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If you have any privilege that allows you to do things that improve people’s lives, you should take use of it. Because not everyone is capable of doing so without serious repercussions.
-Gillian Goddard, Sun Eaters Organics Co-Founder
Gillian Goddard puts her money where her mouth is, carefully selecting how her company spends its resources to maximize its beneficial effect. She is a self-proclaimed disruptor in the chocolate business, and I have seen no evidence to the contrary; her methods bring the notion of entrepreneurship as activism to life. Gillian has developed a number of enterprises in Trinidad and Tobago over the past two decades, each cascading into and frequently overlapping with or absorbing the previous, but all with the goal of disrupting existing processes that get our beloved chocolate bars onto stores and into our hands.
Whether or not you have sampled her chocolates, you will undoubtedly relate with her message that everyone deserves to make a fair life. If you work hard every day, you deserve to be able to afford the essentials as well as a little bit extra. Despite this, the majority of the world’s farmers are impoverished. Gillian and I discuss subjects such as economic diversification, bullying, and empowerment via creating in this interview. I hope you liked listening to our talk as much as I did.
Check out where to purchase artisan chocolate online to learn more about it.
Contents
We cover the following topics:
- how Gillian’s diverse and international background has led her to the path she’s on now
- Trinidadian cocoa tea as a hearty food for comfort, especially when times are tough
- the different definitions of community she’s seen play out in the US vs. Trinidad & Tobago
- engagement with her source communities, and work to expand that access across the region
- entrepreneurship as activism
- trend forecasting in organic permaculture
- doing the work to move past trauma— even when you’re the one who caused it
- the bullying mindset
- covid’s impact upon her region, and upon the Alliance of Rural Communities with which her work is intertwined
- looking towards the future for Trinidadian Chocolate & Trinidadian producers in a more aware world
Contact Gillian and Sun Eaters Organics
Website of the Association of Rural Communities.
Sun Eaters Chocolate may be found on Instagram.
Sun Eaters Chocolate has a Facebook page.
Contact Chocolate On The Road
@chocolateontheroad on Instagram
@chocolateontheroad on Facebook
Our show music is Phil Reavis’ Roadtrip, and our transition music is People Like Us’ Were Gonna Be Around and Lobo Loco’s Sweet Dreams.
Click here to listen to the previous episode.
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