Join the Harvard Club of Chicago & Harvard GlobalWE for a Conversation with Chocolate Industry Leader Valerie Beck (AB 90, JD 96)
Join HCC and Harvard Global Alumni for Global Women’s Empowerment (Harvard GlobalWE) for a Virtual Chocolate Tasting and Conversation with chocolate industry expert and Harvard graduate, Valerie Beck (AB 90, JD 96). While the conversation will be informative and exciting with or without your own chocolates, If you wish to enjoy chocolates during the event (or anytime), please see the information below on how to order online for U.S. shipments, receive deliveries internationally, or pick up chocolates in Chicago.
If you wish to partake in the "tasting" component, please purchase the "Woman-Owned" Set at the Chocolate Uplift Etsy Shop. Further details on shipping and pickup options below. To receive your chocolates in time for the event, please order at least 7 business days in advance for US shipping.
The Joy of Chocolate - From "Bean" to Bar
Join chocolate expert Valerie Beck (BA '90, JD '96), founder of the original chocolate tours and of Chocolate Uplift distribution and consulting, as she takes us on a virtual trip from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, focusing on the rise of "craft" or "bean-to-bar" chocolate, and spotlighting woman chocolate makers. We'll look at how cacao is harvested, fermented, dried, roasted, ground, and more, on its journey to becoming chocolate. We'll discuss how to choose chocolate consciously, how to enjoy fine chocolate, and why chocolate was always a beverage, never a bar, for the Aztec, Maya, and Olmec people, as we look ahead to the future of one of the most beloved foods in the world.
Questions Valerie will answer include: What do you look for when choosing chocolate, such as price, ethics, cacao country of origin, cacao percentage, attractiveness of wrapper, something else? What do you think are ways to ensure that chocolate and other foods and industries contain no human rights abuses or environmentally harmful practices? And, much of taste is memory. What is your first memory of chocolate?
Feel free to have your favorite chocolate with you to enjoy during this fun and fascinating talk. We suggest ordering the Woman-Owned set, by some of Valerie's chocolate maker clients, at chocolateuplift.etsy.com which will also be a focus of the talk.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022, 5:30 pm central, via Zoom
Valerie Beck, AB’90, JD’96
Founder and CEO, Chocolate Uplift
Chocolate expert Valerie Beck is a pioneering entrepreneur in chocolate and hospitality. Valerie created the original Chicago Chocolate Tours, which she expanded to 4 cities across the US, grew to 50 employees, and ran for 10 years, educating and entertaining tens of thousands of people about the history, health benefits, production, and selection of first-class chocolate. Valerie’s business Chocolate Uplift currently brokers and distributes bean-to-bar chocolate made by craft artisan chocolate makers, and provides consulting services to cacao growers and chocolate makers, always with a focus on ethical chocolate and sustainability. In fact, her 5 Ss of first-class craft chocolate are: slavery-free, soy-free and industrial additive-free, sustainable, small-batch, and scrumptious!
A Chicago native, Valerie graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. After practicing law in Europe and the US, she founded the chocolate tours and Chocolate Uplift, and is also a popular speaker, writer, chocolate show judge, and media personality.
She started the Chocolate Freedom Project to end child slave labor on the cacao farms that produce cocoa beans for big chocolate brands, and supports formerly trafficked kids at a West African rescue center. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at Kendall College and UCLA Extension, spreading chocolate knowledge to new generations, and continues to work with students through her virtual tutoring business Valerie’s Infinity Tutoring.
Valerie’s mission is Uplift Through Chocolate, because chocolate can improve our mood and the world!
Click here for more information about Valerie and Chocolate Uplift.
Recommended reading for those interested in learning more!
The True History of Chocolate, by Sophie D. Coe, Michael D. Coe
Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa, by Órla Ryan
Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, by Simran Sethi
Chocolat, by Joanne Harris
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann
Blog post on Tanzania cacao and my 5 Ss of first-class craft chocolate, by Valerie Beck
Chocolate Shopping
If you wish to enjoy chocolates during Valerie’s talk (or anytime), please order online through the Chocolate Uplift shop:
To receive your chocolates in time for the event, please order at least 7 business days in advance for US shipping.
For non-U.S. ordering or for pickup in downtown Chicago, please Email Valerie. The pickup comes with free Golden Age cookies!
EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Time: 5:30-7:00pm Central
Cost:
HCC Members, Harvard GlobalWe members, and Harvard Alumni - Complimentary
General Public - $10
Zoom: Meeting info will be in your registration confirmation email.
Click here to Register for this event