By Lincoln DePradine
Entrepreneur Kenesha Lewis admits that it was one of many largest moments within the interval since she began “One Extra Cocoa’’, a Canadian firm that produces a line of merchandise from cocoa grown in Jamaica.
It was “pure pleasure’’, Lewis instructed The Caribbean Digicam, on studying that Oprah Winfrey – the well-known influential African-American talkshow host, writer and billionaire media proprietor – had advisable merchandise of “One Extra Cocoa’’ as Christmas procuring objects.
“It’s a kind of moments that you just’ll all the time keep in mind. I keep in mind the day, completely, right down to the time,’’ Lewis stated in an interview.
“One Extra Cocoa’’, stated Jamaican-born Lewis, was began about two-and-half years in the past “with simply an concept’’.
The considered changing into a businesswoman wasn’t all the time on Lewis’s thoughts; she arrived right here along with her father when she was approaching her seventh birthday and attended elementary faculty in Toronto.
“I went to Nelson Mandela Park Public Faculty. I used to be there when Nelson Mandela got here,’’ recalled Lewis, who studied to change into a counsellor of abused girls and kids.
For more often than not, after establishing “One Extra Cocoa’’, the Whitby-based firm was run with the assistance of members of the family and associates.
Nonetheless, about two months in the past, Lewis plunged fulltime into the administration and operations of the enterprise, whose Line of merchandise consists of chocolate bars, a six-piece field of scrumptious gourmand chocolate bonbons, and chocolate coca tea – together with a powdered model.
The corporate, Lewis defined, was launched due to her love of “sugar and spice and every thing good. I needed to supply distinctive, inventive and scrumptious merchandise, whereas incorporating my Jamaican heritage’’.
She added that in Jamaica, “chocolate cocoa tea was a vital a part of our household get-togethers, particularly once I was a child with my grandfather. So, I actually needed to create one thing that was going to be consultant of his reminiscence; and, that’s why I began ‘One Extra Cocoa’’’.
Lewis stated she was knowledgeable, by way of e-mail, that her “Scorching Chocolate Field Set’’ is featured within the winter difficulty of the Winfrey-owned “O Quarterly’’ and on OprahDaily.com.
The Scorching Chocolate Field Set is included on Winfrey’s 2023 “Favourite Issues’’ vacation items checklist.
The checklist of “Favourite Issues’’ has been described as a “must-have vacation procuring information that options essentially the most ingenious devices, trendy sustainable items, decadent desserts and the best finds in residence, trend, and wonder, with 48 items underneath $50’’.
It’s reported that almost all items for 2023 “have been chosen from inspiring small companies, together with women-owned, Black-owned and different minority-owned companies throughout the US and past’’, together with “One Extra Cocoa’’ of Canada.
“It’s an honour to be the one Canadian model acknowledged as considered one of Oprah’s Favourite Issues 2023,” stated Lewis.
“The One Extra Cocoa Scorching Chocolate Field Set is a pleasant mixture of decadent flavors which can be crafted with premium components and actual chocolate for an distinctive wealthy and creamy style. Good for gifting, the set is superbly packaged in a glossy bamboo memento field, complemented with gold stirring and measuring spoons.’’
The Scorching Chocolate Field Set is offered for buy at onemorecocoa.com, and in Winfrey’s “Favourite Issues’’ present information, solely in Amazon’s retailer at amazon.com/oprah, in addition to by way of the Amazon procuring app.
Lewis is assured that the endorsement of her firm’s merchandise by “O Quarterly’’ and on OprahDaily.com would permit for better publicity and gross sales.
Canadian availability of the merchandise are on the firm’s outlet in Whitby and thru its web site,https://www.onemorecocoa.com/, as effectively at a Black-owned retailer in Oshawa and at one other in Toronto.
Though her merchandise now are flavoured with Jamaican cocoa, Lewis stated sooner or later, she intends to make use of cocoa from different Caribbean international locations reminiscent of Grenada and St Vincent.
“I’m making my means by means of the islands,’’ she stated.
