Exclusive | Cookie-slinging NYC Girl Scout bakes competition for second straight year thanks to crafty tactical changes
New York City’s teen cookie queen is hanging on to her crown.Brooklyn 13-year-old Ashleigh F.has secured her title as the Big Apple’s top Girl Scout cookie seller for the second year in a row after baking up new tactics to overcome the organization’s overall crumbling sales.Ashleigh of Bay Ridge hawked a mouth-watering 3,013 boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs this season — a total that slightly surpassed the goal she outlined for the sweet season.“I pushed my goal up by 500 more boxes than I did last year.
It wasn’t that I expected to win, but I really, really hoped that I would get it again,” the teen told The Post.The pressure was on from the get-go, Ashleigh said, adding that the rewards she reaped for her troop after selling 2,528 boxes of cookies last year were a major motivator in stepping up yet again.She was able to take her 30-member troupe to Six Flags free of charge.“Some days I do feel a little bit of pressure,” said the cadette with Troop 2601.“I’m the top seller in the city, so that also means I’m the top seller in my troupe and I give the most money to the troupe, and I just feel like I have to keep doing that so all the little kids can have the same experience as I did,” she said.Friendly competition pushed the eighth-grader to hustle.There was just an 80-box difference between her and the No.
2 seller last year, who hailed from Staten Island.“I mean this in no mean way, but I didn’t want the Brownie to beat me!” Ashleigh admitted of her friendly foe.But Ashleigh was also battling overall sales across the five boroughs plummeting this year for a second year in a row, dropping to just 1,035,000 boxes of sold cookies and another 65,000 donated through the Gift of Caring program.The year before, sales were at 1.1 million boxes — still a far cry from the record-breaking 2.2 million boxes peddled during the 2020-2021 season.To help try to make up the deficit this year — and personallly come out on top — Ashl...