(soft music) - [Alison] This week on "The A List", I sit down with a woman who is honoring her rich family legacy one chocolate at a time.

- And it honestly just took time, what we are now and who we are now, I couldn't have honestly pictured in the beginning.

My chocolates don't look the same, our packaging doesn't look the same, our logo doesn't look the same, our operations doesn't look the same.

But what is is just my persistence.

And so I knew my why, right?

My why is to bring about change in the cocoa industry from the inside out, not as an outsider.

- [Alison] Join me as I talk with founder and CEO of Cocoa Asante, Ella Livingston.

Coming up next on "The A List".

(upbeat music) In 2018, first time entrepreneur Ella Livingston founded Cocoa Asante, a luxury chocolate brand with a home base right here in Chattanooga.

But though Cocoa Asante might be a local startup success story, the company's roots, like its founders, are firmly planted across the world in Ghana.

Born from the Asante tribe and with family members operating cacao farms back in her ancestral land, it seems Ella was destined to make her mark on the chocolate industry.

And she is certainly doing just that because cocoa Asante isn't just beautiful bon bons.

It is a deeply personal mission to invest in Ghana's economy and help build a more sustainable, ethical, and equitable cocoa industry for all.

- Well Ella, welcome to "The A List".

- Thanks for having me, I'm so excited to be here.

- Well, I'm so excited to be here at Cocoa Asante.

I almost think you should pinch me because I might have died and gone to chocolate heaven.

- I think you are.

(both laughing) Sometimes I still can't believe that this is what I get to do.

- Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is what you get to do.

This is what you get to do, it's amazing.

- It is, I'm grateful every single morning that I opened my own company, we were able to build a beautiful legacy and we're doing really important work in the cocoa industry.

- Well, before we talk about this beautiful legacy that you have set, not only for your family but for your children, right?

Future children, but your daughter specifically.

I wanna talk about your roots.

You moved here when you were three years old from Ghana.

- Yes.

- Tell me about that.

- Well, so I don't have very many memories about Ghana.

We left when I was three and I actually used to think that I was adopted 'cause we didn't have very many pictures of me when I was a child.

And so I think for me, the connection to Ghana, it was very disconnected because we left when I was so young, we immigrated here to the US and my parents came here for opportunity and for education.

And so they really drilled that into us growing up.

We knew we had to be successful because they gave up so much just to be here.

- And it wasn't actually like that American dream story - No.

- That they thought it was going to be because even though they thought they'd come here and start a new life, they actually ended up starting over.

- Yes and so, I hate to say this, but sometimes people realize that the American dream is more of an American nightmare, unfortunately.

You know, I think sometimes America's painted as the land of milk and honey, but you come over and you realize that America has so many systemic problems.

And so my parents came in having to deal with all of that.

So my dad has a background as a pastor and then my mother was actually an artist and an educator.

So when they came here, my dad actually had to start all over, go right back into school.

He actually did a career change and went into nursing.

My mom kind of had to put her passion for art to the side and she pursued several different paths, education, she pursued nursing, but either way, they both had to go back to school, starting all over, sitting in classrooms with the young college kids.

And here they are, grownups in their thirties and forties.

- So what did you learn from that?

Like what, do you remember thinking as either an adolescent or really a teenager growing up in the United States and seeing your parents struggle and reinvention of what that meant for you and what you wanted to become?

- I think that was, honestly speaking, a very powerful lesson.

So just knowing the sacrifice that my parents made, to me, it was a very important lesson of I've got to make it, I've got to be successful.

I can't let their sacrifice go to waste.

And just also seeing them reinvent themselves, for me, it made me not fear reinventing and starting over and pursuing something new.

The fear of failure.

Of course, everybody has a fear of failure, but that's not gonna stop me from pursuing what I want to pursue because I've seen my parents do it against all odds.

- Well, and people watching this might think, and you always wanted to pursue chocolate, but that's not necessarily - Not at all.

- The case, right?

- Not at all.

- Tell me about your experience at Spelman and how that shaped what your, I would say starting career was when you came to Chattanooga.

- Yes, so I love talking about Spelman because to me, Spelman was this amazing experience where I started the journey of rediscovering who I was.

So coming from Ghana and being an immigrant, there's a battle of assimilation versus trying to hold onto your culture versus trying to become American and I'm too American for Ghana, but I'm too Ghanaian for America.

And so you're constantly in limbo.

And when I went to Spelman and I walked onto Spelman's campus, the first thing that impressed me was how beautiful it was.

The second thing that impressed me was the lady who was giving us our tour.

She was this beautiful woman.

She had this confidence, just the way she walked, the way she spoke, I was just like kind of taken aback.

I was like, who is this woman?

And then come to learn that she had actually graduated from Spelman and she attributed a lot of who she was to Spelman.

And so I thought to myself, "If that's who a Spelman woman is or that's what a Spelman woman is, that's who I wanna be."

And so Spelman allowed me to start discovering who I was, allowed me to take pride and joy in who I am as a Black woman, as a Ghanaian woman, but also as an American woman.

And it really opened up the doors to that journey.

It's also where I got to study abroad in Japan.

And that's where the experience with trying just decadent amazing chocolate really came from was that study abroad experience, so.

- Which is the funniest thing, right?

Because people expect you to say, "I went back to my native village and that's where I tasted the rich chocolate.

No, this was in Japan.

- In Japan of all places.

What I love about Japan is they do everything with excellence.

And so just the whole entire experience from the customer service to the packaging to the actual taste of the chocolate, it literally, and mind you, I'm not a chocoholic by any means, right?

I don't necessarily go out and buy myself chocolate.

I'll eat if it's given to me, but I would never go buy it.

And so for me to decide one random day to try to go into a store and buy chocolate and try it was kind of a surprise.

But that's really what led to Cocoa Asante.

(upbeat music) - [Alison] The beauty, craft, and intentionality that captured Ella's attention in that Japanese chocolate store have now become hallmarks of Cocoa Asante's luxurious products.

But while the dream of building her own chocolate company was sparked by that chance encounter, the path to entrepreneurship is never straightforward.

(bright music) So you taste this beautiful, crafted chocolate, and then you become a teacher.

(both laughing) - When you say it like that, it sounds crazy.

Well, not crazy, but that's real life, right?

It's not like you go from, oh, I think I could do this for a career or two, let's do it.

There are steps along the way.

- [Ella] Absolutely.

- And also teaching was also a passion.

Exactly, so it was a lot easier to see the path to education.

It was a lot more accessible than starting my own chocolate company.

I mean, what did I know about?

I had literally had no experience, I'm not a baker.

I can cook, but I can't bake at all.

So to me, when I was in Japan, I would always say, "Hey when I get back, I'm gonna start my own chocolate factory and I'm going to source cacao from Ghana where I'm from, and then we're gonna put," 'cause Ghana's already on the map for having excellent cacao, but I wanna put Ghana on the map for having excellent, beautiful, luxurious chocolates.

And so that was the idea.

But then like you said, you get back and real life hits.

So at the time I was actually pursuing mathematics and dual engineering.

So I was a dual degree major.

I was supposed to go to engineering.

So my parents were proud because once again, like this is the story of success.

This is what your parents expect.

And then I come home from Japan and I had also had teaching experiences in Japan.

And I came back and I said, "I wanna pursue education."

And so while they were supportive, I could tell that they weren't really, it wasn't ideal.

And so I just rerouted, took my math degree and I was like, okay, well I gotta go into education, but how do I do that?

I didn't go to school for education.

And that's when Chattanooga opened up.

So there was an opportunity to come here to go through a program called Project Inspire.

And so they took people from non-traditional backgrounds, so STEM backgrounds, but weren't like in traditional education backgrounds.

And they brought them to Chattanooga and they trained you.

You got a master's degree, you got in school experience from day one.

And then after that residency year, you got to commit four years to a high need school.

So that's how I ended up in Chattanooga.

That's how I ended up as a teacher.

And that's how I did it for about six years.

- So when did the unrest come into play?

Or was it always there of you in the back of your mind saying, "But there's this chocolate dream."

- Yeah, so I kind of forgot about it.

(laughing) I truly did and it wasn't until I went with my husband to go see my dad 'cause he wanted to meet my dad before he asked for my hand in marriage.

And so when we got there my dad was like, "Didn't you wanna start a chocolate company?"

And that literally brought everything back.

I was like, "Oh yeah, I did."

And so when we got back, I started the steps of, okay, what does it take to start a business?

I started to figure out recipe development.

It was so funny 'cause my first iteration of chocolate, I poured too much cocoa powder and I gave it to my then boyfriend, now husband.

And when he ate it, like he started coughing and choking on the cocoa powder 'cause I just put it in in excess.

But I didn't know what I was doing.

And so that's how the dream that was forgotten came back.

- So when did you go to Ghana and realize that your family actually had the land that would be the source for the cacao, that would be the product that you make today?

- Yes, so my mom always told me growing up that we had cacao farms in our family, but it never really meant much to me because I mean, we're here, I'm so disconnected from that experience.

And so I kind of just didn't really pay it much mind.

It wasn't until we went back in 2016 and we got to really see her side of the family.

We got to visit the farm.

I got to actually go see where cacao was grown.

I got to see the tree, pull a pod down, open it up, like get that full experience and then learn also about the experience of my cousin Jimitang who manages our family farms.

And so just hearing that one-on-one perspective kind of brought it full circle.

- But I wanna go back even further a little bit.

Before even moving here, I wanna talk about Ghana so people understand the tradition and the culture.

From what I understand, which is very little, it's a matriarchal society.

- Yes.

- Which to me is also paradise, right?

- Yes.

- If we could take your chocolate company and Ghana, right?

You've just combined two things that is like a living dream.

- Yes.

- So, and that means that really the women of your family are the only ones with legal entitlement to the land.

- Yes.

- So how does that and I know you come from a giant family, I mean it's a large family.

- Yes.

- Although there are very few women, so how did that translate from 2016 moving forward to you saying, "I want to take advantage," feels predatory, but really take all of the blessings that come with that matriarchal privilege and turn it into something that's gonna benefit not only the land, the people, but your family?

- Absolutely, so Ghana is a beautiful blend of traditional and new.

So from what I understand from my mom, and I'm still learning about all of these traditions and how Ghana operates, but traditionally Ghana is a matriarchal society.

So land ownership is passed down through the women.

And so you have to be a woman born of a woman in order to have claim to your family's land.

And so on my mom's generation, it's her and I believe my auntie, one of my aunts, her name's Auntie Grace, and then Auntie Grace has two daughters and then my mom just has me.

So in my generation there's just three.

And so, although it's a family, like it belongs to our families and my uncles are the ones that are doing all the research to make sure things are allocated properly.

And we're honoring the history of how the land came to us.

Really, the ownership and making important decisions falls down to the women born of a woman.

And so once I realized that that trip to Ghana was really important, because I saw it, I met my mom's side of the family who I hadn't seen, those who were still in Ghana, I hadn't seen since I left.

Some of 'em I had never met.

And so that's when it became more and more real, that sense of responsibility.

And so I wanted to do right by it.

- So how do you go from realizing this culture, remembering your dream to actually producing chocolate?

- I actually started with a class called Launch and Launch is basically a nonprofit that helps you launch your business.

And I did that because as I was looking up how to run a business, how to start a business, what recipes to use for my chocolate, I quickly realized that I was overwhelmed and I couldn't process all the information that was coming to me.

I didn't know what rules apply to me, what sort of licenses apply to me 'cause everything is different based on industry and state.

And so I needed support.

And so I started the journey by making sure I had as much support as I possibly could have.

And it honestly just took time.

What we are now and who we are now, I couldn't have honestly pictured in the beginning, my chocolates don't look the same, our packaging doesn't look the same, our logo doesn't look the same, our operations doesn't look the same, but what is is just my persistence.

And so I knew my why, right?

My why is to bring about change in the cocoa industry from the inside out, not as an outsider.

And I guess this is where the answer gets kind of long because there's so much inequity in the cocoa industry as there is with any raw resource.

And so Ghana's going through a transition where they want more money to be paid for the raw resource that's exported by all these countries because their farmers don't make enough.

And that's personal to me because we have cocoa farmers, cocoa farms.

And so that means my cousin who manages our farm, he doesn't make enough.

And so Ghana's bringing about this change, but I also wanted to be a part of that change because once again, my family benefits from that.

So knowing my why, I've always kept that in front of me and that's what's allowed me to persist throughout all the difficult times.

And it got difficult, I've always managed a job teaching and teaching is extremely difficult.

But I've always managed a job teaching and building this company.

I started the company, it was literally me, myself and I, right?

I played every role, every email that I sent that said we, it was really just me.

And I did it all because I wanted to grow my company.

I knew what the end looked like and I knew that it was only a matter of time.

So I was gonna be able to grow to where I needed to hire.

There were tough times where the pandemic, when I had my daughter, pregnancy was extremely difficult.

I was high risk, so I actually shut down the business for a little bit so that I can focus on my health.

And then coming back in the midst of the pandemic, that's when I realized things were different.

I also managed and grew the company while going through postpartum depression.

And that lasted two extremely difficult years.

And so it's in those times where I'm growing the company, but the support of my husband is allowing me to continue to progress.

So, like I said, it definitely wasn't something that I knew immediately and I was like successful.

It's been a lot of blood, sweat, tears.

And I don't know if people know the full story of how incredibly difficult it was to get from where I was to where I am now.

(bright music) - [Alison] The tireless work that Ella has invested in her company has produced remarkable results in just a few short years.

And as I toured Cocoa Asante, the meticulous attention to detail was evident in each of Ella's delicious confections.

So it was only a matter of time before some big names in the food industry started to take note.

- This is amazing, delicious.

- I know a lot of people have heard about this, but I wanna make sure everyone knows about this and it's something that everyone is familiar with, which is the TikTok effect.

But for Cocoa Asante, this was a really, really sort of game changing moment for you.

Yes.

- With a food critic named Keith Lee.

- Yes.

- Who as far as I can tell, doesn't even really like sweets.

- No.

- But once he reviewed Cocoa Asante, everything changed.

What happened with this?

- Man, honestly, when I look back, I'm still in disbelief.

I haven't fully processed it, but shout out to Keith Lee.

So Keith Lee ended up somehow trying our chocolates.

He ordered online, we shipped it to him.

And it was funny, when I was packaging the chocolate, my friend had come by and I literally looked at her and I was like, "I can't tell you what's happening right now, but nothing is gonna be the same."

Like, our lives are gonna forever change.

And literally, once he posted that review, our lives changed forever.

We are.

- Now, when was this, what was the timing of this?

- This was, he posted it March 17th, 2023.

So I had just turned 30, March 15th, 2023.

And then he posted it March 17.

By March 19th, we did so well, I like to say retired, but I quit my job, I quit my job.

I didn't even tell my husband that I quit 'cause I was so excited.

- Your teaching job?

- My teaching job, yeah.

So by then I had moved to teaching part-time.

And so yeah, I posted on TikTok that I had retired and that's how he found out was on TikTok.

But everything changed.

We've been able to grow our team.

At first it was just myself and my brother.

We've been able to grow our team.

Now we're about five full-time and we rotate between three part-time employees.

We now are in a new space.

We used to be at The Incubator and that was like a shared space where businesses come and incubate.

Now we have our own production facility.

We were able to do a Kickstarter to raise equipment.

We won the ID Leap Grant that got us some of our equipment here as well.

And so life has forever changed.

We've had people trying to order from all around the world.

We've been featured in so many magazines.

We've had a CNN interview.

I mean, just still in disbelief that we've accomplished all of these things.

And I think most importantly to me it's really just solidified my why and what I'm doing because people have responded so well to our vision, to our brand, to the work that we're doing.

And it makes me more excited to see where Cocoa Asante is going to end up 'cause I know where I wanna go and I'm to bring you guys along the journey with me.

- When you look around, when I look around, it feels like you've sort of made it, right?

But I know this can't be the tipping point or the height of your dream.

So what do you see for the next year, 10 years, 50 years for Cocoa Asante?

- So you're right, this is just the tipping point.

We've just begun our work.

For the next year, it's really that transition to being a bar, to being able to learn what it takes to process on a commercial scale.

The next five years, of course we're sourcing direct from my family's farm.

By then we've grown operations, we're scaling, we've gotten investors.

Right now we don't have an investor.

Everything is 100% owned by me, but by then, we'll bring on investors that we can scale.

And then honestly, in about 10 years, I plan on moving manufacturing back home to Ghana.

The end goal has always been for Ghana to prosper, for us to be of value, something that adds value to Ghana's economy.

And so I wanna move manufacturing to Ghana because in the chocolate industry, that's where the bulk of the revenue is going to, is the processors and the retailers.

And so by moving that to Ghana, Ghana's then able to benefit from what Cocoa Asante does.

And so I'm excited to get there.

I'm excited to build something absolutely incredible where people can come and see the farms that we source from, come and see it being processed, and come and also see the final result.

And so more incredible things are in the horizon for Cocoa Asante, we've just begun this work.

(warm music) - [Alison] It's clear that Ella's success has been defined by hard work, thoughtful leadership, and steadfast commitment to her why.

And while her achievements thus far have been remarkable, she is already laying the groundwork for her big dreams for the future.

In the summer of 2024, she returned to Ghana and presented a plan to develop three acres of given land into the future site of Cocoa Asante's warehouse, factory, and headquarters.

With the blessings of the King of the Asante Kingdom himself, she is lovingly helping build a brighter future for her family in Ghana and here at home.

(bright music) You are clearly the face and the poster child for startup, for entrepreneurship, and for resilience.

Not just in Chattanooga, but I think for anyone who is watching you and is inspired by your story.

- Thank you.

- And I think your daughter's gonna be very proud.

- Oh, that's what's gonna break me.

She's really who I do it for.

I saw my mom go through so much and I always say that our parents, they came here as immigrants, they got through that first step, right?

Providing more opportunity.

And it's our generation that's supposed to then build on that.

And so what I do and the end goal to elevate what my family does to change the cocoa industry, when I look at my daughter, it becomes all the more real, the part of not being able to give up becomes real.

Like I do it for her, I do it for my husband, I do it because of the why.

But literally seeing her, she's the manifestation of who I'm doing this for, right?

- And I know it's tears of joy, right?

- It is.

(laughing) - I can think of nothing more joyous than building something like Cocoa Asante and having this not just for your daughter, but for the whole world to enjoy.

- Absolutely.

- So with everything that you've been through and everything that you've accomplished, is there anything you would change looking back?

- Man, change.

Honestly, no.

I think sometimes I wish that I pursued a different career path in terms of, I mean, I love being a teacher, but in terms of education, like, it would've been much easier to support a family doing something else.

But when I think of how education led me here, and here's where I met my husband and where I started a business, I can't say that I would ever change anything.

Everything that I've gone through has been a beautiful lesson that's allowed me to become the person that I am, that's allowed me to face the battles that I face, overcome the way I overcome.

And so I'm grateful for literally even the good, the bad, the ugly, the times where I failed, 'cause I failed countless times.

The times where I had to redo and remake and reinvent, all of that literally led me to who I am today.

And so whenever something comes, I'm like, "Man, I don't like this experience, I wish I could change it," I always have to reframe my thinking and say, "Whatever you're learning in this season is gonna help you when you get to where you want to be.

And so just learn the lesson and continue to grow."

So I wouldn't change anything.

- Well, I love that and your chocolate's right on brand with you because it is the most beautiful chocolate I've ever seen from one of the most beautiful women - Thank you.

- I have ever encountered.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Ella.

- Thank you so much for allowing me to do so.

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