Summer’s over and it’s officially fall. 
Goodbye long sunny days and hellooo Wet-tember and Wet-tober days. 
ANNNNNND WELCOME BACK HUSKIES!!!
Today is also the start of fall quarter for UW students!
Ah… The bustle of busy feet heading to classes and the smell of unopened textbooks.
First day of classes brings Lois Ko to remember her days as a Husky.
The good times… Like when she played Starcraft at Odegaard, or when she once helped throw a friend into Drumheller fountain.
Wait, who is Lois, you ask?
Lois is a UW alumna who graduated with an Arts degree in 2005 and embarked on a journey of creating the best ice cream you can find in the Pacific Northwest.
She first started off as a scooper at an ice cream chain in 2001.
Today, it’s been more than three years since her very own shop, Sweet Alchemy opened its doors on The Ave.
It’s an enchanting, cozy room filled with displays of handmade crafts, from the floor paved with pennies, a chandelier made out of a rustic wagon wheel, branches and flora, framed art and poems hanging on the wall.
Every detail in the shop is fine-tuned to create an alluring atmosphere, like the attic room of an ancient alchemist brewing up elixirs, only difference here is that these potions are sweet and creamy.
From the perennial flavors like DarkSide and London Fog to the seasonal Peachy Keen and Maple Bourbon Pecan, Sweet Alchemy offers a uniqueness you won’t find elsewhere.
It’s also the only ice cream shop in the West Coast that sources its milk and cream from a single farm, and pasteurizes and churns its ice cream from scratch on site.
Starting her own ice cream brand wasn’t an easy journey. It wasn’t as simple as shaking a Ziploc bag full of cream and ice cubes.
Lois recalls some of the challenges she faced when she stepped into the business world.
She’s had to talk to professors and take entrepreneur courses at UW’s Foster School, network with other small business owners, obtain permits from the city, acquire a pasteurization license, buy ice cream recipe books and experiment with her own flavors…
But, Lois says, the best part of running her shop is the chaos and the level of unexpectedness in business, the “jumping into the unknown” and learning to be able to control it.
She believes that ice cream is not just a dessert that satisfies a sweet tooth, but it’s also a connection that intertwines people from different walks of life toward similar values and missions. It’s a way to partner with local farms and businesses to educate the community, reduce food waste and support sustainable practices.
If she had a message to students, it would be this:
“It’s okay to fail. Beginnings are exciting and expectations can get high during this period. Always set your expectations with lenience and forgive yourself. Your future self will have the courage to try again”
Feel free to stop by during Dawg Daze or any other “daze” of the week and say hi to Lois and other friendly faces behind the counter!
Here’s to a new term and new adventures! Go Huskies!!!
