SDH 042: Ignite Your Inner Voice to Reach Sweet Success with Katrina Markoff

Katrina Markoff attended Vanderbilt and got her degree, but she didn’t love it enough to pursue that path. What she loved was cooking. So, Katrina moved to Paris to attend culinary school. From Paris, she went to Spain and was inspired to travel the world for nine months to study street food and work in restaurants. Katrina returned home, still unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. All of her friends had used their degrees to start their careers, and she felt behind, still figuring it all out. It was not until a necklace she had acquired from her travels, with a story behind it, made her realize her inner voice was telling her to use chocolate as a medium for storytelling. Katrina now is the creator and founder of two chocolate brands Vosges Haut-Chocolat and Wild Ophelia, where she makes a living and impacts lives by using chocolate to deliver a narrative. The Sweet Stories Shared -Her mom’s reaction to her decision to travel after receiving her degree -Why she’s tired of what she calls the “French Provincialism” -How working for her Uncle helped her learn how to bring a product into the market -The moment that everything made sense to her and she knew what she needed to do -How her mom’s work ethic and support aided her in creating her own business -The moment she fell in love with chocolate -How her chocolate brands support and empower American women and entrepreneurs Katrina’s Inner Voice Says... “I am Macedonian and just felt like food was so much connected to love. It was just a thing that I felt I wanted to do more of.” “My second semester of my senior year I went to all of these career fairs and job interviews. I was like ‘oh my God, I cannot do this. I cannot apply for a job to be a consultant or in finance.’ I didn’t want to be a doctor.” “It was disheartening to think after all of [culinary school and traveling the world to learn about food] I didn’t want to be a chef. I didn’t want to do anything with my degrees at Vanderbilt and then I am thinking to myself ‘what am I doing?’ There was something still in me driving towards something, and I don’t know exactly where it was going, but I knew it was going somewhere. I just trusted the signs.” “I believe in signs and I believe in that very strong inner voice that I have, and I just kept listening to it. ” “I was very driven. My mom worked really hard,and we didn’t have a lot of money growing up. We really appreciated that about my Mom, and our family wanted to work hard to prove ourselves. It was in my blood to start my own business.” “I always say to people, when they want to have [business] partners, really be cautious about it, to be sure that truly you are both bringing something very different and complementary to the table; you are both really aligned in the risk that comes with being an entrepreneur.” “I think things have meaning. Things don’t happen by coincidence; there is a meaning to things and it’s your job to figure out how to translate that for yourself. Only your inner voice can help decipher what it means. ” “I think that it makes my life really rich to share [my] story and get people inspired to start their own companies.” “I think women make great entrepreneurs because they are naturally very good at multitasking and really good at solving problems.” “Food is quite male-dominated. Most chefs are men. It’s an ironic thing because you think about most women cooking in their kitchens for their children, and what not, but it doesn't manifest so much in the actual restaurants.” [Connect with Katrina Twitter (@Vosge), Instagram (@vosgeshautchocolat), Facebook, Pinterest, www.wildophelia.com, www.vosgeschocolate.com] RESOURCES: Le Cordon Bleu 1871 Instacart YeahDave Meditation Hoffman Meditation Pinterest