After more than 20 years in the food industry, Steven Taylor (’17) wanted to make a difference in his local community using his hobby: chocolate making.
He and his wife, Kim, had already become actively involved with International Justice Mission, an organization that combats human trafficking. In the Richmond area, where the Taylors live, human trafficking is a growing problem.
“We started looking at what the needs were for survivors of human trafficking, and one of them was job training,” Taylor said.
After asking their friends to pray, the Taylors opened Taylor Made Chocolate, an artisan chocolate business dedicated to giving survivors a second chance. The company has begun selling their chocolate in gourmet food stores, chocolate shops, and wineries all down the East Coast. They also hold tours at their factory in Chesterfield, Va.
“People are starting to make a more socially conscious decision in their purchasing,” Taylor said. “About 80 percent of all cocoa beans around the world are produced from slave labor. Our goal is to try and produce a chocolate made from fair trade-sourced cocoa beans and use our company as a training facility for people freed from human trafficking.”
Taylor left his job and took on the chocolate business full time in 2017. He also earned his degree in executive leadership from LU that year. He said the degree helped him prepare for the new venture.
“I had to take an entrepreneurship class (at Liberty) and right when we were starting to consider opening this business, one of the things we had to do for the class was develop a business plan for a company we might want to start,” Taylor said. “I was able to get constant feedback on my business plan as I was writing it.”
Last summer, the Taylors trained and hired their first survivor after partnering with several organizations that combat human trafficking in the Richmond area.
“In this case, the girl went to the hospital with an injury, and the first responder asked her if she felt safe, and she said no,” Taylor said. “She unloaded everything on them, and it turned out she had been kept as a slave in a domestic household. She was removed from that situation and brought to an organization in Richmond that helps people rescued from human trafficking. They set her up with housing and transportation and connected her with us. We brought her in and started training her in manufacturing and food preparation, which are very portable skills. She trained with us for about four months, and she has now moved on to her next destination.”
Taylor said he is grateful for his time at Liberty and was amazed at the different perspectives he was able to learn from.
“Being in the executive leadership online degree program, I was exposed to people in the military, police officers, and a bunch of other fields,” Taylor said. “I really enjoyed getting perspectives from people all around the world. It was encouraging to see that there were so many different Christians in so many different areas in the corporate world and in the military and public sectors. That was really exciting to see. It gives you a little hope in the world knowing that there are Christian leaders coming through Liberty’s online programs. I wasn’t expecting that experience, being able to get such a broad kind of perspective and experience.”
Read more about Taylor Made Chocolate at TMChocolate.com.
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