Ashley Ugarte
San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Ashley Ugarte is a chef and chocolatier currently leading the confections program at Dandelion Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate company based in San Francisco. Her combined passions for health, sustainability, and cacao have intertwined to inform her latest project as Founder and CEO of Hijita, a wellness company rooted in heritage that transforms Mexican heirloom cacao and botanicals into traditional drinks, functional lattes, and craft chocolate inspired by her Mexican culture. Ashley formerly worked as the program coordinator for Conscious Kitchen and spent many years as an intern and fellow for Turning Green. She holds a BA in Health and Environmental Science from Rice University, with research experience in environmental health and integrative medicine from Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.