Katrina Markoff (born 1973) is an American entrepreneur and chocolatier. She is the founder and CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a gourmet chocolate company based in Chicago. She was chosen as the Women Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007 by Open American Express & Entrepreneur Magazine. She is the recipient of Fortune Magazine's 40 under 40, the Bon Appétit Food Artisan of the Year Award, and was named "the innovator in chocolate to lead the US through the next 30 years" by

Food & Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...

Early life

She was born in 1973 in

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

Indiana. The middle child of Michelle Rousseff and John Markoff. Her father was

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

while her mother was of half

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and half

descent. She has an older brother Jonathan and a younger sister Natalie. Before discovering her calling as a chocolatier, Markoff graduated from Vanderbilt University majoring in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and psychology, then moved to Paris to attend culinary school at

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...

Business career

Markoff launched her gourmet chocolate company Vosges Haut-Chocolat in 1998.

Personal life

Markoff lives in Chicago with her husband Jason and their two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markoff, Katrina 1973 births Living people American people of Macedonian descent American women company founders American company founders Businesspeople from Chicago Vanderbilt University alumni American people of Polish descent