The pros and cons of being the face of your business.

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]First question, you personally are front and center with the storytelling and strategy for Shoka. How has that evolved? What are the pros and cons of this personalitydriven approach over the time of the 14 years as I have changed and evolved as a person, so has the marketing online. It began with me because there was no one else and I was very curious if anyone cared if they liked it. just showing people what I made to see who was my audience and what products people would be interested in.

[00:00:29]And so it's really to gather a lot of information. Soon after I did hire a team, open a brick and mortar and then had two children shortly after. So the business started to grow really really fast head down in survival mode trying to support all of the people that suddenly I was responsible for. And so honestly the easiest, cheapest, fastest way was just for me to do it. I also had an incredible team, but everybody was camera shy. During the pandemic shifted again, was at home with a three and 5-year-old trying to save the business and so it was really personal. A lot of things started to show more lifestyle being at home. My kids were doing the taste testing. I also jumped on TikTok during that time because I was back in the kitchen making chocolates with my other chocolier and we both love dancing and so as a break we would just dance and we would do the Tik Tok trends for fun. I had no idea how much people cared or thought that that was entertaining.

[00:01:20]And then that's when it really started to share more of our story, why we do things, showing us, being out in the community, making things by hand, really telling our story more because our mission kind of shifted to bringing peace to our world, one chocolate story at a time. And that's how the book came out and how I got out into the community more. Today we do a lot more reals, YouTube, and I'm still here, still being the face. And that's by choice because I really want to show people that I'm still loving this. I want to be here.

[00:01:47]And even though my role is shifted, I will continue to do this so long as God has allowed us to. And that's really how the strategy has evolved as I evolved.

[00:01:55]There's pros and cons to this personality approach. I think it really, really depends on the person. As the entrepreneur and the business owner, you really have to make the decision for yourself if this is what you want to do or not. Like I said, I grew up loving the stage. love performing. So, for me, it wasn't a big deal. I didn't really think of it as me being front and center. It was always about how do I get my messaging out? How do I entertain or how do I add value to the other person?

[00:02:20]And so, if that was being on camera, then that was totally fine. And I think the cons are, you know, sometimes you go out and people recognize you. So, you might have to feel like you're always on. You're also very much tied to your company and your brand. So, the success and failure of that really becomes a part of your identity. sometimes. Some of the pros though are for me, I think it's just so much more fun to integrate work, life, life, work, whatever. It's more fluid. It's more authentic for me.

[00:02:47]I don't mind if I see people out in the community because I like to connect with people. So, if that's an opportunity for me to encourage, educate, or empower, then I'm happy to have chocolates be that platform that allows me to do