RENA L. POCRASS

Rena Pocrass, President of Chocolates à la Carte ®, was born in Youngstown, Ohio. She studied business at Ohio State University and graduated from a New York fashion design school, Tobe-Coburn. Rena worked in fashion merchandising in Kaufmann's Department stores in Pittsburgh and the Allied buying office in New York. In 1982, she turned a hobby and personal interest in chocolate into a successful business by opening, with a partner, a retail chocolate store, Sweet Fantasies, in Encino, California. After opening the business for four years, Rena decided she would rather design wholesale products and came up with a new chocolate specialty dessert idea for chefs.

Rena developed a line of hand-molded chocolate containers and in 1986 Chocolates à la Carte ® was founded. Rena is responsible for new product development and supporting the sales efforts. As President, Rena has not forgotten our company's roots, still visiting one on one with customers and traveling the world scouting the upcoming trends in desserts. Rena's accomplishments have been featured in many articles such as USA Today (August 9-11, 1996) and Working Woman (February 2000).

Rena is an active sponsor of many homeless and food bank projects including Meals on Wheels, Share our Strength (SOS), Chef and the Child Foundation, L.I.F.E. (Love is Feeding Everyone), the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and City of Hope. She is also active in professional organizations such as the Chefs de Cuisine Association of California, the American Culinary Federation, U.S. Pastry Alliance, Les Toques Blanches and the National Association of Catering Executives. Rena is on the Board of Directors of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP).

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