We’ve all seen it before: the tale of the gauzy self-made business entrepreneur swept into fame and wealth, touting a name for themselves, only for it all to come crashing down suddenly. In their joyride, the protagonist figure realizes that beneath the world of dizzy glitters, there’s a saddened space of existence reality awaiting, of gaping shadows where life isn’t as pleasing as it seems to be. 

Experiencing poverty is, without a doubt, a challenging feat in itself. Being born into it, experiencing success, fame, then losing it all and falling back into poverty is what must be especially difficult. Where the majority see this cliche in fiction or television, some are unfortunate enough to experience it firsthand.

This is the story of Wally Amos, of the Famous Amos fame.

Who is “Famous” Amos?

When it comes to feelings about Famous Amos, I imagine people typically fall into one of three groups:

The first group—being made up of mostly young people (probably; I’ve no data)— has zero knowledge of the brand at all. If the name doesn’t conjure visions of second-rate vending machine options (D4 at best), then you’re likely in this group. 

The second group knows of Famous Amos and is familiar with its underwhelming status as a dollar store checkout counter snack food. Reasonable.

But the third group has a different view of the matter. A much more romantic take on the treat. Because this group remembers Famous Amos as a mouthwatering gourmet delicacy. A top-shelf cookie purveyor with an outspoken, charismatic owner in Wally Amos.

Why such a harsh disparity? How can a company less than 50 years old have such contradicting reputations among different generations?

There was a time, just a few decades ago, when Amos was a household name. A successful brand with big-name celebrity investors, upscale distribution, and a first-year total sales revenue of $300,000. 

But by the mid-80s, the brand was hemorrhaging money. Amos would lose his house and eventually sell a majority stake of the company. Many people were left to wonder: How did one of the most successful snack companies of the last decade so quickly decay into financial shambles?

How did Amos find himself on the butt-end of a bad break? 

These are interesting questions, and sure to be answered. But first, it’s worth understanding Famous Amos’ rise to popularity, understanding what made this gourmet cookie company so successful, so, well— I’m not gonna say it, I am not going to—famous.

Wally Amos’ Rise to Fame

Wally Amos came from a classically humble upbringing, born in 1936 in Tallahassee, Florida, to poor, illiterate parents. At age 12, he moved to New York to live with his Aunt Della. It was here that he learned of the famous recipe. (More on this in a bit.)

Amos, who dropped out of high school, would receive his G.E.D. after joining the Air Force. Returning to New York as a mature, educated man, he found work in the William Morris Agency, a Hollywood-based talent agency once considered “the best in show business.” 

He began in the mailroom, eventually working his way up to becoming the first black talent agent in the entertainment industry. 

This was more than just a side-quest for an aspiring baker; Amos now headed the rock’n’roll department at William Morris, where he signed Simon and Garfunkel and worked with Motown legends like Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Dionne Warwick. 

It was only after growing disillusioned with the industry that Amos sought refuge in his aunt’s baking once more. 

Wally’s son, Shawn Amos, said:

“Cookies were a hobby to relieve stress.”

It wasn’t long before the cookies took the main stage. 

Amos told The New York Times in 1975:

“I’d go to meetings with the record company or movie people and bring along some cookies, and pretty soon everybody was asking for them.”

Amos’s connection with the entertainment business helped his business aspirations tremendously. He received significant contributions from industry stars Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, who gave Amos $25,000 for his new venture. 

In 1975, Amos launched his first brick-and-mortar location. 7181 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. 

And it was a big deal. The grand opening was a star-studded gala attended by 1,500 people. 

Success was sudden. After selling $300,000 worth of cookies in its first year, the brand continued to climb in popularity. By 1982, Famous Amos was making $12 million in yearly revenue. 

Famous Amos’s success was the result of exploiting a hole in the market. In the mid-70s, the grocery store shelves were loaded with preservative-dependent snack options. Amos carved out a lucrative niche by marketing the product as a gourmet, zero-preservative, craft-made cookie. A risk well rewarded.

From “What’s Going On?” to “What’s Going On???”

With any great market advancement, a plethora of eager competitors emerge. And shortly after arriving on the scene, Famous Amos was met with rival brands like Mrs. Fields, and new, upmarket product lines from Nabisco and Duncan Hines. 

Combining these market competitors and Amos’s inability to keep up with his success led to the first cracks in the business. By 1985, Famous Amos reported a $300,000 loss on sales of $10 million.

Later that year, Amos officially gave up the reigns of his company, selling a majority stake to Bass Brothers Enterprises for $1.1 million.

Two years later, the new owners upended the recipe entirely, adding preservatives and shelf-stable ingredients. Famous Amos was rebranding as an affordable brand. It wasn’t entirely unexpected; such mission-statement-defying practices are common for newly bought companies, but the decision prompted original owner Wally Amos to depart. 

In 1992, President Baking Company bought Famous Amos for $61 million—more than 55 times what Wally Amos sold his controlling stake for just a few years earlier. 

Amos wasn’t through with the cookie business, however. Later in 1992, he launched his new venture…

And was promptly sued. 

Turns out: the latest Amos product— Wally Amos Presents Hazelnut Cookies— stood in direct violation of the contract he had signed years prior when selling his first business. The one that expressly prohibited Amos from using his own name and likeness in the selling of any product.

Undeterred, he changed the name of his company, operating instead as Uncle Nonamé. Boldness had treated him well in the past— and I think it’s an undeniably ballsy way to approach being sued over your own identity— but the market operates in mysterious ways. In 1996, Uncle Nonamé filed for bankruptcy. 

What Became of Wally Amos?

By 1999, Amos was in talks with Keebler, the new owner of Famous Amos. An agreement had been reached: Wally Amos would become a paid spokesperson for the brand under the condition that they craft the recipe closer to the original. 

And it feels like a solid ending to the story. The sweet embrace of a father and son after a long, arduous journey, complete with lawsuits, bankruptcies, and foreclosure. Ending up together would be fitting— if a bit too good to be true.

“It was bittersweet,”

says his son, Shawn Amos.

“He was happy to be back in the center of the brand he started, but he also had a hard time accepting the fact that at the end of the day, he was just a paid spokesperson.”

The feeling of being alienated from one’s own brainchild eventually led to a short-lived reunion between Amos and the brand that bears his name. 

After leaving once and for all, Amos pivoted to making muffins with Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co., opening a bake shop in Hawai’i.

Amos wrote multiple books about his experience over the years, including Power In You, Man With No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade, and The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched 1,000 Chips. He has also been a vigorous advocate for literacy and was granted a National Literacy Honors Award by President George H.W. Bush.

At age 80, Amos appeared on the hit television show, Shark Tank, pitching another new business, “The Cookie Kahuna”. The business ultimately failed.

In 2017, he launched a GoFundMe, announcing he was struggling to pay for food, gas, and rent.

No longer famous, Wally Amos continues on with his baking and entrepreneurial spirit. His life is a statement of hard work and resilience, but also a cautionary tale about success, hubris, and the risks we make along the way.

When it comes to financial sustainability, you’re going to want to know as much as possible. As the negative effects of climate change exacerbate, financial sectors are (finally) starting to shift their investments toward Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations. 

Sustainable finance is the process of taking ESG considerations into account when making viable investments. That means putting money into companies that develop renewable energy, hire and promote employ members of marginalized communities, and infrastructure that will help protect humans in at-risk environments. 

This is a very serious, very complicated issue that we are running out of time to meaningfully tackle. There is also the risk that many of these efforts are performative (see: greenwashing), we have to make sure we are keeping those in power accountable. 

Once again, we bring in our favorite finance expert, Danetha Doe Chief Economist at Clever Real Estate and creator of Money & Mimosas. There is a lot to consider when financing sustainability – and she’s here to break it down in a digestible way. 

Here are 5 questions you should ask when considering financing sustainability, as explained by Danetha Doe. 

Are these investments profitable? Or is this just charity for rich folks to pat themselves on the back?

Imperial College of London’s business school ran a multi-country analysis comparing the returns from each country’s largest fossil fuel and renewable energy stocks over the last 10 years. They found that renewable energy stocks delivered higher returns for both 5 and 10-year time periods. 

Some people such as Kara Swisher and Chamath Palihapitiya think the next trillionaire will be someone that cracks a major problem in green energy. And for better or for worse, Elon is the richest person in the world based primarily on Tesla’s value. 

All this to say, the answer is YES. You can care about the planet and make money at the same time.

Will these investments actually help the environment in tangible ways? How soon?

Broadly, yes, these investments will help – and are helping – the environment in tangible ways. Investing in solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and electric vehicles while divesting from fossil fuels will help to reduce the pollution from power plants. 

The timeline of course correcting the damage that has already been done depends on a lot of factors. addition to investments from individuals, we need governmental bodies, Wall Street, and other parts of the private sector to continue to get on board. 

President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act includes environmental measures that will go a long way to support climate change efforts. The fashion industry, one of the biggest pollution culprits, has started to place a bigger emphasis on resale which will help to reduce waste. Wall Street has pumped out ESG funds that are more greenwashing than helpful, so we will need to hold them accountable. 

As an individual, the way you choose to spend and invest your money will go a long way because it will force corporations to prioritize sustainability efforts.

Will taxing the wealthiest people their fair share help? Would something like a ban on private jets help?

The short answer is maybe. The corporate tax structure may need to be reviewed, but I’m a bigger fan of adding fees to resource use to cover the externalities and then redistributing those funds to climate change efforts. For example, Kourtney Kardashian exceeded her water allotment budget by 101,000 gallons in June. Instead of increasing her base income tax percentage, maybe there’s a fee of $1,000 for each gallon over the allotment budget. The $101,000,000 fee is then redistributed to technology companies solving the freshwater scarcity crisis. 

Instead of banning private jets, you should have to pay a carbon fee for each ride. These fees might not stop the behavior, but they could finance the changes needed to get us to a greener future.

There are wealthy people who are actively trying to help with climate change efforts. Instead of penalizing all of them with a blanket tax, I suggest adding fees to resource use.

What kind of expenses will we be looking at if we fail to address climate change?

Deloitte’s report shows that inaction will cost the U.S. economy $14.5 trillion by 2070. Utility officials in Illinois estimate the warmer summers could cost locals an additional $11 billion over the next 30 years. By 2040, extreme heat in Arizona could add up to $110 to residents’ electric bills each year, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago predicts homeowner’s insurance premiums to rise due to climate change. In fact, some insurers have already stopped covering parts of California deemed too risky because of wildfires

Why me? Why do I have to make these changes? Should it just be the corporations since they’re the ones ruining the world?

This is an all-hands-on-deck scenario. Corporations should be held accountable, but they do respond to your spending and investing decisions. Greenwashing wouldn’t exist if corporations thought no one cared about the environment. At the very least, be selfish and think about the fact that the quality of the environment directly impacts you. The more you do your part, the greater chance you’ll have at being able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors without worrying about fire smoke ruining your lungs or extreme flooding wiping out your island vacation home.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Investing in ESG is critical – but we have to be selective where we divest and relentless in our pursuit to ensure accountability. Further things to consider when financing sustainability are: 

• Are these ESGs contributing to organizations or projects that counteract environmental harms perpetuated by the company? Or are they arbitrary investments that let them greenwash their reputation/only investments that provide “accreditation” over genuine impact?
• Are ESGs investing in genuine solutions, or projects that perpetuate inequities and environmental harm?
• Are companies engaging with ESGs also changing their own practices? Probably not: “They found that the companies in the ESG portfolios had worse compliance record for both labor and environmental rules. They also found that companies added to ESG portfolios did not subsequently improve compliance with labor or environmental regulations.”
  • Also – looking at ESG investments relative to a company’s other investments is imperative.

We send many thanks to Danetha Doe for her expertise in the financial field and her lovely disposition. Be sure to check out Money & Mimosas for other financial tips! 

Big thank you to Molly Blondell for her perspective on sustainable finance as an expert in the field. 

We can solve the climate crisis – we have a lot of work ahead of us. Get involved in your community, start in your neighborhood. Organize a clean-up, press your local officials to get serious about recycling programs, any little thing you can do helps. 

Let’s get to work.

We live in distracting times. And with many of us operating remotely or in computer-dependent workplaces, it’s not hard to imagine why. But modern obstacles call for modern solutions. There are a number of apps on the market today to help you integrate a more efficient workflow.

What is a productivity app?

A mobile productivity app is a software program that allows smartphone, tablet, and wearable device users to perform essential day-to-day tasks.

Productivity apps are meant to increase the efficiency of their users. They can be useful for individuals and teams looking for transparent, collaborative methods of communication. A good productivity app can help you focus on work, track habits, manage time, and prioritize your obligations. Finding the best tool for your schedule and lifestyle is key.

What are the best productivity apps?

Here are 5 productivity apps to give you an extra push.

Proofhub

Proofhub helps teams organize and track their projects, facilitating a smoother collaborative process.  What makes ProofHub one of the best project management apps, however, is that it has tools that help your team discuss visual materials.

Proofhub isn’t without its compromises. It doesn’t have budgeting, invoicing, or resources management tools. But you can integrate Proofhub with your accounting software if needed!

Pricing:

• Essential – $45/month. 40 projects, unlimited users, and 15GB storage.
• Ultimate Control – $89/month. Unlimited projects, unlimited users, and 100GB storage.

TickTick

TickTick is a cross-platform and collaborative to-do app that has a few neat features suited to the Getting Things Done (GTD) method of working and the Pomodoro Technique. TickTick offers two membership tiers: free and premium. Both tiers offer strategies for focusing to get hard work done without wasting time or procrastinating.

However, TickTick’s free account does carry some restrictions. For example, you can only make 9 lists, with 99 tasks per list, and 19 subtasks in any task. In terms of collaborating, free account holders can only invite one person per list.

TickTick’s Premium service allows you to add up to 5 reminders on each task, and share a task list with up to 29 members, making collaboration easier for your team. Additionally, you can upload 99 attachments every day.

Pricing: 

• Free
• Premium: $2.99/month. $27.99/year ($2.33/m).

Trello

Trello is a great choice for fans of simplicity and those looking for the most user-friendly project management solutions. It’s easy to use and has almost no learning curve at all. 

Trello’s free plan may actually suffice for smaller teams with lighter task management needs. This is especially true for individuals looking to manage their own workflow, rather than to oversee the work of others. However, the free plan does miss out on some helpful features, such as Trello’s priority support. 

Pricing:

• Free: $0/month per user.
• Business Class: $12.50/month per user.
• Enterprise: $17.59/month per user. 

Engross

Engross can be useful for those looking to improve their focus while working from home or manage a bustling life on the go. This app offers a clean, minimalist design that saves you the trouble of acclimating to a busier, more feature-laden app. 

Engross includes a Pomodoro clock, a planner and calendar, and reminders alongside statistical analysis of how you use your time.

Pricing:

• Free: $0/month per user.

Evernote

Evernote has been regarded as the king of note-taking apps. But this has as much (if not more) to do with its tenured status as its effectiveness. It’s been around since 2004, which means it’s seen a lot of changes to the way we integrate technology into our task management.

The primary strength of Evernote is, of course, note-taking. Individual files are saved in Notes, which can then be organized into thematic Notebooks. Multiple Notebooks can be combined to create Notebook Stacks.

Evernote is known for its straightforward, intuitive interface. On both desktop and mobile, Evernote’s UI is clean and makes use of familiar icons to indicate the tool’s core functions.

Pricing: 

• Free: $0/month per member.
• Personal Account: $8/month.
• Professional Account: $10/month per user.
• Endnote Teams Account: $15/month per user.