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Many people ask us where the name Theo comes from. Anyone who has been on our deliciously fascinating tour can tell you it comes from the latin name of the Cacao tree - Theobroma Cacao, Food of the Gods. In another sense, Theo is all of us, the self-proclaimed Theonistas, we who put a little piece of our heart into the work we do here in the factory. Last October we began a series of interviews with team members, highlighting one Theonista each month in our newsletter. Here is a compendium of all the Theonistas of the Month thus far. Enjoy!!
02/08 01/08 12/07 11/07 10/07
02/08 Rachel is our Theonista of the Month! 
What do you do at Theo?
I'm not sure if they realize this yet, but Theo pays me to socialize, party, and eat chocolate! I give tours and work in the retail store, and sometimes host private events after hours, such as birthdays, benefits, concerts, even wine-tastings! And eat chocolate. A lot.
What is the most interesting thing about working at Theo?
Learning about chocolate - there is a whole world behind it! Most people have no idea chocolate comes from a fruit - else they would stop calling it junk food! - and don't know all of the harvesting, fermenting, roasting, conching, and more that it goes through before it can land on your palate.I love tempting - I mean, enabling people to eat chocolate because it is health food! Fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, potassium - I'm not kidding, read the nutrition facts on our Theo bars! I really geek-out on Mayan and Aztec history, on the molecular structure of cacao - Did you know chocolate is a natural antidepressant!? Theobromine, serotonin, phenylthylamine, tyramine, andandamide. Really, it's a benign love drug! No wonder Aztec kings would drink 50 cups before they would visit their harems! Sharing the Theo Chocolate Love with our customers, and with our farmers and the planet by being Organic and Fair Trade, is the best part of my job!
What is your favorite Theo product?
I'm very into the Ivory Coast direct origin Theo bar - earthy and woodsy, nutty with a hint cinnamon or even coconut sometimes, and a slight sourness - it tastes exactly like I would imagine Ivory Coast would taste like! I close my eyes and picture an exotic steaming jungle.But ultimately, it's the good kharma that makes it so delicious. While over half of the world's cacao supply comes from Ivory Coast, Theo is the first American company to source any Fair Trade beans from there. Ivory Coast has been in the throes of a civil conflict for years, and has born the brunt of scandal about forced labor and unfair working conditions. It hurts me to think that with other companies, there is so much suffering behind the chocolate people give to lovers and use to celebrate holidays. However, with our Theo Bar, I feel inspired that at least some economic stability is going to our farmers in the midst of everything. It gives me hope that if enough consumers take matters into their own hands by demanding Fair Trade, maybe there is hope for a fair economy in the Ivory Coast and everywhere.Who knew!? You can change the world just by eating chocolate!
What are you currently reading?
"The Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy
What food would you be willing to drive all day for?
Pho. I don't think I have a declining marginal utility for it. Last winter, I had on average 4 bowls of pho a week. Most Vietnamese restaurants in the U-District know me by name.
What's your earliest chocolate experience?
I have great memories of making chocolate chip cookies with my mother and two sisters after school, taking turns adding each ingredient, the smell that would waft through our house as they baked. In fact, sometimes I walk in to the factory when we are conching and the smell transports me back - not to a specific memory, but a powerful feeling of hominess hangs in the air. It's the best!
What is your favorite Eco-Tip or Eco-Action?
Recycled fashion! I buy almost all my clothes second hand. I feel better that they are not coming from a sweatshop or creating more pollution, and it forces me to have more creativity and individuality with what I wear. I'm all about St. Vincent de Paul and Salvation Army, where the proceeds go to programs to help get homeless people of the streets. Buffalo Exchange is great too!
01/08 Chris is our Theonista of the Month! 
What do you do at Theo?
You could say I'm the floater of the factory crew. I have multiple jobs and responsibilities that I bounce between depending on where I'm needed. One of my main jobs is managing inclusion production, which means overseeing the creation of all the flavor inclusions in the 3400 Phinney bars, such as toasting and grinding breadcrumbs for delicious Bread and Chocolate bar, or cooking the nib brittle for our Nib Brittle bar. You can also find me running the bar depositor, the wrapping machine, refining chocolate liquor, hand milling liquor samples from new beans, helping research new Phinney flavors, or just generally taking care of our equipment and organization in the factory and kitchen.
What do you like best about your job?
The people... plain and simple. I have always said, despite how cool a job it is making chocolate, the most interesting thing about working at Theo is the people I get to work with every day. They are like my family and they are what keeps me coming back for more. So to all the Theonistas - don't change a thing, you are all awesome and You Are Who Theo Is!!!
What is your favorite Theo product?
In my book, the heavy hitters on my favorites list are Bread and Chocolate and Nib Brittle, and our addictive Lemon and Burnt Sugar confections. That is a powerhouse lineup.
What is your passion in life?
Aside from chocolate, my greatest passion in life is creative expression through a number of different outlets. My main passion right now is cars. I have a Honda Civic EG Coupe that I have taken from a broken down piece of junk and turned into something worthwhile. Few things bring me more satisfaction than creating something from nothing, especially when combined with something that fuels the mechanical part of my brain as much as working on Hondas does. Some other creative outlets for me have been drawing, painting, lego building when I was younger, drama, stained glass in high school, cooking, baking, and chocolate and centerpiece art at the Art Institute.
What food would you drive all day for?
It's hard to choose just one... First would be the Veal chop at Tulio's Ristorante, and second would be the signature Theonista favorite - the pulled pork sandwich from Paseo's.
What is your earliest chocolate memory?
My first experience working with chocolate was in my Baking and Pastry class at the Art Institute. Chef Smith taught me much of what I know about chocolate and really inspired my passion and love of working in this medium. She was really my chocolate mentor. It was an honor to work with her mentor, Fran Bigelo of Fran's Chocolates, and definitely the most potent chocolate experience outside of my work with Theo.
Do you have a favorite Eco-Action?
My favorite Eco-Tip would simply be the act of being conscious of the role you play in creating waste. I recycle and compost, and I make a point of using synthetic motor oil in all my cars. Not only do I have to change the oil less often, it increases fuel efficiency, reduces carbon dioxide emissions, and reduces dependency on foreign oil. Not everyone is a Greenpeace hero, but everyone can do their part to help the environment.
12/07 Theonista of the Month:Mackenzie
What do you do at Theo?
I handle all of the orders that come from customers. That means if you don't own a store and you order some chocolate from us, I'm the one who makes sure it gets done. I also work in the store and give tours.
What is the most interesting thing about working at Theo?
That's a hard one. I think the most interesting thing about working at Theo is how much I love my job. I don't know too many people who look forward to going to work. I love the fact that every day I go to work knowing that I am helping make a positive difference in peoples' lives, and I am certain that I am not contributing to deterioration of our environment or the exploitation of human beings (it is truly guilt free chocolate!) Also, the wonderful customers. I've heard a lot of horror stories about customer service, but all my customers are so happy, I mean how angry can you be when you are eating chocolate? It's also the people I work with - they are amazing. Every day is so much fun and everyone is so caring and happy. And well, the free chocolate! I mean, wow, what more can you ask for than free chocolate? Forget everything else, it's all about the chocolate.
What is your favorite Theo product?
I can't actually talk about that. My favorite product is not on the shelves yet - it's top secret. I'm sorry, but wow is it amazing!
What is your greatest passion in life?
As a full time student who also has a job, it's hard for me to find time, much less think of outside passions. During the summer, I like to create period clothing from the 1860s and participate in Civil War reenactment. Don't laugh at me!!!
What food would you be willing to drive all day for?
When I was in 5th grade and living in Costa Rica, I went hiking in the jungle, and in a remote village some locals were selling all these amazing foods. I bought a huge multicolored sucker, and it was amazing. I tellyou I haven't forgotten the taste of that sucker and I don't think I ever will. If someone told me where I could find a sucker like that again, I would drive not just all day, but for months to get one.
What is your earliest chocolate experience?
When I was ten, I was super amazing at the pogo stick. I used to go to parks and ride my stick all up and down the play structures. In fact, I was so good at it, I used to set out a hat and people would put money in there for me. It was a really great way to make some extra cash, One day my sister andI went to the gas station to buy some candy, and there was a sale on some kind of chocolate bar, I forget which one. We went a little crazy and I ended up eating about twenty of them. After that, we went to the park so I could make some money from my pogo stick skills. Everything was going just fine until my stomach started to hurt from all the bouncing up and down, and you can probably imagine the rest. I'd have to say my first chocolate memory wasn't the best, It's a wonder I work with it today with that traumatic experience lurking in my past.
What's your favorite eco-action?
Put a brick or heavy object in the clean water tank of your toilet. it helps save water!
11/07 Team Member Spotlight: Steve!
What do you do at Theo?
I'm a chocolatier, which means I hand make the fillings inside your confections using granite table tops to temper the fillings to the perfect consistency. In other words, I make creamy and delicious slices of heaven, and each bite is accompanied by a chorus of cherub-like angels......I'm a confectionist-perfectionist!
What is the most interesting thing about working at Theo?
I would have to say, it's the people. I have developed some great friendships at Theo, and it's one of those rare work environments where there is a sense of family, and that what we do makes a difference in our community - and the world, for that matter.
What is your favorite Theo product?
I think that just choosing one is like choosing only one of your kids to love more....it makes the other chocolate sad! I like our single origin line of chocolate bars the best though. I love the distinctiveness of flavors, it's like tasting a country! My favorite single origin bar is the Madagascar.
What is your greatest passion in life (outside of chocolate)?
My greatest passion outside of work is music. I've played drums for about 17 years and have been in many bands and toured the country. It was also through my last band that I met the most wonderful person in my life, Crystal, who also works at Theo. How adorable is that!?
What food would you be willing to drive all day for?
Recently we took a vacation in California and Crystal took me to this amazing little bakery in her home town. It's the first time I ever had pan dulce and empenadas which are like fruit filled sweet bread that are to die for. I would drive all day for that. Which we did!
What's your earliest chocolate experience?
Like most people, my first chocolate experience was through that wonderful chap the Easter bunny. My mom got me a chocolate Easter bunny which I ate most of and wore the rest as facial decor. It is how I still maintain my youthful glow.
What's your favorite eco-tip or eco-action?
Use cloth bags at the store. It will help you avoid the avalanche of plastic bags that you end up stuffing in a cupboard, and possibly avoid serious neck or head trauma.
10/07 Team Member Spotlight: Nathan!
What do you do at Theo?
I am one of the cocoa roasters at Theo. We take raw cocoa beans and roast them in our 1937 German cast iron roaster until they have reached the pinnacle of their flavor development. This point is judged solely on tasting, which means we get the award for eating the most cocoa beans of any other employees at Theo.
What is the most interesting thing about working at Theo?
I sometimes forget how special it is that we are the only company in the U.S. that is currently making chocolate from Fair Trade and organic cocoa beans. It is a real privilege and source of pride to be a part of this team.
What is your favorite Theo product?
The Single Origin Ghana Bar. It's not only incredibly delicious but also extremely versatile as a baking chocolate.
What are you currently reading?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I am looking for inspiration to be more mischievous.
What food would you be willing to drive all day for?
If France were accessible by car I would make the morning commute for fresh croissants - every day.
What's your earliest chocolate experience?
I was in Paris with my parents when I was about seven years old and I ordered chocolate mousse for dessert. The waiter brought the largest bowl of mousse I have ever seen to this day and left me a serving spoon and a bowl to help myself. No joke it was at least two and half gallons strong. I was in heaven.
What's your favorite eco-tip or eco-action?
I still pick plastic six-pack rings off of the ground and cut them up so birds won't get stuck in them; an unforgettable life lesson from Captain Planet.
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