In 2005, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense lawyer to start a bean-to-bar chocolate factory, Askinosie Chocolate, and never looked back.
The only chocolate maker working directly with cocoa farmers on four continents, Shawn travels to regions of Ecuador, the Philippines, and Tanzania to source cocoa beans for his chocolate.
Recently named by Forbes "One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America", Askinosie Chocolate has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on Bloomberg, MSNBC, and numerous other national and international media outlets.
As someone who encourages and inspires entrepreneurs to take the leap from intentional contemplation to purposeful action, Shawn Askinosie was named “One of the 15 Guys Who Are Saving the World” by Oprah Magazine.
In his newest book, Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul, Shawn shares how businesses can and should solve problems in the world, and how positive change begins with individual action.
In this conversation, Branden and Shawn explore the journey of weaving social responsibility into everything we do — the overarching idea that doing more is not enough, but work worth doing is.
“Who you are and what you stand for is inseparable from the product you make.
— Shawn Askinosie
