Reggie Sanders is determined to make a difference – one cookie at a time.

His sweet story starts when he was young. Growing up in Wendell, he admired his father, who had a street ministry feeding the homeless. He also admired his mother, an avid baker at home. As a child, Sanders started joining his mother in the kitchen and grew to love baking as much as she did. He began to wonder if there was a way to combine his parents' passions as a way to help people in need.

"I thought, 'Why not bake cookies for the homeless?'" he said.

By the time Sanders was a sophomore at Raleigh Christian Academy, his father invested in a commercial kitchen and helped him launched his own LLC – Lil Reggie's Cookies. He was 15 years old, attending school during the day, baking at night and selling cookies at community events and festivals whenever he could. He donated a portion his profits to the homeless.

"I mostly just wanted to help people," he said.

Upon graduating high school, Sanders decided to go all-in on the cookie business, so he enrolled in Wake Tech's LaunchRaleigh program – a 10-week business training class for entrepreneurs that includes hands-on mentoring and community networking.

"It was intimidating at first," he said. "But I learned a lot from interacting with people older than me. My confidence improved, as well as my public speaking.

Sanders flourished in the program and did so well that program organizers named him the 2023 Rookie of the Year.

"The choice was easy," said Wake Tech Director of Entrepreneurship Chris Weeks. "Reggie is the first high schooler to complete the program, and he was able to build a business as a 10th-grader!"

A year after finishing the program, Sanders is getting ready to open a storefront in Clayton at the age of 18. He keeps six cookies on the menu at all times – chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, dark chocolate, peanut butter, white chocolate macadamia nut and sugar. Every week, there are three additional featured flavors.

Why cookies?

"Cookies are quick and easy to bake," he said. "Everyone loves them, and people are always wanting more!"

Ultimately, Sanders would love to expand with more cookie shops across the Triangle. But it's not the cookies that drive him. It's his desire to help others that is his main goal. He donates 25% of the profits from his cookie business to help the homeless.

"I want to help those who are less fortunate and inspire young people to give back to the community at a young age," he said. "By inspiring others, I'm hopeful it will have a lasting impact for generations to come."