Ranked among the nation’s top 10 entrepreneurship programs, Miami University is a hub for innovation. Across campus, students are constantly ideating, experimenting, and turning their ideas into real ventures. But for one student, creativity started long before college — in the kitchen of her childhood home. Meet Molly Love, founder and owner of Molly Love’s Cookies, who transformed a lifelong passion for baking into a growing campus-favorite business.
Molly Love is a third-year Political Science student at Miami University with minors in Disability Studies and Economics. She is a driven Honors College student with a post-grad goal of attending law school. While her spare hours are few and far between, she manages to find time for her first passion: baking.
Molly’s love for food started at a young age. “I’ve always had an interest in being in the kitchen,” she explained. “When I was two years old, my mom used to hard boil eggs and leave them on the lower shelf of the fridge for me, so when I would wake up before her, I could make egg salad for myself.” Her curiosity in the kitchen only grew from there, picking up baking soon after.
Young Molly, learning to bake. photo credit: Molly Love
But cookies were not always her main focus. “In middle school, I started taking cupcake orders. And then one day, my neighbor asked me to make cookies for her mom’s 80th birthday. And so that was my first custom sugar cookie order, and I just kind of fell in love with it.”
For Molly, there was less focus on starting a business, and more focus on following her passion wherever it led her. She said, “I never really went into it with the mindset of ‘I want to start a business.’ It was just more ‘I love to bake, and this is what’s gonna allow me to bake the most and not always have so many sweets around my house.’”
Molly with her cookies at a pop-up event. photo credit: Molly Love
Molly never set out to be an entrepreneur — she just wanted to bake. But her genuine passion became the foundation of what is now a thriving venture. Today, she owns and operates Molly Love’s Cookies, creating custom treats for large events and even launching her own merchandise. Her story is a reminder that when you truly care about what you’re creating, that enthusiasm shines through.
She’s had the opportunity to bake cookies for several events, notably the Miami University Honors Convocation during Welcome Weekend in 2025. She made 625 cookies for first-year Honors students entering the university. As an Honors student herself, it felt very meaningful to give back to a community that welcomed her when she began at Miami.
Molly Love and Zeb Baker, inaugural dean of the Miami University Honors College at the Honors Convocation, catered by Molly. photo credit: Molly Love
“I had written my application essay about my cookie business, and that’s something that, before I introduced myself to them, somebody saw my name tag and was like, ‘Oh, you’re the one with the cookies.’ And it just made me feel so seen. And so it felt kind of full circle to now be making cookies for the [first-year students], when I feel like that kind of helped me get into Miami in the first place,” Molly said.
She’s currently not taking orders as she is committed to her academic and professional goals. Her journey is a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful ventures start with something simple — like a love of baking — and grow into opportunities you never expected. And for many on campus, the sweetest part is getting to cheer her on along the way.
