E148: Shawn Askinoise - Where do we find our calling?

In 2006, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal
defense lawyer to start a bean-to-bar chocolate factory and never
looked back.


Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch, award winning chocolate
factory located in Springfield, Missouri, sourcing 100% of their
beans directly from farmers. Shawn travels to regions of Ecuador,
the Amazon, the Philippines, and Tanzania to source cocoa beans
for his chocolate. They open their books to farmers, translating
financials into their language and profit share with them.


Recently named by Forbes “One of the 25 Best Small Companies in
America”, the Askinosie Chocolate mission is to serve their
farmers, their neighborhood, their customers, and each other,
sharing the Askinosie Chocolate experience by leaving the world a
better place than they found it. So far the company has provided
over a million school lunches to malnourished children in
Tanzania and the Philippines, without any donations. Founded at
the forefront of the American craft chocolate revolution and
regarded by many as a vanguard in the industry.


Shawn was named by O, The Oprah Magazine “One of 15 Guys Who Are
Saving the World.” Shawn has been awarded honorary doctorates
from the University of Missouri-Columbia and Missouri State
University. Seth Godin, entrepreneur, and author, recently
praised the company’s model: “[Shawn] has built a practice of
creating a worthwhile luxury good that directly benefits people.
Not sort of. Not a little. But directly.”


Shawn's book, recently released, co-written with his daughter
Lawren, published by Penguin titled "Meaningful Work: The Quest
To Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul" is
an Amazon #1 New Release. Read Seth Godin's review of the book
here. He is a Family Brother at Assumption Abbey, a Trappist
monastery near Ava, Missouri and the co-founder of Lost &
Found, a grief center serving children and families in Southwest
Missouri.


To inquire about a chocolate tasting or a general speaking
engagement, please visit my blog. 


Learn more about Shawn at: https://askinosie.com/


Please leave a review or send us a Voice note letting us know
what you enjoyed at:


Back2Basics reconnecting to the essence of YOU (podpage.com)


Follow us on IG and FB @Back2BasicsPodcast