Brooklyn's Top Girl Scout Cookie Seller Has Big Goals
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It's Girl Scout cookie time!
For the past 101 years, school girls across the world have been sharing these irresistible baked treats. Along the way, the girls are learning.
CBS2's Steve Overmyer met Brooklyn's top seller in this week's Snapshot New York.
Girl Scouts are on the march, and Amira is the best of the best. With her father in tow, she transforms into "The Cookie Boss."
She says her goal this year is to sell 3,000 boxes. The average Girl Scout sells 150 a year. How does she plan to do it?
"I work hard," Amira said.
Girl Scouts began selling sugar cookies in 1917, baked by the girls and their mothers. They were sold door-to-door for 25 cents a box. By the 1950s, they had three versions – shortbread, peanut butter and Thin Mints.
Over the years, even presidents weren't immune to the draw of the sweet treats.
For more than a month, Amira is on the move. With every business entered, she gains confidence; courage with every doorbell rung; and with every laugh, more character.
"I learned how to socialize with people, because in class I'm really shy usually," she said. "Now, since I get to talk to a lot of people and have to speak up, I'm doing better in my social life."
"It feels really good, because you get to make another person happy," she added. "Somebody said, 'Oh my gosh, do you have any Girl Scout cookies? I've been looking for them everywhere!' Then, they took about five cases."
With the tiny saleswoman on the run, nobody escapes. She's one of two million Girl Scouts worldwide running their own micro-businesses.
Amira is using the best tool available: the internet.
"This year I made a website," she said. "Because a lot of people don't have cash on them, or a lot of people go on electronics and a lot of people go on websites now -- take into the digital age."
She's leading the charge, like a new generation of Girl Scouts.
"Because instead of going knocking and knocking, taking down names, all you have to do it just be, 'here, go to my website,'" she said.
So what's her favorite cookie?
"Thin Mints," she said. "Because I like the chocolate and peppermint on the wafer."
"But sometimes when you eat one, you eat the whole pack," she added.
As Overmyer pointed out, most people in New York go on a diet in January, and then she comes around with cookies.
"As long as they're happy, I'm fine," she said.
Her goal is to raise money so her troop can go on a camping trip. She says she can't wait to make s'mores and tell stories around a campfire.
