THE CHOCOLATIER

Ayo’s Story

Trained as an architect and urban designer, my introduction into the world of chocolate-truffle-creation was an accidental one…or was it?!!!

The year 2010 (one of my biggest learning/personal growth year’s), saw me quit my job to explore other interests - embarking on a career transition at an economical hostile time. At some point during the 4 months I was without work, I realized that I was really searching for an opportunity to make the most difference in the world around me while making use of all of the skills and talents that I had at my disposal.

During this challenging period, running had become a saving grace – a way to clear my thoughts. I also completed my first ING NYC marathon in 03hrs 59mins 28secs! Post marathon, I sent out an email to my marathon donors, friends and family to thank them for their donations, and moral support…as well as to share with them some highlights and takeaways from the event including the important lessons I learnt on race day – and I’m sharing those lessons here.

1. Persistency

2. The marathon as a metaphor for life - it's all about balancing the good with the bad - pacing oneself through the easy miles because of the knowledge that the course will get tougher, and hanging in there with the tough miles because of the knowledge that there will be easier miles to come, as well as the finish line!

3. What one does, does make a difference - positive or negative! We should strive to make the sum aggregate come out to be positive

4. As I ran and high-fived/low-fived the kids along the course, I couldn't help but think how huge the marathon event must be from their perspective...and I knew in some small way that I'd passed on the torch and the passion for running!

5. I smiled the whole way through (even through the pain) not just because I'd resolved to enjoy the event, but because I wanted to make the marathon a less daunting thing to anyone who happened to notice that here was a guy who had run so many miles and could still smile about it and deciding for themselves that running 26.2 miles may not be so bad/difficult after all...Once one can reach this point of acknowledgement then the initial inertia from the thought of pain can be overcome. It is a hard race, but it is not an impossible feat to overcome...which means everyone can do it!!!

6. The randomness of seeing familiar faces in the crowd or hearing my name called out (especially since I didn't have my name visible) was absolutely priceless :)

7. Witnessing the humanity in us all, to want to help absolute complete strangers through difficulty...because everyone that came out to cheer recognized how hard this race would be and thought maybe their little cheer, ingenious signs, offers of fruits and candies, setting up their own personal water stations, would all help carry those runners to their end goal...the finish line!

8. Appreciating what one has...NYC is a great city to be in - for all its flaws, hardship and the list can go on - it is a great city, with great people and if one can see this in the everyday, then one is on their way to making a success out of their time here!

These 8 lessons became so impactful to me and ended up adopting them as my mantra for life in general.

As the Christmas Holiday season of 2010 approached, I was in need of prudent and handmade gifts to give to family and loved ones. I decided on truffles as my handmade gift of choice after being inspired by an article on a two-sisters-chocolatier-duo, especially as I knew nothing about truffle making and was intrigued by the prospect of creating such special treats! I thus began experimenting with truffle recipes and from the beginning began to ask myself “how far can I take this?”

Armed with my marathon lessons (especially #1 and #3), I decided to find out the answer to this question. And so, the Chocolate by Ayo™ dream was born with plans of quickly turning it into a sustainable business - keeping the dream alive and well for many years to come!

Sweetest Regards,
Ayo, Founder Chocolate by Ayo™ | New York, NY