Becoming a pioneer in any industry or space carries unique challenges, especially as a Black woman entrepreneur. But for Jessica Spaulding a love of what she creates, namely chocolate, but more than anything a love of Harlem, is driving her to find a way to meet those challenges.
Spaulding, 38, is the CEO, co-founder, and inspiration behind Harlem Chocolate Factory, Harlem’s only chocolate maker. She and her close friend from Spelman College, Asha Dixon, launched the company in 2015.
Located in Striver’s Row, their signature chocolate bars are shaped like brownstones, reflecting Harlem and Black culture, and they even once made Oprah’s Favorite Things List. The storefront is currently closed while they raise money and restructure, and experiment with ways to secure a larger space. Spaulding says the business has always suffered from its own popularity, and at this rate, would need to make 1,000 of their signature chocolate bars a day to keep up with demand. She ultimately realized that they can no longer attempt to sustain the business alone without turning to the community for support. “My business is bigger than that shop. I need more space. I am literally in there being suffocated,” Spaudling said. She wants there to be more education to the community about how important access to capital is to growing a Black business and understanding the barriers in place. Harlem is home Spaulding is a lifelong Harlemite and carries the spirit of 111th Street and Lenox, where she grew up, throughout her life.
“It was really a communal upbringing,” Spaulding said. “For me, Harlem is home.” Having been on a restrictive diet as a child, Spaulding grew to have a love of chocolate, something she and her mother shared. Every year, she would even attend shows like Salon du Chocolat, an international chocolate event. In these spaces, she noticed there were never any faces who looked like her. She also saw how different chocolate makers were able to package and communicate their culture through this medium. But she could relate to it because since she was a kid, Spaulding had been making small batches of chocolate and baking.
Growing up, though, the idea of being a Black woman entrepreneur was never encouraged or presented as a possibility, Spaulding said.
“The way that it was told to me, (entrepreneurship) was a side hustle, something you do in addition to your job, not something that you do as a job,” Spaudling said.
In her junior year of college, Spaudling gave away samples of chocolate to friends and family, as well as online. Her unique designs included small chocolate afros, bamboo earrings, and cassette tapes.
“If I’m going to talk about Black culture, the Mecca makes sense,” Spaulding said about reflecting Harlem in her chocolate.
Spaulding got back into the business in 2014 after entering a competition with Dixon from the New York Public Library which they won in 2015.
From the start, Spaulding says there were systemic hurdles. The business had secured a large six-figure order, to which they sought out an available Harlem location that was large enough for the necessary production. But she says the New York Economic Development Corporation put up several barriers and red tape. They were even offered a stall in Chelsea Market for the business instead, but she declined in order to stay true to Harlem.
“I think what that move would have reaffirmed was that Black people don’t deserve nice things,” Spaulding said. “You’re supposed to be charged with economic development for our community, and you take something that could be generating money, and you put it in Chelsea.” They ended up missing the large order, and later opened up in the current space in 2018.
Spaudling says businesses need investments to be sustainable as opposed to grants and loans — which must be paid back — and that venture capital firms and angel investors too often are not investing in Black women’s businesses.
“Capital is withheld from Black women,” Spaulding said. “There are invisible boundaries created that make the process of funding difficult, if not impossible.”
In 2021, Black women start-up businesses received just 0.34% of total venture capital funds.
“We can’t afford more loans … We need investment,” Spaulding said. She noted that start-ups typically raise investment from family and friends, and white start-ups fare better than Black ones due to the disparities in wealth between communities. For now, Spaulding and Dixon are continuing to restructure as they seek a larger space. They launched a GoFundMe to reach $50,000 to cover bases while they work toward that goal.
Spaudling says they chose to hold strong in the current space, planning to operate like a regular retail shop because of how much customers love their product, but that it has ultimately led to their need to start the GoFundMe. For her children and her team, she insists they must chart a new path for the business.
“I needed to do this years ago because we could not afford to operate our business … we don’t have access to capital,” Spaulding said. “I held on for us in a way that cost me. I haven’t taken a salary. Asha hasn’t taken a salary … We are open because of our sacrifice, not because it was the best business idea.”
Spaulding says she wants the Harlem community to be able to bear the fruits of its labor and benefit from its own culture.
“Because this is for Harlem, I have to move differently … I have to come to the community and say this thing that belongs to us needs some help,” Spaulding said. “I wish we didn’t. I wish there were another way. But I’m not going anywhere.”