Interview: Cynthia Leung, Co-founder of SoMA Chocolate

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"It's a joy to wake up and go to work every day, knowing what we're going to be doing with the rest of our day, AND it's [still considered to be] work."
-Cynthia Leung, Co-founder SoMA Chocolate

Cynthia Leung is a calming presence. She almost disarms you with her soft voice, but then she drops all these wisdom bombs about running a company and getting through tough times with your sanity intact. After almost two decades working in the craft chocolate sphere, she's more than qualified to dole that out, too.

Cynthia's company of SoMA Chocolate is one of the oldest small-batch chocolate makers in the world. From her factory in Toronto, Canada, we talk about the landscape of cacao sourcing in 2003, the power of outsourcing, and their process for developing new origins. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as I enjoyed having it.

Note that the topic of building her business plays heavily in my questions thanks to the upcoming podcast episode for which I was interviewing her.

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A post shared by Cyn (@somachocolatemaker) on Feb 14, 2018 at 7:22am PST

Cynthia with her partner David.

Topics We Cover

Cynthia's background and how she got into the craft chocolate industry before there WAS an industry
The literal costs of opening up their first factory, back in 2003
Heritage in flavor notes and tastings
The power of outsourcing what you need to and nurturing what you can't/won't/shouldn't
Their process for developing new bars and origins
The current world of cacao compared to 16 years ago