She's a multi-faceted artist, graphic designer, entrepreneur and now, an award-winning baker. But Anya Fazulyanov is no cookie rookie. She's been running her own luxury cookie business out of her mom's house since she was teenager.
"Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved baking,” Fazulyanov said. “But it wasn't until ninth grade I took a cookie decorating class with my friend and that kinda-started this whole thing."
This "whole thing" started small, with Fazulyanov filling orders just for friends and family. But soon, her clientele list expanded to include celebrities such as Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Rex Orange County. Fazulyanov's sister, Nika, attended the Rex Orange County concert with her. Nika remembers the moment when they discovered the artist had received Anya's cookies.
“She looks up to him so much and when we were in the crowd, she saw that he posted a picture and she started crying,” Nika Fazulyanov said. “She was like, 'Oh my gosh!'"
From the beginning, Anya Fazulyanov's mother has been her right-hand woman and her biggest supporter.
“My role is assistant, and I love it,” Christine Fazulyanov said. “When she gets going and she's in her creative mode and in the flow, I just try to be able to support that."
After years of building her business and honing her craft, Anya Fazulyanov decided to audition for Food Network's Christmas Cookie Challenge.
"Christmas Cookie Challenge is like the Oscars for cookie decorators,” Anya Fazulyanov said. “Like, if you're a cookie decorator, that is what you wanna do."
That’s what she did and she won.
"I was like, 'Okay, I have to do something really big for this’ and so, we rented out a theater at the Sierra in Orem and everyone came and supported. Everyone was cheering and clapping and it was such a cherry on top of this already cool experience,” Anya Fazulyanov said. "To have everyone that I loved and that had supported me to this point be there and cheering me on was just amazing."