"Ava J. Holmes is a cacao educator, storyteller, speaker, and co-founder of Women of Cacao, a global community connecting women across the cacao and chocolate world — from genetics, farming, and post-harvest to chocolate making, science, education, and ceremony. Her work bridges myth, history, science, and magic, weaving together origin research, cultural storytelling, sensory experience, and modern cacao education.

With roots in both the worlds of fashion and conservation field research, Ava’s path into cacao began through immersive work in the Peruvian Amazon, where direct experience with cacao at origin transformed both her professional direction and personal relationship to the plant. She now creates workshops, talks, courses, and media that invite people into a richer understanding of cacao — as food, medicine, culture, ritual, and living ecology.

Through Women of Cacao, Ava helps foster cross-industry collaboration, elevate women’s leadership, and create spaces where ancestral knowledge, scientific rigor, and deep love for cacao meet."