jael

jael, co-owner of french broad chocolates, sat down with us earlier this year. she spoke to us about her professional goals, personal challenges, and family life -- all of which seem to be entwined and awash with chocolate. we left the interview in total admiration of her refreshing honesty and of her drive. check out the audio for the full beauty in her own voice. 

sadly in a technology mishap the universe took all of the photos from jael's interview from us, except the one above of her and her sweet dog bella. stay tuned for more pictures to come in the future! 

--

what is your story and your relation to asheville?  

my story is chocolate. it begins and continues with chocolate, taking me from minnesota where i grew up, to costa rica where dan and i moved and opened a restaurant called bread and chocolate. we got to live amongst cacao there. i don't think it was exaggerating to say that was life changing. lots of real life happened there...running a bakery in the tropics, all the crazy plants and crazy tropical diseases, and i was pregnant and had a kid there. after two years we decided we were going to leave paradise. we were looking for our next home and that is where asheville came in. at this point we had a toddler, and we were looking for a good food scene, a place to raise our kids, a place that supported small businesses, a place where we could play outside...so despite being all the way in costa rica and despite being from minnesota having never heard of asheville or even considered living in the south - enough people said to us, "you guys would love asheville!" seriously, 8 times people suggested it. it kept coming up. i think now that sounds pretty normal, everyone is talking about asheville, but this was 12 years ago. 

we just felt like we had gotten to where we were by listening to those little clues, so it felt important. we came here, connected through friends and stayed here for five days in candler. we went to the farmers market, to coffee shops, to bakeries and restaurants and saw dad's with kids riding on their shoulders...you know good vibes. and we said, "yeah...home." so we moved here after a five day trip. bought a house immediately, started a business immediately. 

we started out as a farmers market business. we were certified in our home kitchen, set up a chocolate studio, had it certified by the department of agriculture and certified organic, and we began creating our recipes...there were so many positive things about that stage of our business. that said, it was not financially viable and it was a scary time to move here. i was pregnant again, dan was diagnosed with diabetes, we didn't have insurance or a lot of money coming in...it was a tenuous and scary time. and we almost quit....we actually quit. said, "ok this isn't working, we have to get jobs." a friend came to stay with us and we were telling him it just wasn't working out, we needed more stability. and he said, "you. can't. quit. the world needs your chocolate!" so we doubled down, went to mountain biz works, and wrote a business plan for the french broad chocolate lounge. and that of course became more than we ever expected. i mean, this whole thing has become more than we ever expected! but that was when we kind of got the sense of what we were building. and the potential. we could have gone in a million different directions, and the direction we went was honing in on our food philosophy and sourcing - connecting with the source, connecting people with the source - and it felt so right. and then we had the realization that we didn't really have that with our chocolate. that didn't feel great, so that was when we decided to start making chocolate from the cacao bean that we source from origin, and take that next deep dive into our cacao journey.  

how would you describe your family?

my family is awesome. it's dan and i and we have pretty much been on this chocolate journey together and been partners in everything. we decided to move to costa rica together after several months of dating, and we had known each other for a year when we found out i was pregnant which was right before we jumped on a school bus turned rv and drove to costa rica and started a business together. and then moving back here with our toddler doing it all over again pregnant with our second kid. 

we have all grown up together through this business so it's so intertwined in our family. i don't see a distinction. people talk about work life balance, but for me it's just all mixed together and intertwined and woven throughout. we talk about business at breakfast and our kids will ask questions and sometimes we realize that they are listening to things that they shouldn't listen to...but they are super invested and super proud to be a part of it. at this point in their lives they think they are going to go into the family business (they are 11 and 13). it's been cool, and it keeps getting cooler. a lot of parents say when you have a little one like aww this time is going so fast! but our experience is that it just keeps getting cooler. watching a person develop into who they are and learn to read and do algebra and join sports teams and succeed and fail - it's all so beautiful. they are awesome. 

what was one of your favorite experiences? 

the one that first popped into my head - and it's chocolate related sorry! they are all chocolate related. 

it was back in minneapolis. dan and i were dating, like early dating, and i was just starting to get into chocolate and starting to explore and play with recipes. i was in my kitchen and dan was with me and i was hand rolling chocolate so it is a very meditative activity, very rhythmic. i was super happy but i had this moment where i felt this tingling sensation in my hands and i looked down at my hands and they were covered in chocolate. and i said, "chocolate is the thing that will make me happy." i had been lost at that point, in my 20s - what am i going to be when i grow up kindof typical soul searching - and that felt like such an anchor and felt so important. it was very sparkly. at that time, i was a little more practical in my pursuits so that was a new experience. and dan helped hold me accountable to that, whereas i could have just gone back to work the next day and forgot that it happened, but it ended up being a very defining moment for my life and our life. 

what is a scent that triggers a strong memory for you?

i definitely am triggered by scent. it is a big part of our work - aroma and experiencing different cacao origins through aroma - so this is kind of weird but when i am doing chocolate tastings a lot of the aromas that come up for me are kids cereals. even wine tasting too -- fruity pebbles. lucky charms. it's so rooted in childhood. i didn't get to eat those cereals a lot and when i did i felt so lucky. it just got deep in there. 

what is one surprising thing that you carry with you? (in your wallet, your car…)

a tiny dog that fits in my purse. what happened in my life to make this happen? but she is a part of our family, and she fits everywhere...for some reason i became obsessed with long haired chihuahuas.

what is your drink of choice?  

not super fashionable to say but i really love ipa. i love bitter, and especially now that beer is becoming more standard in a can, there is nothing better than coming home from work and hearing that sound. it's a transitional point in my day to have a beer at the end of the day. 

when you’re working do you prefer quiet or noise?

quiet. i like noise, but when i work i prefer solo focus. 

what is your most used iphone app?

i have the family of mac devices, and it isn't on an iphone but i just got an ipad with the apple pen. i am an obsessive note taker, it's how the thoughts from the conversation travel through the pen to my brain. i have piles and piles of notebooks and if i need to refer back to something i have to dig through and page through to find the things i captured. but it picks up perfectly, there's different strokes and different colors. i can doodle and erase them. i can organize the notes by person or department and have a better record of my notes while still having the sensory experience of pen to paper. 

if you could spend  24 hours in the life of someone else who would it be?

i think right now i would say jeni from jeni's ice cream. she is several years ahead of me in business, and has created a role for herself in her company as chief creative officer. i was listening to her speak and i had a million questions - what does it look like? who reports to you? what do you do everyday? - but definitely 24 hours would answer a lot of questions. 

what is the best part of your day?

i really like waking up. when i wake up, my head is full of ideas. it's almost like i have been working through the night in my sleep. sometimes they are so fleeting and if you don't capture them right away they disappear for awhile. waking up naturally - to the sounds of my kids waking up or to the sun - i wake up ready to rock and roll. 

what is one thing that without fail can ruin your day?

i am sure there is a lot, i am pretty sensitive. when somebody else is upset - which happens, at this point we have 80 employees - so inevitably when somebody is not happy about something at work i am working on how personally i can take that, and to try and channel it towards more productive solutions. that can bum me out in a sustained way. 

what is one thing that can turn around your day?

the opposite of that is when someone is really pumped and excited about their work, proud of what they are doing and contributing in a meaningful way. 

i am on a path to being an awesome leader. at first my passion and drive was was making chocolate, now i want to have a business that i am really proud of with values that i stand behind that represents me as a person, and creates an environment where people can thrive and grow into their potential. and then show other people that it's possible - that business doesn't have to be ugly and dirty and greedy and gross. that's lofty, and i am also introverted and shy so that puts me way outside of my comfort zone but i want to be a role model. 

dan and i became merged -- "what did danjael think?" and we are trying to separate. i am trying to very intentionally establish my own ground as a person and an individual and a business person. there are some natural separations, he is way more gifted in the production aspect, the equipment, sourcing and creative innovation. i also like to be creative but my energy is channeled towards the branding and design and space design. heading a growing business together there is more work to be done to separate us and to determine what our roles are. we are still figuring that out. it's hard! we both love everything and want to do everything, and to separate i have to let go of things. i trust you, i will be ok without that. but he will also have to let go of some things that i will take on and take charge of. we understand it can be really confusing to our employees if they have two bosses and they don't know who to go to for answers, especially if we don't have the same answers for everything. of course we are people we are individuals we don't always agree on everything. 

sometimes it feels like we are making ground and i feel really successful, and sometimes i feel like a total imposter or like a tiny baby child. 

who is your living hero?

there is a woman in berkeley, california named alice medrich. she came up in the food scene in berkeley in the 70s when when alice waters was credited with the local foods movement. alice medrich was going through a similar journey in chocolate and dessert and after a trip to france came back and wanted to bring that fine food aspect to dessert. she would use high quality sipping liquors in her truffles or tortes and create simple recipes that featured the flavors of the chocolate. when i first started playing with chocolate it was through a book of hers called bittersweet. this chocolate called scharffen berger, named after some guy that had an experience of a rustic chocolate made in costa rica and was blown away by this chocolate he had never had before. he sourced all this antique chocolate equipment, created a new chocolate company and forged a path that a lot of us bean to bar chocolate makers are on right now. figuring out how to make chocolate from the source, following in the footsteps of craft beer and specialty coffee and making this thing. so alice medrich i credit with a lot of the impetus for the cacao inspiration and love of chocolate. 

what trait do you dislike in yourself?

i can be really mean to myself and really hard on myself. i have been trying to catch myself doing that and apologize to myself and also forgive myself. so there's a lot going on between myself and myself, but i'll just catch myself super casually saying "i hate you, you're an idiot!" having super high standards and wanting to have a positive impact in the world can set you up for disappointment in yourself and i don't think that's productive and i don't think thats healthy and it's something i am trying to move through. 

what trait do you dislike in others?

a couple things come to mind. haste. when people are hasty. i like to be thoughtful, and i can be thoughtful to a fault where it makes me indecisive, which is something else i am working on, but i don't ever want to get to the point where i am hasty. 

empathy is really important to me, i want to move through life and work as a human and recognizing that other people are humans too. so having grace and forgiveness and benefit of the doubt. i don't have very much patience for people that walk through life very quick to judgement. 

what phrases do you overuse?

probably. i was just imagining myself saying, "we're working on that." which demonstrates the need for follow through. see how hard i am on myself? i am motivated and driven so i start a lot of things, more things than i finish. so "i'm working on that." 

what are you learning or working on right now?

everything! i am super motivated right now to create a business that is sustainable - and i mean sustainable in the way of environmental, but also financial - that supports people and is structured enough to allow people to set and achieve goals. entrepreneurs can sometimes be really idea focused and looking towards the next thing, and so that is something that i am really interested in creating and that is a lot of learning and also implementing and excecuting. that is kindof the phase i am entering in with my learning. 

i am actually in an mba program right now. i've learned a lot, and i am finishing up in may. so then after that i think it's going to be execution and implementation and synthesis -- i've got everything i need floating on a plate somewhere in the universe and now it's time to...make supper. 

what is asheville to you? how would you describe it?

the quickest answer is what brought us here which was in a nutshell food and babies. to me, it's about family and community and how food has created that for us, and for so many people. so many people come to asheville to eat and drink and that is creating adventure and education and excitement and fun and building so much beautiful community around that with travelers and fellow business owners and other producers. 

family, community, food, and babies. 

the direction of asheville is….?

almost the same. we say sometimes in our business as goes asheville so go we. is asheville is busy then we are busy, if asheville is growing then we are growing. asheville is a super creative place it has a really strong creative energy, and now asheville is working on growing up and focusing and saying, THIS is who we want to be. how can we get there? and making plans to create their vision and take steps towards realizing it. 

what is your go-to haunt in town? where are you a regular?

all souls pizza. it's a good place for our family. 

i just went for the first time to little jumbo. it's amazing...you walk in and there is such a sense of place, and i appreciated every detail. almost to the extent, and this isn't a rational emotional sequence, but it pissed me off how much i liked it. i was like, "god dammit he nailed it!" but also i am so happy that this exists, and it's him it's not me - i wouldn't create this place. i appreciate so much that someone was able to create such a personality and a reflection of themselves in a space. i've only been there once but it really struck me. 

do you have a your power outfit or a power item?

i don't know if i can confess to my power outfit because then everyone will know when i wear it...so rest in peace the jcrew factory outlet. but i got these navy blue cropped dress pants with suspenders. they are sortof my good luck pants. i wore them on the magazine cover last month of wnc woman magazine - you can see a little peek of the suspenders. 

what would you say is undeniably you?

chocolate. 

i am introverted, but sometimes that can be weird because i just go right for the deep connection rather than mess around with small talk. i hate networking small talk. you might say, "how are you?" and i might actually tell you. 

in a book about your life thus far what would three of the chapters be?

it would be place oriented...rooting and then liberation & adventure and then settling & coming home. there definitely is going to be a book. mark my words! 

do you have a motto? or words that you live by?

i got this book, it's called a guide to the project management body of knowledge. it's a heavy book. i'm on approximately page two. in my pursuit to learn more and be a better project manager. in the first paragraph they define a project and they say, "a project has a beginning and an end. it is temporary in nature." so i have been saying that to myself a lot, just to remind myself that this is what is going on now, but it's not what is going on forever. there will be, of course, new challenges and new projects in the future, but it helps me get through all of the stuff we are into now. 

what traits do you rate highest in others?  

empathy. clear honest communication. not that those describe who i am, but i recognize and admire those traits in others. 

what is your favorite curse word?

oh...no doubt about it just go straight to the last page of the book: fuck. it is the best answer to almost every question...it is so descriptive and powerful and evokes emotion in the person who says it, in the person who receives it. i am a big curse person. i am a big curse person, i swear a lot. 

i like them all, they are all my babies, but there is a special place in my heart for fuck. 

who was / is your greatest mentor?

i am very lucky to have a lot of mentors, especially right now as we grow. currently, i have our fractional cfo in atlanta who i fondly call our business dad. his name is jerry. i have this amazing team of mentors through a program asheville has called elevate. it is an entrepreneurial venture organization, and in particular this woman liza always sets us on the right path. in the past i definitely credit mark rosenstein, he stared the marketplace restaurant awhile ago, with helping us do business soul searching figuring out who we want to be and how we want to be in the community.  

if there was a new two dollar bill, whose face should be on it?

let's put bella on the two dollar bill. she's super cute. bella is a good role model - she is not afraid to ask for what she wants, she knows her worth, she is persistent, and she has a lot of peaceful moments. she's got life pretty figured out & dialed in. 

how are you contributing?

i think that it's easier for me to answer how i want to contribute. i want to use business as a force for good, i want to demonstrate to others that business can be a force for good. i want to contribute as an exemplary employer in asheville, and community member. i want to contribute creativity and integrity. 

i'm a work in progress. 

what is the one thing that always makes you cringe? 

i'm big on emotional intelligence. so if somebody is saying something, and the words are coming out and i see the feelings and emotions coming out of their mouth and entering into someone else's head and watching the impact of that, and having the person giving the message not really understanding that...that makes me cringe like crazy. i just feel all of the feelings in the room, and i can't control it even though i sometimes try with my face, it doesn't work it only exacerbates the situation. 

when you’re pushed to your limit, how do you cope?

i think that, for better or for worse, i keep pushing. i might come to a breaking point and then disappear for awhile. in a bathtub or something. 

what is on your bedside table?

a lamp. dr bronners peppermint lipbalm, a stack of books. that's it. 

what do you find is the most beautiful part of your job? where do you find the magic?

everywhere. chocolate is an amazing substance that evokes emotion, and we have a team of creative and amazing people who add their own emotion and energy to that, so to witness the magic of people living their passion and creating things, and then watching other people experiencing them. there is nothing like watching somebody close their eyes and sip the liquid truffle for the first time. that is pretty amazing. 

what are you consuming right now? what is feeding you?

i really like hip hop. and the intersection of hip hop and electronic music. i came of age in the 80s and 90s so i definitely have my old school playlists. like warren g...and modern artists like kendrick lamar. there's also this band called sofi tukker that i think came out of new york.

what mundane activity makes you uneasy?

walking into a room by myself. generally five minutes in everything is fine. but that initial get out of the car jail. even in really mundane situations...it takes a little oomph, a little effort. 

what mundane activity do you love?

i like sitting down at the breakfast table with tea and toast. how is that for mundane? it is one of my favorite parts of the day. 

bath or shower?

shower everyday, bath is a treat & a luxury. it's the only place i am alone in the world at this point. when i close the door and i am in the tub, that's MY TIME. 

what do you need around you? what brings you happiness?

i would say connection to people.

what is your ideal birthday look like?

my birthday is on sunday! dan will cook, he's definitely the chef around our house, and we will have a group of our closest friends and all of their kids all piled into this house. and we will have food together. 

what are you proud of?

i think that it can be easy to get caught up in all of the stuff that you do everyday, and to feel frustrated by lack of progress or all of the things that are on the todo list. but in those rare moments, usually it takes somebody else pulling me up and out and saying, "look at what you created. look around you, this is amazing." those moments through other people's eyes make me feel proud of what we have created here in asheville. 

french broad chocolates is bigger than me, by far. and it has made an impact here. 

what do you dream about? 

i don't remember a lot of my dreams, and so the most i associate with dreaming is waking up full of thoughts about work. 

i daydream about travel a lot. i want to go everywhere. and we do have a decent bit of travel for cacao sourcing, so in that we are fortunate that that fits into our business life for sure. but i want to go everywhere. 

what are you scared of?

i am scared of failure. it's gotten really big, and bigger than me. which means that i hold in my many plates the livelihood of a lot of people. and i don't want to let anyone down, so that's a big fear. the biggest. 

do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

um, i alternate between two, i'm going to say fantasies but that is a creepy way to put it. i kindof have always thought it would be car accident. really fast out of body and then it's over. and i also have imagined myself 110 dying in my sleep. so somewhere between that instant tragic death and super natural peaceful death. 

what do you want to accomplish before that happens?

everything, all the time. 

there is so much i want to accomplish. and i don't even know. at this conference i went to this woman that had a company called ban.do - she is also the chief creative officer of her company - and we were talking about vision. she said, "i can see what's next. i can very clearly see what's next, but i can't see what's way out there." i really identified with that, and it made me feel less bad about the fact that it is really hard for me to know all of what i want to accomplish and have this big 10 or 20 year vision. 

i know i want to accomplish a lot, both with business and to feel fulfilled that i didn't fuck up my family life in the process. i want to be a good, present mom, as well as a successful business person.