Jasmine Cho (36)
Artist, Author, Cookie Activist

Most of the time, a cookie is just a cookie. But in the hands of artist, author and activist Jasmine Cho, a cookie can convey history and identity.

Cho is known for creating intricate, hand-drawn cookie portraits of important, but often little-known, figures in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. She uses the cookies as a way to spark conversation, fuel curiosity and inspire action.

“Every time we learn about a person who looks like us or whose lived experience mirrors our own, we feel so much less alone, but it’s equally important for those who might not look like us,” Cho says. “It’s inviting and it’s disarming.”

Cho recently put her cookie art on hold to earn a master’s in art therapy that will serve as the foundation for her latest venture: making baking a healing modality. Just as a cookie can be more than its ingredients, Cho believes baking can be more than a means to a sweet end.

“It’s a slow and meditative process,” she says. “It requires a patience and precision that you don’t get with cooking. Baking really is love.”

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