The Story Behind the Scholarship

Andrea (pronounced Aundrea) Lacy 

Founder & CEO, Luv’s Brownies

From the time Andrea was in elementary school, she knew she wanted to go to college and work for Hewlett Packard. However, she never felt smart in school. She had a feeling something was wrong with the way she processed information, but she wasn’t sure. 

Andrea’s high school counselor tried to dissuade her from applying to a California State University, but she applied anyway through Equal Opportunity Program (EOP) and was accepted to San José State University. She walked into the financial aid office in tears because she didn’t know how she could afford to pay tuition. A wonderful counselor opened her heart, assisted Andrea with financial aid, and became her mentor. 

While attending college full time, Andrea worked three jobs to pay her tuition, rent, and car loan. She also failed the same math class five times. At her counselor’s suggestion, she took a learning disability test and was diagnosed with dyslexia. She worked with university administrators to replace some classes with other course requirements, which helped her raise her GPA.

Around this time, she met a new friend who helped her land a job at Hewlett Packard. While baking brownies to give her friend as a thank-you gift, she noticed that the dough seemed extra thick. The brownies turned out amazing, and when she looked at the recipe again she realized she had accidentally transposed some numbers in the ingredients list due to her dyslexia. That “revised” recipe became the cornerstone of Luv’s Brownies, the award-winning online bakery Andrea founded in 1996. 

Based on her experiences, Andrea believes that some detriments are true blessings in disguise — and none of us should ever let our challenges stop us from making our dreams a reality. 

Andrea will always have a special place in her heart for San José State University, which changed her life. She created the “Grit Award” to give back to her community, and to help make sure that some talented and tenacious young people enjoy the same opportunities she had to attend college and live their dreams.  

A portion of every Luv’s Brownies purchase goes towards the scholarship fund. The Andrea R. Lacy Scholarship foundation is 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.