1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern
with Ava Holmes
How can chocolate entrepreneurs navigate a world of climate shocks, cultural erosion, and economic instability—while staying true to their values? Join cacao expert Ava Holmes for an unflinching look at the future of chocolate through the lenses of climate, culture, and commerce. Drawing from her lived experience in the Amazon and years of hands-on work in cacao-producing communities, Ava explores what sustainability really means today—beyond certifications and buzzwords.
In this 60-minute session, you’ll gain insights into:
- The hidden realities cacao farmers face that consumers rarely see
- How cultural healing and social trust are essential for long-term change
- Community-based success stories that defy the top-down aid model
- The role of brands, consumers, and regenerative sourcing in shaping the future
This webinar is ideal for chocolate entrepreneurs, makers, and mission-driven brands looking to deepen their impact, rethink their sourcing practices, and build more resilient, ethical businesses in unstable times.
Let’s rethink what it means to protect chocolate—together.
About the Presenter:
Ava J. is a serial entrepreneur whose work blends on the ground activism, storytelling through creative mediums such as fashion and chocolate and out-of-the-box social ventureship. Her work has been featured across major media outlets from The NY Times and Vogue to Discovery Channel and TED Talks.
Over a decade working in the fashion industry, Ava co-founded Fashion for Conservation, using haute couture to raise millions for wildlife preservation and rainforest protection. This led her to the Peruvian Amazon, where she fell in love with the land, its biodiversity, and cacao—not just as a chocolate lover, but as a witness to its ecological impacts.
She later co-founded Cacao Center, an educational center and research hub in the lower Amazon that explores wild cacao strains, medicinal plants, and regenerative agroforestry. Here, her team collaborates with local farmers, scientists, and conservationists to produce the region’s first organic, ecologically-grown chocolate.
Ava is also the co-founder of The annual Women of Cacao Summit, September 18th-21st 2025, a global virtual space amplifying women’s leadership across the cacao and chocolate industries—from science to ceremony. Her forthcoming book explores cacao as both an ancestral medicine and modern-day catalyst for ecological and cultural renewal, CACAO: Myths, History, Science, and Magic.
| 7/31/2025 |    |