CHLOE DOUTRE-ROUSSEL is a former chocolate buyer at Fortnum & Mason, and author of the book The Chocolate Connoisseur. Before that she spent 12 years working in different fields, in many different countries, film and advertising, United Nations, Ladurée, l’Oréal. During this time she led a double life. All her spare time was devoted to chocolate. As a child, the only sweet food she enjoyed was chocolate. When she moved aged 14 from South America to France, she discovered the enormous range of chocolate bars available in the supermarket and decided to taste all of them, comparing them and taking notes. All her life she has been eager to learn more, and to open more chocolate horizons. She has visited plantations, factories and tasted everything from bean to bar, from bar to filled chocolates.

Her unique cocktail of dedication and energy, her uncompromising attitude to quality and her almost religious devotion to chocolate allowed her to become a self-taught ‘choco’-expert. Her biggest joy has been to share the rich dimension that chocolate has brought into her life. In Paris, she organised monthly chocolate-evenings for a wide public. In 1999, she founded the Association Carrement Chocolat, allowing her to formalise her various professional activities: consultancy, seminars, conferences, tasting courses, and training of sales teams from different chocolate brands.

Joining the AOC is a natural extension of her choco-mission. Along with other members, she is delighted to widen the scope at a time of a real global revolution.