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Connie McDonald, along with her friend Pam Weekes, is the co-founder of the renowned Levain Bakery. Their journey began in 1995 with a mutual passion for baking and a desire to bring artisanal bread to New York City. But what started as a small bread shop on the Upper West Side quickly gained a cult following, thanks to an accidental culinary masterpiece: the iconic Levain cookie.

Born and raised in upstate New York, McDonald initially pursued a career in finance, but her true calling was in the kitchen. After meeting Weekes in a Manhattan YWCA swimming group,  the pair discovered a shared desire to open a business of their own while on long training rides for triathlons. 

Mcdonald eventually left investment banking and enrolled at ICE, after which she, along with Weekes, honed her skills at bakeries and restaurants across New York and catered events for friends and colleagues. 

When she and Weekes opened Levain, it was a wholesale bread bakery run out of a restaurant kitchen. Its first retail space at the now-iconic 74th and Amsterdam location opened in 1994.

Levain's success can be attributed to McDonald's dedication to quality ingredients, handcrafted techniques, and forward-thinking business acumen. The bakery's signature cookies, born out of a need for high-energy snacks during training, have become a global phenomenon, attracting legions of devoted fans. Today, Levain Bakery brings the joy of baked goods to more than 18 locations across the country. Levain is also credited with being one of the first bakeries to provide nationwide product shipping after Amanda Hesser of The New York Times famously dubbed their chocolate-walnut cookie “...the largest, most divine chocolate chip cookie in Manhattan” back in 1997.

McDonald and Weekes credit that review with the life-altering success of their bakery, and since then Levain has continued to find a place on most every “Best Cookie” list in New York and beyond.

From a small bread shop to a beloved culinary institution, Levain Bakery stands as a testament to the enduring power of friendship and the undeniable draw of a perfect, warm cookie.