When Dr. Kyri Mosley is baking, she feels an inner peace that is difficult to explain because each “kookie” serves as a tangible reminder of her life’s journey. Between her childhood in Brooklyn’s projects to her successful medical career, a devastating divorce, her life-and-death battle with cancer, and her leap into the role of successful Black female founder, Dr. Kyri’s road has been a transformative path of ups and downs.
“Every new loaf of bread, cake, or kookie is its own miracle,” says Dr. Kyri, the founder of Kyri’s Kookies. “You see flour, butter, sugar, and eggs become something utterly new each time you take a tray of cookies out of the oven, and that kind of transformation happens in people as well. Everyone smiles when they see fresh-baked cookies. They simply spread happiness, and we can do that too. We may have a hard start or difficult patches in life, but a fresh-baked kookie reminds me just how wonderful we all can become.”
Dr. Kyri learns the power of baking
Dr. Kyri found her passion for baking in 2009 after a soul-crushing divorce made her realize she needed to focus on something other than feelings of defeat. To turn her thoughts away from her own problems, she asked her son if he would help bake treats for the troops serving overseas.
“We baked banana bread, blueberry muffins, and dozens of homemade cookies,” Dr. Kyri recalls. “After we shipped the coolers of goodies out, letters of thanks streamed in from soldiers who told me I needed to find a way to share those cookies with the world. Their words of appreciation were the medicine my heart needed.”
Three years later, Dr. Kyri accepted a position in a community health center where she was called on to help patients undergoing HIV/AIDS treatments. Observing her new team for the first time, she was struck by how hard each of them worked and how little appreciation they received in return.
“They worked tirelessly, and I never heard them complain,” Dr. Kyri remembers, “so I decided to show my thanks with a batch of cookies.” The news of Dr. Kyri’s batch of cookies spread through every department of the hospital and within days, she was again bombarded with requests to sell her gourmet cookies.
How faith and a new purpose for baking saved Dr. Kyri’s life
When Dr. Kyri received the diagnosis of Stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma, her doctor advised her to prepare for the worst. “My doctor told me that the cancer had already spread to my lymph nodes, lungs, and pelvic wall,” she remembers. “Given the cancer’s rapid growth, he did not expect me to survive.”
At Georgia’s Emory Sarcoma Institute, Dr. Kyri underwent grueling treatments involving chemotherapy injections lasting up to 120 hours each. After that brutal regimen came six weeks of radiation therapy. However, despite all odds, on May 22, 2020, she at last received the long prayed-for diagnosis of full remission.
Though Dr. Kyri’s long-awaited victory over cancer left her incredibly grateful, she found herself in chronic pain and unable to walk. Weeks of intensive physical therapy lay between her and a full recovery. As she had done years before, she asked her son Jordan — now grown — to help her bake through the hard times, so he set a chair beside the table and stood ready to deliver the ingredients his mother needed.
“The first batch of cookies we baked together went to thank my cancer treatment team,” Dr. Kyri remembers. “Just like before, the doctors at Emory told me I needed to start baking full-time, but this time, after a lot of prayer, I finally listened. I rented a commercial kitchen, ordered my supplies, and got a website up and running. After such a life-changing struggle, I knew I wanted to spend the time I had left doing the one thing I loved most — baking.”
Dr. Kyri and her son Jordan watched the website and waited, but it did not take long for orders to pour in. “I know without a doubt that those first orders gave me my life back,” she says. “Those people helped me push through my pain. When I was at my weakest, they propelled me to greater things.”
Today, Dr. Kyri remains in remission from her battle with stage four cancer, and her all-organic kookie company received national attention as one of Oprah’s 2023 Favorite Things. Her cookies, baked with “a hug in every bite,” were also showcased on Good Morning America, ABC World News, the Sherri Shepherd Show, and the Tamron Hall Show.
When Dr. Kyri looks back on her life, she sees a pile of ingredients — some bitter and some sweet — but also remembers times of testing fire, transforming her just like the oven in her bakery turns plain ingredients into the kookies people order worldwide. Her life is a true journey of transformation, but the best things remain the same.
Today, Dr. Kyri’s son still bakes at her side, her greatest joy is still baking, and her cookies still spread happiness to everyone who takes a bite. “Everything I bake is a piece of myself,” she says. “I put my heart and soul into my work, and I love sharing it with the people around me.”
