Life is a Treat

2026 FRONTeras Magazine 1st Quarter - Vol. 2 No. 1 Issue

Zulma Piceno's cookie business exists because her daughter, Valeria, refused to eat birthday cake like a normal child.

That's it. That's the origin story.

While other kids demolished sheet cakes at parties, Valeria preferred cookies. So Zulma, like any mother trying to make birthdays work, started baking cookies instead. An easy solution turned into an accidental venture.

The actual first order happened in 2018 when Zulma made a batch for her sister, who taught at an elementary school. Another teacher spotted them. Asked if she could place an order. Zulma said yes. That teacher became customer number one, and the requests kept rolling in after that.

"The first cookie order was life-changing," she says. "Because I didn't know that I was starting a business right then and there."

Then social media did what social media does best. Word spread. Orders multiplied. Zulma refined her techniques, improved her craft, learned what worked and what didn't. The business grew beyond just income. It became her escape route from everything else. Her therapy session, baked at 350 degrees.

She needed a name for this accidental venture. Zulma took it to the family WhatsApp chat and let them vote. They landed on Tiny Treats.

Zulma grew up in Roma with parents Jose Maria and Sara Piceno, two sisters, and two brothers. That family backing became crucial later, because starting a cookie business as a mom raising two sons and two daughters while juggling college classes and a full-time job wasn't exactly a smooth launch.

The logo features a tiny bird. Her father, Chemita, used to call her "la pajara" or "pajarita," which translates to bird or small bird in Spanish. That nickname made it onto every package, every order, every cookie box that left her kitchen.

Success has evolved beyond filling orders. Zulma started teaching cookie decorating classes, turning her kitchen skills into lessons for others. Community involvement has become part of the business model. "I am so blessed to do what I love for a living," she says. "I want to pass that down to other people, too, especially a new generation."

Eight years since that first order, Zulma has reached the pinnacle of her business. "I love what I do," she says. "Baking cookies has a way of destressing. For me, this is not a job, this is a dream."

Doing what she loves has paid for her college tuition, her children's college tuition, and all the extras that life demands. The sleepless nights and stress paid off in ways she never imagined when that elementary school teacher placed the first order.

Zulma has never forgotten her mission: baking to make other people's picky eaters happy.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.

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