Our co-founder Justine never imagined a life in chocolate, but a trek into the Venezuelan jungle during a college internship introduced her to the challenges of rural cacao farmers and changed her life forever.
She saw an opportunity to support the economic development of a marginalized area and soon began cold-calling buyers and going door-todoor to give these farmers’ cacao samples to any chocolatier that would listen — all while finishing her studies in Paris.
This plucky college side hustle blossomed into a life-long calling, so Justine took a job at Armajaro in 2010 to learn everything she could about the global business of cacao.
Our co-founder Kate joined the Peace Corps to save the world and was placed within a cacao cooperative in the Dominican Republic.
She quickly fell in love with the process, the food, and the people and found her calling in being a voice for farmers and facilitating the sales and shipping of their beans to buyers around the world by air freight, sea freight, and even via sailboat.
This led Kate to take a role at ECOM and build out their cacao operations in Ecuador, leading a team that partnered with local growers to help elevate economic conditions and install responsible practices throughout the supply chain.
When ECOM bought Armajaro’s commodities trading division in 2013, Kate and Justine crossed paths. Fast friends, it wasn’t long before Justine let Kate in on her dream to start a specialty cacao trading company that improved the supply chain between underserved farmers and fine chocolate makers worldwide.
And in 2017, thanks to Justine’s vision, Kate’s business experience, and the backing of a global cacao merchant…
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