Shawn Askinosie

After a career of nearly two decades as a criminal defense lawyer, Shawn Askinosie took his passion for community service and translated it into a specialty chocolate business known for both the quality of its products and its ethical sourcing practices.

“All businesses have a responsibility to the community,” he says. “And, community can be defined by many things—it can be defined by the literal neighborhood where the business is, or the city, or it could even be the supply chain that the business utilizes.”

Founded in 2006, Askinosie Chocolate was among the first artisanal chocolate makers in the U.S., and was also a pioneer in the direct trade of cocoa beans, buying directly from farmers around the world to both ensure high quality and fair treatment of farm workers. The company makes its chocolate in small batches in its small factory in Springfield, Missouri, where it also operates a retail store.

While the concept of paying $10 or $15 for a bar of chocolate was almost unheard of when he started his business, many consumers have increasingly come to understand the importance of ethical sourcing and the value of the product overall, Askinosie says.

He says he believes businesses can help solve some of the world’s problems in ways that governments and nonprofits cannot. He created Chocolate University, which he says seeks “to inspire students, through the lens of artisanal chocolate making,” to realize their opportunities to be good global citizens. About five years ago, he formed the Askinosie Foundation, which welcomes donors to support its charitable projects—it funded the construction of a preschool in a village in Tanzania where it sources cocoa beans, for example.

Askinosie says he is now enjoying working with his daughter, Lawren Askinosie, who is the chief marketing officer for the company.

“Of all of the things that I do and have done in this business, the chance to work with her is the most gratifying,” he says.