{"id":27585,"date":"2019-12-19T14:20:54","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T19:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:21:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:21:54","slug":"these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/","title":{"rendered":"These Cookies are too Pretty to Crumble"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"a<\/a>

There’s a cookie for every occasion.<\/p><\/div>\n

Everywhere NECC alumna Renee Terry \u201813 looks, she sees design inspiration for her sugar cookies.<\/p>\n

Even a simple image can send the Amesbury resident\u2019s mind to imagining layers of royal icing in vibrant or muted shades kissed with sanding sugar to create original designs. Each cookie is a diminutive work of art that the owner of Sweet Cheeks by Renee hand decorates herself.<\/p>\n

As so often is the case with entrepreneurs, the 30-year-old\u2019s journey from early childhood education<\/a> graduate to cookie and cake company owner was a happy and successful accident. The Haverhill native came to NECC<\/a> after starting at a four-year college where she hoped to channel her creativity toward interior design. Unhappy with the program and the debt she was incurring, she enrolled at NECC with the thought of pursuing a childhood vision of becoming an educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger I thought I wanted to become a special education teacher having grown up with an uncle who is deaf and intellectually challenged,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Renee Terry is an NECC Alumna.<\/p><\/div>\n

While attending NECC full time, the self-taught cake decorator also worked full time perfecting her talent and creating a style at food market bakeries and a cake shop. It was there that she began experimenting with custom cookies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to accept that this was my talent,\u201d Terry says. \u201dThis is what I\u2019m supposed to do. This is what makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the next two years, she supported herself as a substitute teacher while developing her business plan and beginning to bake cookies, first in her 600 square-foot apartment and, when she outgrew that, in her parents\u2019 kitchen. She also got married and started a family.<\/p>\n

Once she and her husband Joshua and son Bryson settled in a house with a small but efficient kitchen, she grew the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning I was using basic cake decorating knowledge, but now I look to artwork for inspiration,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m constantly changing my technique and look. My designs aren\u2019t stagnant. I never do the same thing twice. The textures and dimensions I use set them apart. Every time I create a new set of cookies I say \u2018This is my favorite set so far.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With more than 15,000 Instagram followers (@sweetcheeksbyrenee<\/a>), it is clear others have their favorite sets too. Terry is building on this momentum and developing classes, workshops, and private video tutorials.<\/p>\n

And what about that NECC degree?<\/p>\n

\u201cOne great thing I\u2019ve carried with me from Northern Essex has been time management. That\u2019s where I learned to juggle school, work, and life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now that the family has rounded out with the arrival of baby Jolie this summer, Terry anticipates using her early childhood education training while raising the children. Bryson has already learned a lesson \u2013 in the Terry household, cookies are all business.<\/p>\n

She will be teaching cake decorating classes for NECC this June through our community education culinary classe<\/a>s to be taught at The Heights at Haverhill\u00a0 building which is currently under construction on Merrimack Street. The second and third floors of the Sal Lupoli building will be the home of NECC’s new culinary arts certificate program<\/a> in the spring of 2020 and the hospitality management associate degree program<\/a> in fall of 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renee Terry sees inspiration for her cookie designs everywhere she looks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":27587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThese Cookies are too Pretty to Crumble - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Cookies are too Pretty to Crumble - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Renee Terry sees inspiration for her cookie designs everywhere she looks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-19T19:20:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T18:21:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/cookie-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1367\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen Small-Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellen Small-Davis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/12\/19\/these-cookies-are-too-pretty-to-crumble\/\",\"name\":\"These Cookies are too Pretty to Crumble - 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