“The face that launched a thousand chips” was how Wally Amos described his brand, per History.com. Behind the hat and the grin were a talent agent, an aunt’s recipe, and a few famous friends who helped him open a cookie shop in 1975. Keeping the company turned out to be harder than starting it.
Amos worked his way up from the mailroom to become the first Black talent agent in the industry, according to History.com. At 12, he moved to Harlem to live with his Aunt Della and began baking cookies from her recipe. “I’d go to meetings with record company or movie people and bring along some cookies,” he said.
He did not invent the chocolate chip cookie. That credit usually goes to Ruth Wakefield, whose Toll House recipe dates to 1938. But Amos found a way to make it famous…