Author: cocoacompassion

Hilo, Hawaii: In-Region, Tech Hub

Hilo, Hawaii: In-Region, Tech Hub

Development HUB for edutainment programs serving cacao-growing regions

(Fact: Hawaii, is the only cacao growing region in the U.S.)

CocoaCompassion® is constantly seeking partners to create new markets where chocolate and local resources are tools that bring people together and power thought provoking engagement within and across communities.

It was through the exploration of partners that CocoaCompassion founder, Joy Thaler, was introduced to Dr. Neil Scott, a former research engineer at Stanford University and founder of The Makery in Hilo, Hawaii which is a unique space that provides training and resources that will empower companies and individuals to perform 21st Century manufacturing in Hawaii.

Dr. Scott believes that the future growth of local communities requires a pool of skilled artisans and new opportunities for them to develop high-value skills. He also believes that a new active learning environment will lead to economic independence, increased entrepreneurship and a decrease in at-risk-youth, teens and young adults.
Dr. Scott had already been considering the potential for using Hawaii’s emerging chocolate industry as a catalyst for helping students understand the relevance and economic importance of STEAM subjects within their local community. We quickly realized that our shared values and goals were complementary; together we would create unique interactive experiences that empower local communities with knowledge and skills for greater success and prosperity within our rapidly changing global economy.
The place where it all happens. One block from the tourist shops and Hilo Bay.

 

Passerbys stare through the front window where a computer numeric cutting machine & laser is at work.

 

Albizia trees have caused problems statewide. These invasive albizia trees are perceived to be structurally weak. Great work is being conducted to overcome these misconceptions which could help ease Hawaii’s housing crisis. The Makery is actively educating communities about upcycling this invasive species and using high value tools to create and market valuable wooden merchandise.

Powering other Socially Conscious Businesses

Powering other Socially Conscious Businesses

CocoaCompassion®️ Collaborations: Powering Responsible Businesses

Spotlight: Chris Amendola
Owner, Executive Chef
Foraged Eatery

3520 Chestnut Street, Baltimore MD

https://www.foragedeatery.com

https://www.instagram.com/foraged.eatery/

BUSINESS & PERSONAL GOALS DOVETAIL

“To me, being a chef is not about fame and wealth, It’s about being an inspiration, mentor and a voice. I want to open peoples’ eyes to their surroundings and also I want people to be conscious of what they are cooking for their families or what they eat when they go out. We should start by consuming seasonal ingredients and in doing this, this supports your local farmers which is important to your community. Helping take part in making our local community better is a priority. If we all try, our world will be better for future generation”

– Chef Chris Amendola

The proof is In the pudding ..well..really the finishing salt & chocolate

THE BAR

70% cacao bean-to-bar chocolate featuring chef-crafted, local salt from the Chesapeake Bay.

The cacao beans are from Tanzania, they were ethically sourced and of the highest quality. (SIDE BAR: Hawaii is the only cacao growing region in the U.S.A.  Cacao only grows 20 degrees north and south of the equator.)

CocoaCompassion® Collaborations give back 20% profit: 10% to a social, economic or environmental initiative selected by our partner. 10% to a cacao growing community initiative.
get a foraged. bar

Goals

Increase awareness, curiosity and engagement regarding Chef Chris’ hyperlocal philosophy.

Serve up stories regarding the innovative products Chef Chris’ is developing.

Deliver on the wants and needs of a culturally diverse, fun neighborhood that is close to downtown Baltimore attracting singles and young families.

How?

Chef Chris wants to share stories through food that are meaningful and promote conversation.

This story focuses on how oyster farms are much more than food, they demonstrate the power of aquaculture.

Such a story, opens up the opportunity for conversation and debate, as many people believe farm-raised fish is bad and wild is the best. When it comes to shellfish, it’s a different story. It’s a story for more to hear and discuss.

Scientists are exploring how shellfish farming can benefit local ecosystems and local economies. As Chef Chris states, the Chesapeake Bay is a great example.

Chef Chris wanted to profile the unique flavor found in a local oyster called Happy Oysters. He did this by working with the Farmer of Sapidus Farms, Mike Manyak.  Mike shared water from his farm and Chris experimented until he was able to craft his own salt;  this is the finishing salt featured at Foraged.

Chef Chris’ commitment to hyperlocal dishes and story telling led to the creation of this private label chocolate bar which upholds all the values, including great taste, local community involvement and empowerment.

Gift deliciously healthy chocolate products

20% profit from the CocoaCompassion® products you purchase will be reinvested to provide underserved communities with the high-value skills and resources needed to turn local ingredients and materials into finished products that pave a path towards economic independence.

PERSONALIZATION AVAILABLE
    • CUSTOM LABEL
    • CUSTOM MOLD
  • CUSTOM WOODEN GIFT BOX (upcycled using local materials, logo laser engraved )

Contact us for pricing and more information   Contact Us

Book a Private Event

Do you have a group of 10 or more? Whether you are a business interested in offering your customers or employees a fun hands-on activity or a charity looking for a unique fundraising event, we would love to hear from you! Contact us below if you are interested in learning more about our private events.

Seed Your Ideas

Seed Your Ideas

  • What issues would you like to debate?
  • Do you have ideas of how to get your community gathered around a table of chocolate, nibs or any of our products?
  • Could you envision locations where people would want to purchase our products?
  • Do your interests dovetail with our initiatives?

    We want to hear from you. We want to address the topics that matter most you. We want to work together.

      Contact Us

The Makery Hilo

Dr. Neil Scott, founder of The Makery in Hilo, Hawaii, is a unique concept that provides individuals with the knowledge, skills, tools and resources to transform their own ideas into real functioning products. 

Dr. Scott is recognized as  one of fifteen Bay Area futurists who would shape the way people live, think, work, and play in the new millennium.

  • Lifetime Tech Laureate in 2002 by the International Tech Museum, San Jose for his commitment to creating innovative technologies that promote equal opportunity and diversity for people around the world.

The Makery was seeded after Dr. Scott joined the University of Hawai`i with support from the National Science Foundation to continue the research and design he began at Stanford University in 1992.

Dr. Scott’s experience and documentation has convinced him that coping with our complex technology-based world requires:

  • an understanding of how things work
  • knowledge of how things are made, and
  • acquisition of the skills required to make needed products.
  • Focus: creative problem solving to improve human/computer interaction strategies and technologies in education and disability access.
  • Commitment: Helping people in Hawai`i develop technological skills and careers 
  • Alignment: public and private schools to develop curriculum that engages students in art, mathematics science, engineering,and technology (AMSET).  
  • Upcycling: The Makery is ecologically challenged to create valuable products from reclaimed wood.
  • The Makery provides individuals throughout the community with unique opportunities to learn:
    • computer aided design (CAD)
    • computer assisted  manufacturing (CAM)
    • how to use these to tools create and market valuable wooden products from
      • invasive species such as albizia and eucalyptus,  and
      • traditional Hawaiian hardwoods such as koa, monkeypod and mango.

 

 

 

CHRIS AMENDOLA

CHRIS AMENDOLA

 

Chris Amendola – Executive chef and owner, foraged. 

Chef Chris brings not only experience in the kitchen, but also a passion for seasonal ingredients to Foraged. His culinary journey began when he was just a young boy growing up in St. Augustine, Florida. Often accompanying his mother to her work, in a restaurant and he would stand in the kitchen and watch the chef prep for service. Around that time, Chris became fascinated with the dynamics of the kitchen. As part of his weekly allowance he would record shows like Great Chefs of France and Great Chefs of the World for his Dad to watch when he got home from work. It when then he fell in love with cooking.

Chef Chris received his formal training at the Southeast Institute of Culinary Arts in St. Augustine where he graduated at the top of his class. After refining his craft under Chef Todd English at BlueZoo in Orlando and with Chef Sean Brock at McCrady’s in Charleston, Chris headed north and worked in the kitchens of Café Dupont in Washington, D.C., Allium in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and the renowned Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also staged in the kitchens of Mini Bar in Washington Dc and Eleven Madison Park in NYC.  Locally, Chris held positions at Fleet Street Kitchen and Waterfront Kitchen.

Additionally, Chef Chris is an experienced farmer and forager – having worked at Thackeray Farms on Wadmalaw Island, S.C., and in close connection with the team at Blue Hill Farm also, when Chef Chris is not behind the stove at Foraged, he is out in the woods looking for new ingredient to cook with. This agricultural and woods man knowledge allows Chris to elevate the dining experience for his guests. “I like to let the product speak for itself,” says Chris. “I believe in utilizing hyper-seasonal ingredients, allowing the natural flavors to complement one another.” His modern American style of cooking gives Foraged diners a unique culinary experience.

Foraged will be opening in early December, the restaurant is located at 3520 Chestnut Avenue in Baltimore, MD. They will be open Tuesday through Saturday 5pm-10pm. Follow their Instagram @foraged_eatery to find out more info.

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Kris Schumacher

Kris Schumacher

Kris Schumacher – Partner at Traverse Food  

Kris is an experienced marketing and finance professional, has held director level positions at both global corporations and small boutique firms, and maintains an active consultancy where he works with social-impact startups.

In addition to his work with CocoaCompassion, Kris is the the founding partner at Traverse Food and Lokaal Market, the co-founder of Nextdoorganics Inc., and the acting CFO at 4PFoods.

Prior to jumping into the start-up world, he worked in the film industry, where be developed digital technology for HeavyLight, a start-up special effects house.  He left the film industry to study entrepreneurship extensively at Babson College where he received his MBA in 2004, and has since specialized in supply and demand economics, leading the pricing department at large multi-national corporations, managing currency risk, commodity price fluctuations, and contract risk across a complex supply chain.

Having been born into a farming family and spending his childhood partially off-grid on a tree farm in the middle of the woods in New England, he is passionate about sustainability and responsible land use, and works with companies making an impact in this area

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Valerie Greenberg

Valerie Greenberg

 

Valerie Greenberg – Principal at The Greenberg Law Firm  

Valerie is the principal of The Greenberg Law Firm, which she founded in 2001. The firm counsels clients of every size, from startups and midsized companies to publicly-traded firms.   She typically functions in the role of outside general counsel and is responsible for all legal issues faced by her clients, many of which she handles on her own.  Valerie’s clients operate in a wide range of industries, from technology hardware and software manufacturers and biotechnology firms, to tableware and home goods designers, food companies, clothing designers, landscape artists, art conservation firms and fragrance creators.   Areas of practice in which she concentrates include all forms of contracts (including supplier, reseller, and employment agreements as well as intellectual property licenses and leases), trademark work and general corporate matters, such as corporate formation and transactional work.

Prior to founding The Greenberg Law Firm, Valerie served as General Counsel (in-house) for Dot Hill Systems Corp.   Following Dot Hill’s merger and relocation to the west coast, the NASDAQ-listed company remained a client of The Greenberg Law Firm until its acquisition by Seagate Technologies in 2015, at which time the The Greenberg Law Firm began handling legal matters for Seagate as well.  From 1993 to 1998, Valerie was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, first in the trial division and then in the civil litigation unit defending the District Attorney’s Office and its employees from federal civil rights and discrimination claims.   Highlights of her career as a prosecutor included several felony jury trials, hundreds of bench trials, a perfect record defending the District Attorney’s Office in federal court, and a successful argument before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Valerie earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Boston University School of Law, where she was a Paul J. Liacos Distinguished Scholar.  She was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, and educated in the Bronx, at the Horace Mann School.   Valerie now lives in Westchester County with her husband, Michael, and three children, Jonathan, Matthew and Zoe.

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LAURIE BENSON

LAURIE BENSON

 

Laurie Benson – Owner at Boutique Yin Studio and Laurie Benson Coaching  

Laurie is a transformational coach. Her clients have been incredibly successful in life “doing”. They are accomplished entrepreneurs, and leaders in their field and lives. They have reached a point where they want to be doing more, contributing in a greater way. They are ready to step into the power and beauty of “being”. Prior, Laurie was the founder of 1% For Women, focusing on empowering and uplifting women in agriculture on a global level.

She believes that the empowerment of women is a crucial component to changing worldwide economic, environmental and social degradation. Laurie is also co-owner of The Village, a Fair Trade store that further supports women and artisans in communities around the world.

ROB BLEIFER

ROB BLEIFER

 

Rob Bleifer – Food Network Executive Chef & VP of Culinary  

Robert became interested in the food world at a very young age.  “I have very distinct memories of watching PBS with my mom and her repeatedly saying ‘help mom take notes on the cooking show and when it’s over, your shows will be on.’  I was raised on Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet.’”

Bleifer’s interest in food only grew over the years.  In graduate school at Rochester Institute of Technology where he pursued his MFA in Photography, he used time between classes to watch cooking shows on cable.  While working as a freelance photographer after graduation, Bleifer realized his true love was food and moved to New York City to begin his culinary education at the French Culinary Institute in 1994.  

Upon completion, Bleifer worked as a line cook at Park Avenue Café for a year.  During that time he received a tip that freelance work was available at Food Network.  When Bleifer began work for the network in 1996, it was still very new, but with his background and skill set, it was a perfect match.

As Executive Chef at Food Network, Bleifer is responsible for everything from managing kitchen of ten, to hands-on food styling and cooking for special events, to coordinating with network Production teams, Chef/Hosts, Guest Chefs, photographers, and network departments.  He oversees in-house food production, location production, photo shoots, vignettes, and food for more than 100 Food Network events annually.  Recently, he has become wine-blender on entwine, Food Network & Wente Vineyards partnered wine.  He has also had an on-air presence, judging numerous Food Network Challenges, catering the 3 Food Network Wedding specials, and many other “cameo” appearances.

He completed his undergraduate work at Union College with a BA in Economics and recently moved to the suburbs of NYC with his wife and daughters.

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DR. NEIL SCOTT

DR. NEIL SCOTT

Dr. Neil Scott – Founder, The Makery Hilo

In 2003, Dr. Neil Scott joined the University of Hawai`i with support from the National Science Foundation to continue the research and design he began at Stanford University in 1992, focusing on creative problem solving to improve human/computer interaction strategies and technologies in education and disability access.

In January 2000, Neil was recognized as one of fifteen Bay Area futurists who would shape the way people live, think, work, and play in the new millennium. He was named a Lifetime Tech Laureate in 2002 by the International Tech Museum, San Jose for his commitment to creating innovative technologies that promote equal opportunity and diversity for people around the world.  Neil is committed to helping people in Hawai`i develop technological skills and careers and has developed a unique concept, called The Makery that provides individuals with the knowledge, skills, tools and resources to transform their own ideas into real functioning products.

Dr. Scott’s experience and documentation has convinced him that coping with our complex technology-based world requires:

 

  • an understanding of how things work
  • knowledge of how things are made, and
  • acquisition of the skills required to make needed products.

 

He established a training program for people with disabilities entitled Technology for Untapped Talent (TUT) in 2011 to empower individuals with disabilities to become  participants and leaders in creating computer-based design and manufacturing in Hawai`i.  

In 2013, Dr. Scott founded The Makery Hilo, to provide individuals throughout the community with unique opportunities to learn computer aided design (CAD) and computer assisted  manufacturing (CAM), and how to use these to tools create and market valuable wooden products from invasive species such as albizia and eucalyptus,  and traditional Hawaiian hardwoods such as koa, monkeypod and mango. The Makery is ecologically challenged to create valuable products from reclaimed wood.

The Makery works with public and private schools to develop curriculum that engages students in art, mathematics science, engineering,and technology (AMSET).  Dr. Scott is working closely with Connections Public Charter School, Hilo, to provide students with hands-on Makery experiences, both in-school and out-of-school.

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