Conexión Chocolate recently welcomed a new Sales Development Representative to the Conexión family, and we’d like to tell you a bit about her and her background in chocolate!
Madeline Weeks shares our passion for sustainable cacao, fair trade, the empowerment of farming communities, and, of course, fine chocolate! She has been involved in cacao and chocolate for over a decade. A native of California, Madeline studied Economics and Spanish at Wellesley College, where she dove into the history of cacao consumption in ancient Mexico and how the evolution of the bean is intertwined with the transformation of society. Her desire to understand the ecology of shade-grown crops brought her to Mexico in 2013 on a Fulbright Scholarship to understand the connection between quality coffee production and quality of life of smallholder farmers.
In returning to cacao and chocolate, she consulted for Uncommon Cacao on their social-economic impact report before returning to graduate studies at the University of California Davis. During that time, she led an international collaboration between an environmental NGO in Guatemala and a chocolate-maker in California. This resulted in the first direct-trade export agreement with the Maya Q’eqchi’ communities of Petén, Guatemala.
Madeline is looking forward to connecting with our customers! You can reach her at sales@conexionchocolate.com