Emcee Singapore: Charmaine chatted with Janice Wong who is famously known as the “dessert queen” for establishing her first business i.e. 2am:dessertbar in Holland Village in 2007, and opened more dessert bars and pop-ups  in other locations in Melbourne, Tokyo and Macau. 

Janice’s passion for desserts led her to pursue extensive training and work with notable chefs in the field. After graduating in economics at NUS, she went to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to further her culinary skills. She then spent time learning and honing her craft by working alongside renowned chefs including Will Goldfarb at Room 4 Dessert in Manhattan.

Janice’s most recent business venture, Pure Imagination, a bean-to-bar concept chocolate brand focused on cocoa purity, fair trade, and sustainability. Its first location opened in the Great World shopping centre, complete with a small-batch chocolate factory.

Tune in to the Inside the Spotlight 💫 podcast episode and hear what Janice has to say on making an impact by:

• Empowering women to work directly with smallholder farmers in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Philippines, and Thailand to produce small-batch chocolate bars, and
• Having produced the first few batches of Singapore’s first single-origin chocolate, Janice is on track to plant 1,000 cacao trees.

Beyond her successful business ventures. emcee Singapore Charmaine Yee had an insightful conversation with Janice. It is always fascinating to learn more about her childhood and what Janice was like growing up. 

Charmaine delved into some interesting topics during the podcast. She asked Janice what listeners were curious to know i.e. is she looking for love and what she may be looking for in a partner. 

Charmaine opened up the discussion on Janice’s experiences as a woman in a mostly male-dominated scene. They touched on issues of inspiration, diversity and representation in the culinary world.

It’s always exciting to get a sneak peek at what’s next for Janice’s ventures and her upcoming plans in Singapore. 

Listen to the full Inside the Spotlight 💫 podcast here – https://www.awedio.sg/podcast-ep/de9cebc3-8de2-489b-b797-afda009ed141/ 

View vignettes of what Janice has to say about :  

Helping farmers – (193) Inside The Spotlight with Janice Wong on having the power to help farmers – YouTube

F&B ‘Law’ – (193) Inside The Spotlight with Janice Wong – F&B Law – YouTube

Culinary inspiration – (193) Inside The Spotlight on where Janice gets her inspiration from eating grass and dirt – YouTube