AUSTIN, Texas — Thousands of people have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. While businesses are allowed to reopen with decreased capacity, others are taking a slower approach, causing work to be put hold even longer. One Texas woman took a half-baked idea and turned it into a new moneymaker while waiting for her day job to reopen.

During the stay-at-home orders, Chelsey Weatherford had been spending a lot of quality time with her dog Reggie in her small apartment in South Austin. 

“He’s used to me not being home, but he’s loving the fact that I’m home constantly,” Weatherford said. 

She describes herself as a person who needs to constantly stay busy.

When her job went inactive amid the coronavirus pandemic, Weatherford was eager to occupy her time and started exploring potential hobbies.

A lover of desserts, she set out to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. The task took weeks of testing different ingredients, but she now believes she has gotten her recipe down.

“My boyfriend calls it a three-act cookie where you bite into it at first, it’s a little bit crunchy. Then it’s chewy in the middle, and then it’s crunchy at the end again,” Weatherford said. 

Soon, Weatherford started mixing business with pleasure as her dog Reggie kept a watchful eye from below.

Weatherford baked so many cookies she started giving them out to friends and eventually asked followers on social media if they wanted any. 

“It kind of just blew up from there where everyone started asking, ‘Where did you get those cookies from?’ and then I just had to create ‘Cookie Demon’ from that,” Weatherford said. 

“Cookie Demon” is not only her new self-appointed nickname, but also the name of the new business she is now running from her apartment. Weatherford set up a website and the online orders started coming in. Most of her day is now spent baking and creating packages she hand-delivers to customers.

Weatherford said she is able to use the time management and organization skills she has developed at her full-time job at a still-closed fitness studio.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming, but I have learned along the way that I can juggle a ton of things at once,” Weatherford said. 

The juggling act is made easier when she has her best buddy, Reggie, along for the ride. 

Weatherford is donating proceeds from “Cookie Demon” to the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund and the Homeless Black Trans Women Fund until June 9.