartlett, 17.

Whose footsteps are you following in?
Following in my mother's footsteps, because she was always a strong woman and she gave me good advice. She's been my rock. She told me that I needed to open my store.



Are you creating a new path? What is it?
Starting a cookie business; and then other people started opening small bakeries.

Where do you like to walk?
Walking in Cherokee Park, and walking around at the Bats Games selling cookies. I also walk through my neighborhood.

How many steps can you walk with the basket on your head?What has been the longest walk you've had in your life?
The first time I carried a basket of cookies on my head in America. I was on Fifth and Jefferson Streets, and I felt like everyone was looking at me, and I wanted to hide behind the buildings so that no one could see me.

Do you always walk the straight and narrow or do you stray sometimes? If so, when?
I stray a lot. Sometimes I don't know where I am going, and I just end up in a different place, but I like the unpredictability.

Have you ever felt like you were walking on a tightrope?
You always want push the retailers to present the product in the best light, but you don't want to try to dominate their sales. We also just launched a new website, and I am dealing with technology, and there's a new marketing dynamic going on, so we want to utilize this marketing tool of the future, but we are not that steeped in that. We don't really know where we are putting our foot next, but we know we have to keep moving forward into this new frontier.

What shoes take Elizabeth on her way? See if you can match her to her kicks and win a gift card to J. Carlton Shoes!