Jo Soo Tang wears a lot of hats. Mother of three, social entrepreneur and now a children’s book author, she shares what inspired her to start Cookie Smiles and where she hopes to take the organisation in the next few years.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Jo and I am a Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian that was been brought up in Hong Kong and Sydney. I am co-founder of a local social enterprise, Cookie Smiles and I have three children ages 16, 13 and 10 years old. I enjoy spending time with my family and close friends, am a skincare junkie, love to cook and of course love sampling cookies at any given time. My previous career involved public relations and marketing and I have been a volunteer and board member of many NGOs and social enterprises in the past and now purely focus on expanding Cookie Smiles’ reach within Hong Kong.
What inspires you to start Cookie Smiles ?
My business partner, Agnes and I, came up with the concept almost two years ago and it was not part of our life plans. The beauty of the journey was it just happened naturally and we both had the headspace to finally focus on a business that had an easier business model and helps the community.
I personally wanted to go back to basics with an easy-to-understand concept, one that also involved giving back and eating. Everyone loves cookies and it is a great conversation starter, it fits all age groups and relates back to my Sydney days when I used to sell cookies for many school initiatives. Cookies also come in plenty of flavours, shapes and sizes, so what’s not to love?
If you could bring Cookie Smiles to anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
I would love to bring Cookie Smiles to Japan, Singapore or even China, but that is a big dream. It is definitely achievable, but also a bigger responsibility.
What are your business and personal goals for 2022?
Our business goal for 2022 is to be able to work with more retail partners such as hotels and food and beverage outlets to serve or resell our cookies. We also want to help more underprivileged individuals of the Indonesian community in Hong Kong through a health check and mammogram programme with the Adventist Medical Center, as well as underprivileged children through our campaign with the Box of Hope. We also intend to provide more training and internships opportunities to graduates from Shine Skills Center.
How do you make yourself happy and ritzy in life?
I love sharing food that I have made with my friends and family, so this makes me happy – cooking and shopping for ingredients and browsing the web for recipes. I also love trying new skincare products and have become an advocate for STURM’s line of serums, because a healthy glow is so important for women my age who are multitasking every day.
