Sarahbeth Yeli Marshall is the Founder and Chief Chocolate Officer of Yelibelly Chocolates. She started her career as a registered dietician with a Master's Degree in Nutrition and Food Science, and worked for 15 years in the food service industry before falling into the dark side of chocolate.
Yeli has been studying and performing the art of Middle Eastern belly dancing since 1999, and on one of her travels to Italy, she discovered flavor-infused chocolates. She brought back that inspiration and started making her own chocolates in 2007 and since then, she has worked at perfecting various flavors to entice her family and friends.
Yeli started selling her chocolates around the Metroplex and at a dance studio where she taught belly dancing. After searching for a name that truly told the story about her chocolates, a friend suggested melding her name and her passion for dance, thus Yelibelly Chocolates was born. Yeli still performs from time to time around the Dallas area, and she also teaches nutrition and healthy cooking classes.
Sarahbeth Yeli Marshall fell in love with flavor-infused chocolates while on a trip in Italy so much that she was inspired to start making her own when she got back home. When she no longer found happiness in her career as a dietician, her husband encouraged her to start a chocolate-making business and since then, there’s been no turning back for Yeli.
The journey of entrepreneurship has been enlightening for Yeli and things she learned in the process is something that she hopes to share with other women.
Join Andrea Heuston on this episode of Lead Like a Woman Show where she interviews Sarahbeth Yeli Marshall about chocolate and about chocolates and belly dancing. Yeli talks about how she came to start a business enterprise around chocolate, the challenges she faced growing her business, and the lessons she learned that she hopes other women can learn from. Stay tuned.
