Meet the 6-year-old Pittsburgh girl who has sold 81,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies

Since early January, people in every community have been finding ways to order their favorite flavors of Girl Scout cookies. 

One girl in Pittsburgh has been inspired to be a scout since long before she was old enough to join, and now she's breaking records by selling tens of thousands of boxes between door-to-door sales, a viral social media campaign and a determination to reach her goals.

Pim Neill, a 6-year-old girl from Pittsburgh, shattered the Pennsylvania state record by selling more than 81,000 boxes of cookies, the most ever sold in a single season.

"Pim wanted to join the Girl Scouts because when she was 3, she saw the girls selling cookies," said Luke Anorak-Neill, the 6-year-old's dad. "This whole thing started by her observing girls performing what most people think is the only thing Girl Scouts do, and that's sell Girl Scout cookies."

Once she reached kindergarten, her parents started their search to join a local Girl Scout troop, but they ran into a couple of obstacles along the way.

"Our first troop, unfortunately, when we tried to join and ask questions about joining, the lady said that Pim's disabilities would hold back the troop, and they didn't want her to join," Anorak-Neill said. "And that was really disappointing, but I decided she must not speak for all Girl Scouts as a whole."

They tried another local troop for Neill to join, only to be turned away again: this time for being too young.

"The father was there with his teenage daughter, and he said that they didn't want little girls in the troop because basically, they never show up and put in the work, and they leave the older girls to do all the work," Anorak-Neill said.

But then, finally, the young girl found the perfect solution: a new kindergarten-only troop in the Pittsburgh area.

"We live in the city of Pittsburgh, and we have to travel to the Baldwin-Whitehall area, which we're completely fine with," said Anorak-Neill. "The troop is a great fit for Pim, and it's 11 brilliant, fun kindergartners."

And when early January came around, the moment the girl and her family were waiting for finally came. So, she started her first cookie season and hit the ground running.

"We kicked off on, I think it was a Tuesday, Jan. 6," Anorak-Neill said. "And then by that first Friday, we had 819 [boxes sold] already."

As for her favorite flavor, the 6-year-old prefers Thin Mints, but also said she's grown to like Samoas also. 

There was also an initial goal for Neill and her family to aim for. One of the available prizes for selling a certain number of cookies was a trip to Niagara Falls, a location that is special to the girl's parents. It was one of the first places they visited when they started dating, and they wanted Neill to visit the place that is so special to them.

"Our service unit manager said to us, 'I really hope Pim isn't too invested in the Niagara Falls trip because 819 boxes is probably about her cap,'" said Anorak-Neill. 

Neill's family turned to another method of marketing: social media. Each scout gets her own website for buyers to visit and place their orders, and Anorak-Neill decided to shoot videos of Pim and post them on TikTok with a link to her page.

Each video started with the same opening line: "Hi, my name is Pim. Do you want to buy some Girl Scout cookies?"

Already having 1,200 followers on TikTok from posting videos of Neill, they decided to post videos regularly — and soon, they went viral.

"People on TikTok rallied," Anorak-Neill said. "They loved her. They adored her. They supported her, and it has been so incredible."

A week ago, Neill passed the 5,000-box threshold, and Anorak-Neill asked the girl about setting a new goal for how many boxes she wanted to sell. 

"She wanted 10,000," Anorak-Neill said. "She was not going to budge, and I said OK. I'm going to let her do it because I felt like everybody needed to know where we were."

Within 24 hours of posting that video, Neill sold more than 20,000 boxes of cookies, bringing a few state and national records closer into view.

"We're onward to the 100,000, and the 100,000 is important because when I asked Pim what her goal is, she said to sell the most cookies," Luke said. "Sell more cookies than anyone."

And with her determination and newly acquired online following, the sky is the limit.

"We are over the moon about her progress, who we are able to support," said Luke.

"Over the moon?" Neill asked.

"Yes, we are over the moon," Anorak-Neill said. "It means we are very happy."

Anorak-Neill said this experience is teaching Pim the value of hard work, how to set goals and how to be an entrepreneur.

"We've had so much support from Girl Scouts navigating it," Anorak-Neill said. "We've had a lot of support, and we're just excited that we're inspiring so many more girls."