Spotlight: Kristin Foristall ’98

As a young girl, Kristin (Manna) Foristall dreamt of running her own business, playing office with a hole puncher and neatly stacked piles of paper. Turns out, she’s just as savvy with a spatula as a stapler.

Today Foristall runs Sweet K, a gourmet cookie company, from her home in Reading, Mass. Her flagship sugar cookie was named “Best Cookie” by The Readings magazine this year.  

“I’ve been lucky; my business has grown by word of mouth,” says the alumna, who left her career as a buyer for TJX Companies when daughter Kaiya arrived in 2009. Son Cameron joined the family in 2012.

Sweet K developed organically, when the tasty treats she whipped up for events inspired custom orders. Her first paid assignment: an Elmo cookie for a child’s birthday party, just months after Kaiya’s birth.  

While the sugar cookie is Sweet K’s principal pleaser (her mother’s recipe, with tweaks), Foristall offers spice in fall and chocolate in winter. She bakes generally 20 hours per week, fielding orders via her website and email.

In addition to a Bentley degree in Computer Information Systems, Foristall holds one in retail merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her sense of style and color are essential for creating out-of-the-box designs.

“Whatever a customer requests, I always say I can do it,” she vows, applying ingenuity when no cookie cutter fits the theme. “For example, heart shapes can turn into Mickey and Minnie Mouse.”

Her deft balance of a growing business and full-time motherhood is a point of pride — as is Sweet K’s support for nonprofits such as Understanding Disabilities, Birthday Wishes, and Team Marc Strong (Boston Marathon). Foristall’s most personal donation yet — for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society — honors her Bentley roommate Melissa (Zammett) Gonzalez '98, who twice battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is now cancer-free. 

CONNECT WITH KRISTIN:

sweetk.net