Truffles: Tell us about your job.
Nelli: I do all kinds of things here, and I really like that I get to do so many different things. Most of the time I’m in the kitchen making candy. I run it through the machines, and I often help out new people and I get to train them.
Truffles: Which products do you like to make?
Nelli: I really enjoy making the chocolate bombs – they’re fun to put together and every bomb is different. They take a little practice to get the hang of. Once they’re done, we decorate them. Lots of valentine heart bombs this time of year.
Truffles: Was it hard to come up with the bomb?
Nelli: Chocolate is really sensitive. We had to play around with the recipe for the vegan bomb and we were going to go with the same recipe for the regular bombs, but it wasn’t easy to get what we wanted. I did manage to come up with one that turned out really well and that’s the one we went with.
Truffles: Congrats on that achievement. What’s the hardest part of your job?
Nelli: I guess the hardest part is during the Christmas rush, when there’s a lot of things going on. It’s so busy and we’re all doing everything we can to keep up with it. For the most part, I really love my job. I really enjoy it here.
Truffles: Do you have a favorite chocolate?
Nelli: Because I come from Europe, I really like anything with hazelnut in it, but I do also like the peppermint truffle we have seasonally. I should also add that I’ve probably tried all of our products.
Truffles: What’s it like working for Ines?
Nelli: I think it’s awesome. She’s such an inspiring person. She always has advice and when she teaches you something, you remember it for a long time. I started here when I was 16 and I still remember what she’s taught me about life and work in general.
Truffles: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy?
Nelli: I love animals - I have 5 cats. So when I have free time, I spend a lot of it with my cats. I just love hanging out with them. For the most part, they all get along. My mom helped naming them and we came up with Fluffy, Marina, Zoey, Stella, Litten for their names.
I also really enjoy listening to the radio. I always seem to have the radio on. My friends kid me about listening to the radio so much.
Truffles: Favorite band?
Nelli: Evanescence
Truffles: Other hobbies?
Nelli: I really love animals. In addition to my cats, I’ve been working with bees for some time. Since my father passed away, I’ve been looking after some of his bees. When I first started working with them, I was afraid, but now I’m comfortable with them.