Lee county Girl Scout sets record: 50,000 lifetime cookie sales

Olivia Trader has some key sales tips, none bigger than this: Take advantage of every opportunity.

By Laura Lyon
| 5:00 a.m. March 31, 2025
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Olivia Trader went from shyness to shining in Girl Scouts. Over the course of her tenure, she has sold over 50,000 boxes of cookies and even had her likeness on the cover of a Tagalongs box, among many other achievements.

Charlotte–Lee–Collier

You’re minding your own business, running some errands on some unassuming day when you see it. That first glint of green. First a table, then some sashes. Then boxes and boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Depending on who you are, you either run toward this serendipitous encounter with delicious treasure, or you do everything in your power to avoid temptation.

Either way, if you’ve been living in Lee county for the last dozen years or so, there’s a chance you encountered high school senior Olivia Trader. The 18-year-old has sold over 50,000 boxes (50,264 at the time the Business Observer interviewed her) of cookies since she first joined Girl Scouts in first grade. Spread over 12 years, that's good enough to set an all-time cookie sale record for the Gulfcoast Council.