At the tender age of 46 Bill Brown tapped in to his creative mind which had been subdued for nearly four decades, his creations were chocolate. It took friends, family and colleagues by surprise that Bill, a successful man who climbed the corporate ladder to the top would quit his well-paid job to sell chocolates in a cafe in Florida. It's that naivete and creative freedom, coupled with his passion and enthusiasm that has led Bill to become so successful, and serves as a constant innovator in the chocolatier community. In 2012 Bill was ranked as the third best chocolatier in the world. In todays episode we hear about the path that led to William Dean Chocolates success.

The DotCom Crash left Darleen unemployed and very uncertain of finding secure work. She took her savings and passion for excellent, transparent and sustainable coffee to Park Slope, Brooklyn to create Gorilla Coffee which became one of the most successful micro-roasteries on the east coast and laid the foundation independent coffee shops in Brooklyn. Two years ago Darleen took those same values and started from scratch once again to open Supercrown Coffee Roasters in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

With a belief mixers should be of equal quality and beauty as their alcoholic counterpart, Q Tonic was born. Twelve years later Q Drinks carries seven products that can be found in bars and homes around the world. With a degree in public policy and a career in urban development Jordan forged an unlikely career change that brought him to develop a soda company revered by mixologists around the world.

After falling out of love with finance Matt dipped his toe in hospitality as an investor in one of the most revered cocktail bars in New York City, Employees Only. He then went on to make a name for himself with The Beatrice Inn but has now moved to a quieter part of town and is integrating in to the Tribeca neighborhood with four restaurants to his name.

From finance and fashion, Hannah and Marian Cheng left successful careers to bring traditional and healthy Chinese dumplings to New York City. In this episode Hannah Cheng comes on the show to chat about her childhood, her fathers unusual love for juicing onions, the stress and joy of opening a restaurant and what makes Mimi Cheng's dumplings so special.

With a self-described 'plain vanilla' upbringing in the suburbs of D.C. where at least one parent of each of his friends was a lawyer, it was almost set in scripture that Marc would follow a career in the corporate world.

After college Marc founded a telecommunications company with friends which led him to London for a few years. Eventually he acknowledged his passion did not lie in technology and sought to rediscover his passions through an MBA at Colombia University.

10 years later the Hill Country Hospitality Group are celebrating their 10 year anniversary and now have six locations including three Hill Country Chicken Spaces throughout New York and D.C.

Debbie Wei Mullin is passionate about poverty alleviation. After visiting her relatives in Vietnam at 15 years of age she decided to dedicate her career to community empowerment and providing opportunities to those less fortunate.

That passion led her to work for the World Bank where she felt she could make a lasting impact within one of the most powerful global institutions with a mission of poverty alleviation. Instead, it was a bureaucratic machine that made her feel ineffective and unempowered.

Debbie bravely shunned her comfortable and lucrative career to pursue more effective projects. Initially she developed Wei Pantry, which provides a luxury oil and vinegar from Vietnam. She has now developed Copper Cow Coffee, a portable Vietnamese pour-over coffee kit. Vietnamese Coffee, she believes is the gateway Coffee as it is so palatable.

The quality of her products speak for themselves and their success is intrinsically linked to economic opportunities in rural parts of Vietnamese.

I'm really looking forward to having Debbie return to the show in the future to discuss the success of Copper Cow Coffee. To learn more about her products visit weipantry.com and coppercowcoffee.com

Donal Skehan has created a remarkable career for himself in the food world. As an author of seven cookbooks and the host to fourteen cooking shows in four countries he has showcased the power keeping food simple and accessible. Donal's career in front of the camera began in a very different setting, he was involved in two different pop groups in his early twenties but left his music career behind in pursuit of his true passion. His blog, Good Mood Food, quickly evolved to a book deal and a tv show, now at 30 years of age he is chasing new opportunities since relocating to LA. He joins me on the show today to talk about his new cookbook, Fresh, life in the states and his more holistic lifestyle in recent years.

In the concrete jungle of New York City agriculture is sparse but Brooklyn Grange have developed the worlds largest rooftop soil farms which produce over 50,000 lbs of organically cultivated produce per year. Ben Flanner, President and Director of Agriculture, joins me on the show today as we discuss his circuitous route to farming, how two rooftop farms can supply some of New York City's finest restaurants including, The Spotted Pig, Gramercy Tavern, and Roberta's, and how his early years in consulting and financial management have impacted his farming practices.

This week I made the trip Poughkeepsie to chat with Darryl Mosher at the CIA campus. Darryl left a lucrative position at IBM in search of nature which led to a 70 acre family run farm. After two decades on the farm Darryl turned to the academic world to share his knowledge with the next generation at CIA. Darryl lectures in product knowledge and applied food studies, and shares a refreshing opinion on how our broken food system can be mended. Part of the baby boomer generation we also talk about the shift in mindset from money to fulfillment and happiness with the current generation of CIA graduates compared to when Darryl was graduating college. If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe and rate the show with your podcast provider.