Magie Cook
The Key to Future Identity: Turning Adversity Into the Greatest Advantage for Today’s Leaders.
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, 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.
Why Adversity is the Key to Future Identity.
Format:
20-45 Keynote + Q&A. Workshops and breakout sessions available upon request.
In this powerful and deeply personal keynote, Magie takes the audience on a journey through the defining moments of her life—moments marked by hardship, struggle, and seemingly insurmountable adversity. But rather than breaking her, these experiences became the blueprint for her transformation. This talk explores the universal truth that adversity...
Mindset With Magie
Format:
20-45 minute keynote + Q&A. Workshops and breakout sessions upon request.
● In this powerful keynote, Magie shares what it takes for team members to create a permanent mental shift for success, how to uncover and leverage their ‘why’, and how they can visualize their journey into the future. Using research-based studies rooted in psychology and language, Magie skillfully weaves practical mental strategies with how she’s integrated...
Together We Rise
Format:
20-45 minute keynote + Q&A. Workshops and breakout sessions upon request.
In today’s rapidly changing world, organizations that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are better equipped to adapt and succeed. This keynote, led by Magie Cook, an LGBTQ+ Latina who overcame adversity to achieve the “American Dream” and build a multimillion-dollar company, delves into the benefits of embracing DEI in the...
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