ODU M.B.A. Student's Creations are a Chocolate-Lover's Dream
May 27, 2015
Lucy King greeted her husband Wesley's entire submarine crew with homemade truffles and chocolate chip cookies earlier this month. She is writing a book about truffle-making.
Old Dominion University M.B.A. student Lucy King doesn't want to be "pigeonholed" as just an excellent maker of chocolates. She also makes award-winning jewelry, and other crafts that she wants to market and sell.
But, oh, those chocolates.
"I've always had a passion for chocolate, ever since I was a little girl," said King, who moved to Hampton Roads last fall with her husband Wesley, a submariner in the U.S. Navy. Particularly, Lucy King's discriminating palate has always flavored rich, European chocolate.
"Everything's better homemade, so I thought I'd figure out how to make them myself," she said.
In the past two years, King has been an amateur food chemist, trying different shapes and recipes of the truffles as her passion.
In addition to providing chocolates to her husband's submarine crew, King is working on a book on the art of homemade truffle making.
"The book will have 50 different flavors of truffles, along with examples of 25 different design themes," she said, including Thanksgiving-themed truffles and sweets for St. Patrick's Day as well as other occasions.
She already has several future buyers of her book: enthusiastic fans of her chocolates in the Strome College of Business M.B.A. office, where King works as a graduate assistant.
"Lucy is unique in that she has been an engineer by profession and has this amazing talent for making truffles and pastries, which are fabulous," said Kiran Kirande, associate dean of the Strome College and M.B.A. program director. "The best part is that she uses this talent to serve the community."
Most recently, King met her husband's submarine, the U.S.S. Helena, when it arrived back in Hampton Roads May 15 after a six-month deployment. She was bearing 400 truffles, 300 chocolate chip cookies and 200 brownies for crew members.
"I wanted to make them for the sailors as a celebration. My husband hasn't been able to eat my chocolate for six months," King said.
Her next goal is to finish the book and look at publishing options. King intends to reach out to the Strome Entrepreneurial Center to create a business plan for her venture. Because her ultimate goal isn't to just be someone who makes sumptuous chocolates.
"I don't want to pigeonhole myself into only making truffles," King said. She sold homemade jewelry online when she lived in Louisiana, and King plans to resume that business when the truffle book is finished.
She hopes that her next project will include inspiring passion for her jewelry designs, as well as her desserts. "I guess you could say I'm in the business of being a do-it-yourself perfectionist," she said.