Chocolate and the A-List

Can chocolate help you get an A?

It seems so, if it's the right kind!

Two-ingredient Violet Sky Chocolate, and stickers: a hit with my fabulous students! #onthenotebook

As an entrepreneur who founded the original chocolate tours and opened them in multiple cities, and am now a chocolate consultant and broker, I love sharing fine and craft chocolate with my Kendall College students in my role as adjunct professor of business!

The chocolate and cacao I deal in is not sugary candy. It is transparent-trade superfood. And it's a good business case study for supply chains, ethics, and critical thinking.

Students loved Askinosie Chocolate, named one of America's 25 best small companies by Forbes Magazine

How to make sure your chocolate is healthy and was made from ethically sourced cacao instead of child slave cacao?

As my A-Listers know: read the label!

1. Look for the origin of the cacao, just as you would for wine or coffee. If the cacao is from Ecuador, Madagascar, or any other stated location, great! If the label is silent, what is the chocolate company hiding? They're hiding labor abuses on Ivory Coast cacao farms, where 60% of the world's cacao comes from, including the cacao in commercial drugstore chocolate.

2. Look for the ingredients. Cacao and sugar are all you need to make chocolate! If you can't pronounce an ingredient, or it is a chemical lab concoction, or non transparent, why would you eat it? Back away from the chocolate bar, and find real chocolate!

3. Enjoy: look, sniff, taste. Engage your senses to enjoy craft chocolate. Real chocolate is good for your health, your tastebuds, the environment, and farming families around the world.

#onebaronetree: another brand I shared with students, Original Beans, plants or maintains a cacao tree for every chocolate bar sold.

And, good chocolate boosts brain power, circulation, and overall health.

Keep eating real chocolate, and see you on the A-List!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

A-List Dinner: President's Visit, Fall 2015

Succeed, and you catch the attention of those at the top.

That's what happened for the Kendall College business students who earned an A in my class during the Fall 2015 term. I treated them to a scrumptious and elegant A-List dinner at the Kendall Fine Dining Room that next winter, and our new Kendall College President, Kim Shambrook, stopped by to congratulate our high achievers!

Stars on a snowy night: Dana Marat, Dominique Pyka, Karina Zhussupova, Professor Valerie Beck, Kamila Tatubayeva, Marlene Peralta, President Kim Shambrook, Zhanelya Ydrys

President Shambrook is herself a Kendall College alumna, and a former business owner. She encouraged the A-Listers to keep working hard and succeeding.

Add the delicious food and gorgeous views at the A-List Dinner, ond our A-Listers were surrounded by inspiration!

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

Onward and upward!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

A-Listers Network with Entrepreneurs and Professionals

A unique networking opportunity for Kendall College business students during Winter 2015, who earned an A in any of my classes during any term:

At the request of business dean Rob Watson and general education dean Ryan Bartelmay, I invited some business contacts, fellow entrepreneur friends, and the co-founders of my Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Club to a focus group on what we business people are looking for in management track candidates.

I also arranged with Dean Watson to have our top business students join in before and after the session, to make professional connections and get career advice.

Thrilled that these business stars accepted my invitation to a focus group, followed by a meet-and-greet with Kendall College A-List students; here we all are, left to right: General Education Dean Ryan Bartelmay, Barbara McIntyre of PWC, Aleksandra Efimova of Russian Pointe, Jacky Schiestel of Google, Patrick Egan of Kendall College who led the focus group, Virginia Lionberger of VKL Consulting (peeking out from behind me), yours truly Valerie Beck of Chocolate Uplift, Youssef Elyyadi of Vienna Beef and a Kendall College alumnus, students Kamila Tatubayeva, Marlene Peralta, Michael Wulfstat, Zhanelya Ydrys, and Dana Marat, Stephanie Neely of Allstate and former Chicago City Treasurer, students Karina Zhussupova, Lidiia Komisarchuk (in back), Zhanna Diyarova, and Kadisha Mukhamejanova, and Anthony Chirchirillo of Chirch Global Manufacturing

Here I am second from left, with co-founders of my Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Club Anthony Chirchirillo and Aleksandra Efimova, and Kendall College Business Dean Robert Watson, at our fabulous focus group

A-List students networked and gained pearls of wisdom at this very special career event, as the benefits of earning an A continue!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

A-Listers go to Google

To many students, the greatest company in the world is Google.

So when Google Chicago moved their 700 local employees to a gorgeous new custom space in Chicago's Fulton Market area of the West Loop, I arranged an A-List excursion with a dear friend who works there, during the Fall 2016 term. She and her team welcomed our Kendall College A students, from all terms, to a fabulous field trip to learn from the inside what makes this innovative company so successful!

Glowing at Google: Kadisha Mukhamejanova, Michael Wulfstat, Samantha Olson, Professor Valerie Beck, Jessica Meilleur, Chad Pipkins, Meruyert Toktarova, Lidiia Komisarchuk, Zhanna Diyarova.

A-Listers enjoyed an interactive presentation and got to experience Google Cardboard, a $5 virtual reality device that uses a smartphone to take you to places like Paris, the Great Wall of China, or even the moon!

We also toured Google's beautiful spaces and lavish cafeteria.

Our top business students earned a visit inside what many feel is the world's top company!

With Lidiia and Zhanna: see you next time!

Onward and upward!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

A-List Dinner: Kendall Fine Dining, Spring 2015

Superstar students who earned As in Spring 2015 cane to our A-List Dinner held that Fall in the Kendall College Fine Dining Restaurant!

Lidiia Komisarchuk, Professor Valerie Beck, Meruyert Toktarova, Kadisha Mukhamejanova

Exquisite food, exquisite dessert!

First snow, celebrating Spring A-Listers in November! 

Students shared thoughtful ideas as we discussed what they loved about Kendall, and what they would change, over a first-class celebratory dinner.

Congratulations, business student stars! I am proud of you.

Onward and upward!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

The First Dinner: A-List Dinner at Atwood, Winter 2014

We enjoyed a festive and delicious A-List Dinner at Atwood, celebrating our first class of A-Listers, who earned As in the Winter 2014 term in my business class at Kendall College!

Left to right: Professor Valerie Beck with A-Listers Cyndi Ortiz, Jessica Meilleur, Michael Wulfstat, Mateus Albornoz, Aida Yestayeva, and Kadisha Mukhamejanova. 

Thank you to A-Lister Michael Wulfstat for bringing kosher (chocolate!) desserts for all to share, as by the time we could all coordinate our calendars for this first A-List dinner, it was already Spring 2015 and time for the Passover holiday!

A-List gentlemen Mateus Albornoz and Michael Wulfstat with Professor Valerie Beck

A-List ladies Cyndi Ortiz, Aida Yestayeva, Kadisha Mukhamejanova, Professor Valerie Beck, and Jessica Meilleur

Well done, All. Through your hard work, you set the pace for future A-Listers as well, and I'm proud of you!

Onward and upward!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift

The A-List

Welcome to the Kendall College A-List Adventures!

I created the A-List program for A students at Kendall College, where I am an adjunct professor of business - teaching courses including Business Law, Negotiation, Franchising, and International Business - alongside my entrepreneurial ventures such as my international chocolate and cacao consulting and brokering practice.

Similar to a Dean's List, the A-List recognizes high achieving students. In addition, A-Listers receive special educational and networking opportunities, such as the chance to attend business field trips, dinners, and events for entrepreneurs and professionals.

Follow the A-Listers on their journey of academic and business exploration and success. I'm proud of my students!

Onward and upward!

Valerie Beck
Kendall College Contributing Faculty
CEO/Founder Chocolate Uplift
@chocolateuplift