Episode 140 · April 16, 2024
Heather Matheson has built a sweet business supporting women in recovery
with Heather Matheson, Founder, Peace, Love and Cookies Tulsa
37 min
Heather Matheson has built a sweet business supporting women in recovery
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In this episode
In this episode I sit down with Heather Matheson, the heart and hands behind Peace, Love and Cookies Tulsa. I actually interviewed Heather years ago, before the podcast even existed, and the heart she has for what she's doing has stuck with me ever since. So I invited her back — and so much has grown since then.
Heather started baking for friends and neighbors after a major life change, and when a friend told her, "your cookies are amazing, you could do something with that," she listened. That willingness to keep an open mind and an open heart led her to a commercial kitchen at Women in Recovery in Tulsa, where she now bakes fresh every morning and employs women rebuilding their lives. What began as a cookie business has become so much more — an early-morning space of connection, support, and encouragement that's helping women break cycles of poverty, abuse, and addiction.
I love that Heather set out to bake cookies and ended up building something that lets her use her God-given gifts and talents in ways she never planned. If you've ever wondered whether your passion and purpose could come together in one meaningful thing, this conversation is for you. Keep going — you just don't know what doors will open.
Key takeaways
- Keep an open mind and an open heart — Heather's whole business grew from listening to the people around her, not from a rigid plan. The next right door often opens when you're willing to hear it.
- A giving-back component can be baked in from day one. Heather built purpose into her business from the very beginning, and that mission became part of why people love ordering.
- Peace, Love and Cookies partners with Women in Recovery in Tulsa — an alternative-to-prison treatment program for women serving time for nonviolent, drug-related crimes — and hires women as a meaningful first job.
- Real transformation is possible: Heather has watched employees reunite with their children, buy homes, work full time, and stay clean — including a son now on a full engineering scholarship. That's breaking the cycle.
- Community heals. Many of the women say they've never had girlfriends before — the kitchen has become a therapeutic, like-minded space of safety, friendship, and mutual encouragement.
- Second and third chances matter. When women stumble, Heather keeps the door open and rehires them, holding high expectations while genuinely wanting them to succeed.
- Sustainable purpose requires boundaries. Heather has learned to say no, take days off, and put herself first so she can keep showing up for her team and her business long-term.
Chapters
- 00:00Keep an open mind and an open heart
- 01:00About Conversations with Passion and Purpose live events
- 02:30Meet Heather Matheson and Peace, Love and Cookies
- 05:00From medical social worker to cookie baker after a major life change
- 08:00Building in a giving-back component from the start
- 10:00The email that changed everything: Women in Recovery's kitchen
- 13:00How the Women in Recovery program works
- 17:00The kitchen as therapy, friendship, and community
- 21:00Breaking the cycle: real success stories
- 26:00Empty nesting and children choosing connection
- 29:00How to order, the pop-up cart, and where to find her
- 33:00Growing the business: boots on the ground
- 37:00Training women for what comes next
- 41:00Grow more in 2024: boundaries, saying no, and what's next
“I tell people all the time, just keep an open mind and an open heart because you just don't know what doors will open. But you got to listen.”
“I started out being a cookie baker, but really I feel like I'm helping the women more than I'm selling cookies. That's the part that I love about my job.”
“Nobody chooses to be an addict... to think that they do this successfully really shows what is possible.”
“Saying no is always okay. I've learned I have to come first if I'm going to keep this up.”
About Heather
Founder, Peace, Love and Cookies Tulsa
Heather Matheson is the founder of Peace, Love and Cookies Tulsa, a fresh-baked cookie and granola business she started over ten years ago after a 20-year career as a medical social worker. Baking out of the Women in Recovery kitchen in Tulsa, she employs women in the program, blending her social work heart with her love of baking to support women rebuilding their lives.
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