When I met Sarah she was working at the Radio Building in High Point, NC. It's an historical building with incredibly elegant architecture and now a showroom for at least four brands of furniture.
We got to talking and she mentioned that she makes chocolates. I immediately expressed an interest because breakfast had been way too early and lunch wasn't coming soon enough. I was hangry (not a typo!)
She said it I could wait for a bit, she'd go upstairs to get me some. Imagine my surprise when she returned 15 minutes later and I found out the building has no elevator. She'd climbed 8 flights of stairs just to deliver some chocolates to a stranger.
Then I got the story. About 10 years earlier when she and her husband were living in upstate New York, she'd been laid off. The only job she could find was with Michael's Arts and Crafts stores. In fact, they were the only employer hiring and hired about 6 women at the same time.
Only two, Sarah and another, had any experience crafting so they were promoted to lead the consumer classes. The other women hired at the same time didn't think this was fair and were rude and mean to Sarah. Sarah decided to try to win them over with chocolate.
Her first foray into chocolate was chocolate covered pretzels. It worked, the women mellowed out and were no longer mean girls. Sarah was having fun and kept going with chocolate creations. The two she brought me were exquisite, one was raspberry chocolate with a delicate raspberry dusting and the other an orange jewel equally delicious and unique.
While Sarah may work for the Radio Building, like most of High Point, NC it's only open twice a year for the largest furniture market in the world. The rest of the time she juggles her thriving chocolate business as well as vintage furniture restoration and furniture design.
And it all started because of the mean girls.
