Wally Amos
*Wally Amos was born on this date in 1936. He was a Black talent agent, businessman, and author.
Wallace Amos Jr. was born to Wallace and Ruby Amos and raised in Tallahassee, Florida until he was 12. When his parents divorced, he moved to New York City with his aunt, where he enrolled at the Food Trades Vocational High School. He showed his interest in cooking at a young age. It was from his aunt Della Bryant, who would bake cookies for him, that Amos later developed his chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Amos dropped out of high school to join the United States Air Force. He served at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1954 until 1957. He earned his high school equivalency diploma before being honorably discharged from the military. Returning to New York City, Amos went to college to become a secretary and, after graduating, took a mailroom clerk job with the William Morris Agency.
Eventually, he became the agency's first Black talent agent. He signed Simon & Garfunkel and headed the agency's rock 'n' roll department. Amos attracted clients by sending them chocolate chip cookies and an invitation to visit him. He represented The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. 1975, the first Famous Amos cookie store opened in Los Angeles, California. He started the business with the help of a $25,000 loan from Gaye and Helen Reddy. The Company began to expand, and Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies were eventually on supermarket shelves across the United States.
He became such a known cultural figure that he appeared as himself in the Taxi episode "Latka's Cookies" in 1981. He was hired to deliver speeches and wrote several self-help theme books, including The Cookie Never Crumbles and The Power in You. In 1979, Amos advocated literacy and helped many adults learn to read. In 1987, he also hosted a television series entitled Learn to Read. In 1986, Amos was awarded the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award by President Ronald Reagan. Due to financial troubles, Amos sold the Company and, in 1994, launched Uncle Noname Gourmet Muffins.
The muffins are sold in more than 3,500 stores nationwide. 2014 Amos returned his handmade cookies under a new name, The Cookie Kahuna. Amos appeared on the reality television show Shark Tank in 2016, pitching Cookie Kahuna, but failed to get a deal. The business folded in 2018. In 2020, Content Media Group released a documentary on the life of Wally Amos, The Great Cookie Comeback: reBaking Wally Amos. Amos was married four times and had four children. He was the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie, the Cookie Kahuna, and Aunt Della's Cookies gourmet cookie brands, and he was the host of the adult reading program Learn to Read. Wally Amos died due to complications from dementia in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 13, 2024, at the age of 88.
To become a food service manager
To become a Market Research Analyst
