47. Carmen Portillo - Cocoa Belle Chocolates - Turning Passion Into Profit

Written by Robert Wagner, CPA, Advisory Partner | Apr 26, 2021 1:51:25 PM

Carmen Portillo is the founder of Cocoa Belle Chocolates, an ethically sourced chocolate store in Little Rock, Arkansas. She initially pursued a career in finance before opening up Cocoa Belle and is now working with cannabis companies like CBDolce and Native Green Wellness.

At the age of 19, Carmen set out to live in London. During her time there, she found herself feeling disheartened and solus with only chocolate to provide a sense of comfort. Here is where she fell in love with chocolate, wanting to dig into a passion; chocolate seemed like the only logical next step.

In this episode, Carmen dives into the three parts it takes to run a good business: technician, manager, and entrepreneur. She shares where her weakness lies within the three, as well as her strong suits. From this, Carmen goes into how she markets and brands her small business, including the creative avenues she came up with during the pandemic.

This episode is now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen via the podcast player embedded above.

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