A Celebration of Women™

is elated to Celebrate the Life of this amazing creative woman that had a dream, not only dreamed the dream, she lived it.

In honor of our Feature on Chocolate, with the Fact that our Founder owns the book:

 The CHOCOLATE Connoisseur-for Everyone with a Passion for Chocolate,

is is our pleasure to share with the Women of our World and celebrate the Life of another amazing WOMAN of ACTION. This woman has maintained her dreams and loyalty to her belief of “Chocolate” throughout her career, always having chocolate as her Passion!

 

“Yes, I have followed my dream,

I could even say I built a dream and made it happen.”

(my job did not exist before “as a job”)

 

Le Chocolat….as you read this, “Enjoy!”

 

WOMAN of ACTION™

 

 

Chloe Doutre-Roussel

Specialist in Cacao & Chocolate

 

Chloé Doutre-Roussel is an author, consultant, educator, and internationally recognized expert with more than 35 years of experience in fine cacao and chocolate. A former buyer at Fortnum and Mason, shop manager at Ladurée, author of The Chocolate Connoisseur, and creator of Chloe Chocolat in Paris, she has also worked with El Ceibo, a cooperative of cocoa farmers in Bolivia, to launch a vertically integrated tree to bar to bonbon brand.

She travels around the world giving conferences, workshops and consultancies around specialty/fine cacao and chocolate. She has worked as a voluntary consultant or partner in various projects around the world. They are mostly related to improving cacao quality and empowering cacao farmers.

She has been giving conferences and workshops worldwide since 1999. She has been giving conferences and workshops worldwide since.

The most recent ones are:

North West chocolate festival – Seattle – USA ( every year from 2011 to 2018)
Salon du chocolat Paris (every year since 1999) and Tokyo (2007)
Chocolate Festival Ilheus- Para- Sao Paolo – Brazil (every year since 2011)
Salon del chocolate – Quito- Ecuador (2011, 2012, 2015)
Festival del chocolate- Arauquita- Colombia – 2017
Foro inovacion y emprendimiento – Quito- Ecuador – 2018
Salon del chocolate- Bogota – Colombia – 2018
Craft chocolate Market- Tokyo – 2018
Festival del chocolate- Caracas – 2019
Craft chocolate experience- San Francisco – 2020
Torino choco fest – Torino – Italy (2011)
Cioccolato – Perugia – Italy (2012)
Academy of chocolate annual meeting – London – UK (2007, 2011, 2012)
Salon del chocolate – Tradex- Mexico city- Mexico (2013)
Salon del chocolate y Cacao – Tabasco- Mexico (2010, 2011, 2012)
Choco fest- Sweeden- (2006)
Salon del chocolate- Madrid – Spain (2009)
Festival do chocolate- Cascais – Portugal (2009, 2010)
Fine chocolate industry association annual meeting – San Francisco (2011 and 2016)
Sauce Forum – Estonia- 2016

​

Chloé speaks French, Spanish and English. She is is known for her “thinker” and pragmatic approach.

Chloé was the first person in the world to set up formal chocolate tasting classes. “She is the first chocolate “thinker” – someone who approached chocolate appreciation and tasting mindfully long before any others, spoken by “Pam WIlliams- Founder and leading instructor Ecole Chocolat.

Before that she spent 12 years working in different fields, in many different countries, film and advertising, including a time at the United Nations.

“In early 2003, I started to work at Fortnum & Mason, a renowned department store in London as chocolate & confectionery buyer. I was recruited among 3000 candidates and when I started to work the media was present to show who was the lucky winner.

I became choco famous from one day to another doing nothing.

A couple of months later a publisher approached me suggesting to take advantage of this fame to write a book about chocolate. I was not interested at the beginning, there are already thousands of books about chocolate out there. But then I remembered how frustrated I was that most of these books were all telling the same things: recipes, shops, history /health.

So I proposed to the publisher to write about real chocolate (the bar, not the cakes or filled chocolates), the different styles of chocolate, the people behind those styles, the art of tasting, and the basic knowledge anybody needs on how not to be manipulated by the marketing.

The publisher decided to edit a lot and added information “like all the other books”.

The Japanese version, released April 09, is the most complete and updated of all versions.

Chloe was a former chocolate buyer at Fortnum & Mason, and became author of the in depth book The Chocolate Connoisseur.

All her life she has been eager to learn more, and to open more chocolate horizons.

When she moved at the tender age of 14 from South America to France, she discovered the enormous range of chocolate bars available in the supermarket and decided to taste all of them, comparing them and taking notes.

She has visited plantations, factories and tasted everything from bean to bar, from bar to filled chocolates.

Her unique cocktail of dedication and energy, her uncompromising attitude to quality and her almost religious devotion to chocolate allowed her to become a self-taught ‘choco’-expert. Her biggest joy has been to share the rich dimension that chocolate has brought into her life.

In Paris, she organized monthly chocolate-evenings for a wide public.

In 1999, she founded the Association Carrement Chocolat, allowing her to formalize her various professional activities: consultancy, seminars, conferences, tasting courses, and training of sales teams from different chocolate brands.

Chloé Doutre Roussel, Specialty Chocolate Expert – Martell Home Encounters

Martell says: Chloé Doutre Roussel is an expert in the realm of fine chocolate. She promotes the “bean-to-bar” method, guiding cocoa producers to produce a more virtuous bean and works with chocolatiers around the world who wish to adopt more ethical practices.

Honorary Titles & Awards

Chloe is a regular juror at the Academy of Chocolate Awards (AOC) , at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. and Festival do Cacau e Chocolate ( Brazil). She is member of honor of the AOC, founding member of the Academia del Chocolate of Ecuador, member of the Advisory Board of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA), member of the Tasting Panel of HCP ( Heirloom Cacao Preservation), ex co-chair of the Chocolate Committee for the Good Food Awards.

She was awarded Life Time Achievement at the North West Chocolate Festival in 2015.

When Chloe responded A Celebration of Women’s comment of following dreams, she confirmed saying:

“Yes, I have followed my dream, I could even say I built a dream and made it happen. (my job did not exist before “as a job”). So far I have managed to follow my values, learn more every day, and bring my way, a try to share with others, a small contribution for a better (choco!) world. It is not a peaceful path: I question the world and myself every day, doubts, challenges, risks, wonderful encounters, a daily cocktail that makes life so interesting. I follow an energy from inside myself, not always aware where I am going, but somehow convinced the path, full of wisdom and truth, free, is not a bad one. … and is a very enriching one!”

 
Currently, classes are available to all, both cacao producers/professionals and general chocolate lovers HERE.
 

 

A Celebration of Women™

has thoroughly enjoyed this mouth watering experience

Celebrating the Life of a Woman devoted to the ‘Food of the Gods’….CHOCOLATE!

 

 

Brava, Chloe!

 
 

Original post June 2012/Update November 2024