Online Chocolate Tasting and Career Talk for Saper Law Immersion Students

Posted on by valeriebeck

What a blast to hold a special event for innovative Chicago attorney and dear friend Daliah Saper’s exciting Saper Law Immersion Program https://www.saperimmersion.com/, during which a bright and motivated cohort of high school and college students hear from lawyers in different specialties and work environments — including lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs like me!

Note: I’m offsite on a small organic berry farm in Minnesota – scroll down for photos – and can’t seem to hyperlink text from the app on my phone; please forgive that the URLs in this post are spelled out, which I hope you won’t find too distracting.

We sampled three exquisite craft chocolate bars as I shared legal experiences from three eras:

* before practicing law (while in college and law school), paired with Sirene Chocolate https://sirenechocolate.com/ of Canada Dark Milk 65% on Guatemala cacao,

*while practicing law (at big firms and in-house), paired with OBOLO Chocolate https://obolochocolate.cl/ of Chile 70% dark chocolate with sea salt on Pangoa Peru cacao, and

*after leaving the practice of law (to start Chicago Chocolate Tours https://youtu.be/bZ1WiDl9OnQ, which I expanded to 4 cities and 50 employees, and and then Chocolate Uplift http://chocolateuplift.com and professorvaleriebeck.com http://professorvaleriebeck.com), paired with OBOLO Dulce de Tres Leches white chocolate.

We also discussed how to identify ethical chocolate, like the chocolate I chose for us, which is free of child slave labor or deforestation. Tips: in general, a) look at the label to make sure a cacao country of origin is listed, as this tends to demonstrate transparency, and b) look for small brands, as big brands are complicit in abuses.

Bonus: see new documentary The Chocolate War, in which my friend human rights lawyer Terry Collingsworth takes on Big Choc! Trailer: https://youtu.be/tzlG1WoKfao

Thank you to dear Brook of Yahara Chocolate https://yaharachocolate.com/ in Wisconsin for sending my chocolate selections to Saper Law Firm in Chicago and to me 500 miles north of the city while I’m volunteering on a solar-powered organic farm near Lake Superior.

[Update: a German nuclear scientist friend and former UCLA Extension student of mine think we have discovered why I got what I call electrical poisoning on the farm – I experienced headaches, muscle cramps, nausea, hair loss, eyebrow loss, loss of appetite, more. The solar panel inverters, which convert DC electricity to AC, were all housed in one space, concentrating the electricity. The dangers of such concentration are known, which is why electrical power plants have substations, to spread out the energy. My cabin was near the utility room, and the electrical buzz was audible and palpable. I’ve learned lots; a topic for another day. For now, I am happy to report that immediately after leaving the location, I felt better, and my hair and eyebrows are growing back!]

Thank you to dear Taylor of Sirene and dear Mark of OBOLO for crafting delicious and ethical chocolate.

And thank you again to Daliah for including me even though I couldn’t be there in person this time, and to the very impressive students for participating!

By the way, here are the videos and blog post I designated as backup just in case internet went out at my beautiful and remote Northwoods location:

****

1. Sizzle reel as introduction (around 3 minutes long)
https://youtu.be/bZ1WiDl9OnQ

2. I open a cacao pod (around 1 minute long) https://youtu.be/QHmNQeG-YJs

3. Craft chocolate tasting with 2 Kendall College students (4 minutes 30 seconds long) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Nq1kcUgG8


And if you really want something grim, scroll down in this entry in my legal memoirs blog *Diary of My Disastrous Law Career* for the section on how, among other tragedies and absurdities during my time at Winston, I was so overworked that I fell asleep on a date: https://diaryofmydisastrouslawcareer.blogspot.com/2019/06/misogyny-misery-screamers-strippers-all.html?m=1

****

The internet connection worked fine, and we watched the first video anyway for fun : )

Keep eating real chocolate!

Your friend in chocolate,

Valerie

Valerie Beck

Chocolate Uplift Founder 

Professor Valerie Beck Tutoring and Coaching

LinkedIn | Instagram

valerie.beck@post.harvard.edu

Cacao Harvest with OBOLO Chocolate

Posted on by valeriebeck
In the rainforest: OBOLO Chocolate visits a Pangoa, Peru, cacao harvest

Hello!

Isn’t it nice to find authenticity? Authentic chocolate, made from authentic cacao, traded authentically, nourishing people and planet.

OBOLO Chocolate founder Mark Gerrits is originally from Milwaukee and is a long-time resident of South America, where he has focused on environmentalism and most recently cacao and chocolate. He and his family live in Santiago, Chile, and he visited the Pangoa cacao collective in Peru this summer, which is where he buys the cacao from which he and his team make their award-winning chocolate in Chile. Exciting news: Mark is now the godfather of a new baby born to Pangoa growers!

As a US importer and distributor of awesome OBOLO Chocolate, I video chatted with dear Mark today, and told him how much I enjoyed the photos and videos he posted from his recent trip. He told me he is the first visitor to the Pangoa collective since the current global situation began, and that he believes not only in maintaining and strengthening relationships but also in showing the world that he means what he says: his partnership with Pangoa is authentic; his cacao is truly traceable, and ethical, as it is grown with no child labor and it is organic.

As you may know, all of the brands I work with meet my 5 Ss of first-class bean-to-bar chocolate:

  • slavery-free
  • soy-free
  • sustainable
  • small-batch
  • scrumptious!

Mark gave me permission to re-post his Pangoa photos, and you can see more on OBOLO’s Instagram.

You can purchase selections of OBOLO bars at

Tell them Valerie sent you!

OBOLO Chocolate on the shelves at Cocoa & Co. in Chicago

You can also see more about OBOLO in my posts here (including video) and here. And, at the bottom of this post I’m sharing OBOLO-focused photos I took at the Craft Chocolate Experience in San Francisco in March 2020, where I got to spend time with Mark — and so many other chocolate makers and chocolate lovers, plus photos from my own little distribution center and staging area here in sweet home Chicago!

Enjoy this photo-journey to a cacao harvest in Peru, where you’ll see the opening of a cacao pod, and fermenting, drying, and sorting the cacao, and Pangoa families!

Your friend in chocolate,

Valerie

With Mark and team member Brayan at the Craft Chocolate Experience, San Francisco, March 2020

Valerie Beck

Founder, Chocolate Uplift — Craft Chocolate Services

Wholesale, Retail, Consulting, Speaking

valerie@chocolateuplift.com

Instagram: @chocolateuplift

OBOLO tote bags possibly coming soon to the online retail boutique! I get so many compliments on mine! : )

Rad Dads: Men Who Craft Chocolate and Equality [video, shopping links]

Posted on by valeriebeck

Hello!

Click for my chat with “rad dad” bean-to-bar chocolate makers Matt Weyandt of Xocolatl Chocolate of Atlanta, and Mark Gerrits of Obolo Chocolate of Santiago, Chile, about craft chocolate and crafting equality [video on YouTube, recorded from our Instagram Live broadcast] and scroll down to the end of this post to shop.

Happy June!

This is the month of the Solstice, and of liberation celebrations such as Loving Day and Juneteenth, which all represent types of awakenings. June is also the month of Father’s Day, which could represent an awakening to equality and to what leadership could look like reimagined for an enlightened society.

For example, if we believe that Black Lives Matter, don’t we also agree that Black African lives matter, that it is monstrous that 2.1 million Black African children work as cacao farmers in hazardous conditions in Cote d’Ivoire so that big chocolate brands can take the local cacao and sell cheap global chocolate, and that these big brands and their sales and distribution channels must immediately stop using child slave labor? This is the #ChocolateFreedomProject I talk about: bringing awareness and an end to child slave labor on West African cacao farms that supply cocoa beans for 70% of the world’s chocolate.

Similarly, if we believe that white people should not have power or privilege over black or brown people (I would change words like white and black, by the way, to more accurate terms, less fraught with metaphor; any suggestions?), don’t we also believe that masculine should not have power or privilege over feminine, and, going further, government officials and corporate oligarchs should not have power or privilege over people; going all the way: no one should have power or privilege over anyone.

Implementing true respect for all in the human family necessitates a reimagining of not just individual relationships, but also of economic and government structures and of the patriarchal colonial capitalist oligarchy in which our world operates. Why not a new Golden Age of empathy and equality, where we care for people and planet, and believe in equal participation?

Maybe I should have warned you that when I put Equality in the title of this blog post, I meant it, all the way!

To explore our theme of equality, I invited two dear craft chocolate maker friends and clients of mine — Mark Gerrits of ÓBOLO Chocolate, and Matt Weyandt of Xocolatl Chocolate — to chat with me on Instagram Live as part of the Stay Home With Chocolate festival, Father’s Day edition. Thank you to these gentlemen-supermen for sharing their time and thoughts! Click for a low-tech video-of-a-video version of our IG Live, on my YouTube channel! [video on YouTube, recorded from our Instagram Live broadcast]

Craft chocolate gives us a delicious view into an equitable way of life, because it involves a supply chain and products that meet my 5 Ss of ethical chocolate:

  • slavery-free
  • soy-free and industrial additive-free
  • sustainable
  • small-batch and
  • scrumptious!
Set-up on my kitchen counter for our Instagram Live chat.

Click for a low-tech video-of-a-video version of our IG Live, and click below to shop:

[video on YouTube, recorded from our Instagram Live broadcast]

Xocolatl Chocolate — use code HEALTHY20 for 20% off

Yahara Chocolate of Wisconsin — online ordering for shipment anywhere, use code chocolateuplift for 10% off ÓBOLO Chocolate, Xocolatl Chocolate, or other brands

Xocolatl and Obolo are also available at these retailers who are open as of the time of writing:

As always, if you are looking for a specific bar or brand or general type of craft chocolate, you can use my free Chocolate Finder service: just send me a message and I’ll help you find what you’re looking for!

As you may know, I typically don’t sell retail; instead my business Chocolate Uplift sells and distributes craft chocolate bars like the ones listed above wholesale to retailers, and I also provide consulting services to chocolate makers and cacao farm owners, and speaking engagements to the public and for meetings and events.

Thank you, and keep eating ethical chocolate!

Onward and upward!

Your friend in chocolate,

Valerie

With Mark of ÓBOLO (left) and Scott of Totto’s Market
With Matt of Xocolatl (right) and team

Valerie Beck

Founder/CEO Chocolate Uplift

Craft Chocolate Activism, Brokering, Consulting, Distribution

www.chocolateuplift.com

chocolateuplift@gmail.com

IG: @chocolateuplift

Two Makers, Two Seasons, Two News Stories

Posted on by valeriebeck

Hello there, and happy equinox!

gothamandoboloattottos

Summer and fall seem to be dancing together today in Chicago, as warm sunshine mingles with crisp air. As we enter a new season filled with new abundance, two dear craft chocolate maker clients are new at Totto’s Market (which is also new), and, they are in the news!

Gotham Chocolates is a sophisticated bean-to-bar brand by acclaimed chef Ron Paprocki of Michelin-starred Gotham Bar and Grill in New York City. Chef Ron converted a corner of his pastry kitchen into a chocolate manufactory to make pure, clean, flavorful craft chocolate for bars, bonbons, and desserts. Click here to read about Chef Ron’s background and vision; what a coincidence that he and I each lived in Germany for some years. When I first met Ron and tasted his chocolates in NYC a few years ago, I was thrilled with the exquisite precision and beauty of his work, and I’m thrilled with the new Artisan line that he has launched since, using a variety of specialty cacaos!

ÓBOLO Chocolate (the name means gift or small contribution in Spanish) is an inventive bean-to-bar brand by Midwesterner Mark Gerrits who moved to Chile for adventure after college and is still there. He founded his chocolate company in 2013, and ÓBOLO has gained B-Corporation status reflecting standards for social and environmental justice. I tasted the chocolate for the first time last year, and loved its lively use of Peru cacao. This year Mark updated his packaging, bar thickness and mould, and added a new Flavors of Chile line of bars, sharing a confident and unique new presentation in the world of craft chocolate. Click here for a story on the brand’s use of biodynamic Chilean inclusions such as herbs that grow in the Atacama desert or berries from Patagonia.

You can find a selection of Gotham Chocolates at these wonderful upscale retailers: Hannah’s Bretzel, Honeycreeper Chocolate, and Totto’s Market. Find ÓBOLO Chocolate at wonderful upscale Cocoa + Co. and Totto’s Market.

Congratulations to these two elegant and artistic craft chocolate brands as autumn begins in the Northern Hemisphere including in New York for Gotham and here in Chicago, and as spring begins in the Southern Hemisphere including in Santiago for ÓBOLO!

Wishing you a delicious season, whichever one is blowing in where you are,

Your friend in chocolate,

Valerie

valeriewindycity

Valerie Beck

Chocolate Broker

Sweet Speaker

Founder of the original chocolate tours

Instagram @chocolateuplift

LinkedIn

http://www.chocolateuplift.com

chocolateuplift@gmail.com