Magie Cook

CEO and Founder of Maggie’s Salsa; orphan turned entrepreneur

Magie, whose birth name is Magdalena De La Cruz Cook Garcia, grew up among 68 other children in an orphanage in Mexico. As a child, she taught herself how to play basketball and was selected to play on the Mexican National Team. However, she broke her collarbone and missed her opportunity. She eventually was able to immigrate to America on a basketball scholarship at the University of Charleston. While there, she started to make fresh salsa for her friends. Word spread of her delicious recipe, and she began to receive requests from professors and other staff for a batch.
After graduating university and when she was struggling to find a job and make ends meet, she became homeless. A friend later, entered her in a Fresh Salsa competition for the State of West Virginia. Magie won the contest unanimously. She was gifted $800 to start her business, and the beginning stages of Maggie’s All-Natural Fresh Salsa’s & Dips was born.
As a new college graduate with limited resources and business experience, Magie took the $800 and made a rough business plan. Through perseverance, a lot of passion, and an inner drive to keep going despite many challenges that halted momentum, Magie cold-called hundreds of grocery stores and worked to expand the distribution of her products nationwide.

She learned first-hand the ins and outs of production, distribution, building a talented team, cultivating a positive company culture, driving sales, and consumer marketing, along with many other lessons that come along with growing a business. In 2015, at the height of its success, her company sold with Garden Fresh to Campbell’s Soup for $231 million.
After Magie sold her company, she shifted her focus toward giving back to the community that helped raise her. She returned to Mexico to serve as the US Program Director of the Give New Life Orphanage, where she grew up. During her tenure, she focused on the generational problem of human sex trafficking, and led a team to help rescue 31 Mexican children from the Cartel and sex trade.

Today, Dr. Magie shares her story with corporate audiences and teaches them the research-backed strategies she uses to stay mindful and build resilience during times of change. As an inspirational keynote speaker, business expert, and author, Dr. Magie has spoken to many Fortune 100 and 500 companies to show their leaders how to leverage their personal strengths to discover opportunities for growth.
Magie is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Nobel Entrepreneurial Prize in Mexico, the Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and West Virginia’s Generation Next “40 Under 40” Award.