Kean Features COCO JOLIE for Women Entrepreneurship Week

By Tiye Bracy| Published by November 26, 2020

In honor of Women Entrepreneurship Week, the Women and Gender Studies Program at Kean hosted a webinar online via Zoom on Nov. 2. Women Entrepreneurship Week was founded in 2014 by Montclair University. The guest speaker for this event was Miriam Gitelman, Chef and Owner of COCO JOLIE located in Englewood, NJ. 

The webinar started with Miriam introducing her background and business, COCO JOLIE. 

Miriam wasn’t always in the business of making chocolate. She started out in agriculture then later

found herself in the technology industry.

The agriculture field “at the time was not very female friendly, especially if a woman wanted to have a family and other responsibilities outside of work,” Gitelman said.

She enjoyed a career in design, marketing, and technology for 25 years. She has a degree in architecture, and a Professional Pastry Arts degree from the International Culinary Center.

“I started practicing and playing more with chocolate really at home,” Gitelman said.

Miriam worked in various kitchens in New York City, focusing on baking pastries.

“A little over two years ago I founded COCO JOLIE,” Gitelman said.

All chocolate sold at COCO JOLIE is Fair Trade, organic, kosher, and vegan. COCO JOLIE is known for their chocolate bonbon gift boxes. Customers can also purchase chocolate covered candies at this store.

Mariam gave a tour of COCO JOLIE virtually. She showcased the storefront and baking area where all the magic happens. About half way during the event, there was a Q&A portion. All the attendees became panelists and people were able to type in their questions in the chat.

One of the questions asked was “How has COVID played a role in your business?”

She explained that before COVID she did a lot of custom orders with event planners and caterers.

“All of that dried up and then our storefront was closed for several months as well,” Gitelman said.

She continued to sell chocolate online. She had two employees working before the pandemic hit to help with production, but they did not come back due to health reasons. What really saved the business was the start of teaching classes in August.

Another question that was asked is “How do you get out of slumps, on harder days to keep you motivated?”

“Everyone is going to have bad days and hard days, but you still have deadlines, and you still have things that you need to deliver,” Gitelman said.

 

 

 

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