Team sweetriot
- Mastermind and Chief Rioter Sarah Endline
- Mega Catalyst of Cool Systems Halia Chudyk
- Catalyst of Cool Markets Geneve Stewart
- Catalyst of Cool Markets — West Marissa Rukgaber
- Catalyst of Cool Outreach Clare Simone Nehra
- Part-time Rioters
Sarah E Endline > back to top
Sarah used to walk through the cornfield from her small-town home in Michigan to her grandparents' farm. Along the way, this is likely where her dreams of cacao began, or perhaps it was when she danced with the 'Not Just Vanilla' dance group at the age of 9.
During college, Sarah used to host her friends for tractor rides and horseshoes at the Crump Pump Bar - however, it's important to note that she never forced them to play in country ditches or attend the Auburn Cornfest as she had as a child. She grew up with an entire Smurf village toy set, dogs and cats, and loves Slurpees - like big-time.
When Sarah is not climbing a cacao tree, she is found Latin dancing all over the globe or hanging out with family and friends. At 21, she won a stereo in a singing contest in Germany but never received the stereo - guess she wasn't really American Idol material. Nevertheless, Sarah loves to sing a cappella and has done so in Boston, NYC, Germany, Michigan, Seattle, and San Francisco.
After studying in Europe, Sarah's university thesis research took her to Hungary, Kenya, Pakistan, Thailand, Mexico, and Venezuela, which was the first time she circumnavigated the globe and saw Asia, Africa, and Latin America - one minute a safari at 6 am, the next minute salsa at midnight. She has lived, traveled and worked in more than 50 countries. Sarah also loves theater, independent film, and the movie, Grease.
Sarah has launched products, created brands, founded and run organizations, and worked many places like Yahoo!, Microsoft, the World Bank, AIESEC, and The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE); Sarah loves the work at sweetriot best. Sarah has been an active member of many non-profit boards including those for NFTE, Harvard, UMichigan, and AIESEC. Sarah has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from The University of Michigan. (Go Blue!)
Halia Chudyk > back to top
Halia comes to us by way of Scholastic, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. We're happy she's found her home at the riot room.
Halia is a native of NYC where she grew up with her Ukrainian family in the East Village long before it became trendy and gentrified. Back then it was the haunt of hippies, punks and the rest of New York's colorful fringe elements. Growing up in the tight knit immigrant community, she followed all the usual Ukrainian pursuits: ballet and folk dancing, playing the Bandura, spending every summer in the Catskill Mountains and not speaking English until she was five years old.
Being true to her New York roots, she attended New York University where she majored in Economics and Russian and then went on to the part-time program at NYU Stern Business School while working on Wall Street. A series of international assignments with multi nationals followed, including a J&J start-up in Czechoslovakia (before and during its split) and Poland, together with stints in Latin America and other international adventures.
In her spare time, Halia used to run an antique lighting store on weekends and volunteered at the Central Park Zoo, where she became a huge fan of snow monkeys and bats. When not rioting, Halia retreats to her new home in Chelsea with her British beau, Cliff, two beautiful cats, and one furry, friendly rescued dog, Findlay.
Geneve Stewart > back to top
Regular trips to Switzerland to visit family began at a very early age for Geneve—she took her first trip across the Atlantic when she was six months old. It is these very trips that not only made a chocolate lover (and cheese lover) out of her, but also sparked the urge to travel. Her love for travel has taken her from Australia to Zanzibar.
Geneve grew up in Lexington, MA, which is the town famous for being the birthplace of the American Revolution. She left after high school to attend McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Double-majoring in Psychology and Economics, her dad announced that she must be “crazy about money,” which is perhaps what prompted her to move to NYC and pursue a job on Wall Street.
Following her heart, she left NY and moved to West Hartford, CT to be with her boyfriend, Kareem. This is when she became a drug dealer (the legal kind that works for pharmaceutical companies). A few years later when the opportunity arose, Geneve and Kareem moved to California to see if it was really as great as everyone said (it is). It is here that Geneve began to really embrace her love of food, farmers markets, and cooking. And fortuitously met Sarah and learned all about the riot. What was not to love? Let the cacao drug dealing begin. ☺
Marissa Rukgaber > back to top
Spawning from a family of Irish, Italian and Turkish cultures, and partially raised by an Ecuadorian, Marissa loves traveling considers herself lucky to have such an interesting family. From an early age, Marissa has seen her parents traveling and working in fields such as the airlines, restaurateurs, real estate and music, so it's no wonder she's always thinking out of the box and taking on adventures.
One of her first loves, besides chocolate of course, is dance, which she began at the age of three, and continues to do when she can. She loves acting and believes having an artistic outlet is essential to leading a happy life. Oddly enough, Marissa earned her degree in Business Computer Science and has since sworn to never program a computer again, although, she does admit to being a major tech geek and drools over new innovation.
Marissa loves the entrepreneurial spirit and first worked as a commercial real estate broker before discovering sweetriot. She believes that business should always be more than the bottom line and that people and culture are what generates true success. She has also worked in the restaurant industry and has a love for food! One of her favorite treats is Fro-Yo (which she thinks is heavenly once topped with sweetriot).
One of her secrets is she is a compulsive carsinger and cardancer (these really should be new words so I'm not separating them) and she often has fans while driving around (mostly sitting in traffic) on Los Angeles freeways. Before meeting sweetriot, Marissa was on a mission to find the darkest chocolate available. She searched high and low and finally she discovered 100% dark chocolate cacao and an amazing place to work! ☺
Clare Simone Nehra > back to top
Clare was photographed as a baby with a bottle in one hand and a shrimp cocktail in the other. Her specialty eating began early thanks to her loving parents and 3 older siblings. Lamb baby food was one of her all time favorites!
Clare was raised in Michigan, and is extremely proud of her Midwestern roots combined with her German, Norwegian, and Lebanese background. Her outgoing multi-cultural background likely led her to her involvement in dance, swim team, cheerleading, track and soccer. Clare headed East for College to pursue Fashion. After graduating from Marymount University in Virginia with a BA in Fashion Merchandising, she moved to New York City to begin her career and journeyed from Norma Kamali to lingerie design. Eventually, she was the ‘brainchild’ behind an online clothing boutique start-up project, called Fresh Picked Daily, which operated for an exciting year and half. She was determined to find a “home” after her first entrepreneurial adventure, and it came full circle when she met a fellow Michigander, Sarah. The movement to fix the world with something chocolate is contagious, and she returned to her “foodie” roots to become a full time rioter!
When she is not rioting, she enjoys busting a move on the dance floor (thanks to Motown), bowling, hanging with her best friends, seeing live bands, and sometimes staying up late to watch the sunrise on a rooftop in NYC.
At sweetriot, Clare is the Catalyst of Cool Outreach and handles PR, marketing and events and is the ultimate czar of the sweetriot calendar.
Part-time Rioters (friends and students) > back to top
sweetriot has many wonderful rioters who give their time and creativity:
LAUREN ADAMS is a full-time rioter alumna. When not rockin’ out with the riot, Lauren is really into long form improv, is a connoisseur of high-end street food, and enjoys hot Bikram yoga. She also follows the practice of eating for the season: gazpacho in the summer, oatmeal in the winter.
KURT BENDER is undercover secret agent hiding out as a college student in Minnesota. While not doing the usual student activities (ie. avoiding homework, IMing during class, and staying up till 5:00am) he enjoys watching movies, going to the Theatre, and anything else in the arts. Also, like any college other student, he’s addicted to Facebook. But not Red Bull, yet….
HEIDI BLAHNIK is our former Creator of Cool Markets, and continues to riot with us part-time (we assume it is Heidi, and not her identical twin). Growing up in a tiny Wisconsin town, Heidi could have learned to love the Packers and drink beer. Alas, no. But, she took her home-grown love of bratwurst and cheese curds to Europe and studied abroad in London, where she fell in love with both traveling and culinary adventures. To counteract her Flavor 65 habit, she loves to walk NYC, shop, and dance (the cacao dance that is).
JOE FLETCHER is a farm-town boy from Wisconsin who escaped after college at UW-Madison to live in Colombia and India! In his spare time, Joe enjoys beer and sausage and more beer and sausage. (Guess this is a Wisconsin thing.) He can be found on weekends searching the Internet for “Customer Passion” or dancing merengue on his rooftop.
LIZ (SMITH) FREUEN (aka Goddess of Live Events) grew up in the land of tornadoes, one of which tore the roof off her high school. As an only child she discovered hidden talents such as singing in clothes hampers, bending her fingers backwards, speaking to pigs, and an unnatural ability to consume large amounts of chocolate. Currently, she prefers to devour Flavor 65 and loves to riot when she is not being a speech-language pathologist.
JONATHAN GALA works in web design and graphic design, and counts sweetriot.com among his happy flock. He also noodles around a fair amount on the guitar. He has thwarted the theft of a 40 foot inflatable pig with his pocket knife, wandered cross country 4 times, and once ate 7 lbs. of chocolate pudding in 24 hours.
EVELYN GAYNOR is acting, singing, and chocolating her way through life in NYC from her humble beginnings in a suburb of Boston, MA. In her free time, Evelyn enjoys traveling through the amazon and hunting pirannahs, bungee jumping, white water rafting, deep sea diving, shark chasing, and baking. Though these things keep her quite busy, Evelyn can usually be found pretending to be French with a good book and a cup of coffee at her favorite cafe.
SUZANNE MCCARTHY is a graphic designer in Boston who is the creative genius behind the logo and packaging design of sweetriot. She considers herself a “full-fledge scorpio,” so watch out. Suzanne is a huge fan of Jem and can be found on weekends eating grapefruit and honey.
KATE MORGAN hails from Northern England! In pursuit of sunshine — as opposed to British rain — she migrated to Greece and then to NYC. Often likened to Tigger, this probably explains her pronounced love for orange cats. Kate’s adventures have her not only jumping out of planes but convincing others to do the same.
ARUNA NAIMJI was once the slurpie chugging champion of her high school but still has no cavities despite eating lots of chocolate too (sweetriot is low in sugar). She got married in a helicopter over Niagara falls on the “lords super day” (07.07.2007). Aruna has a masters in design and technology from Parsons (where she also taught design) and loves to play chess. Aruna is also trying to finish her first feature film in between creating sweet package designs for sweetriot and breastfeeding her baby boy.
THEO PECK is our far-flung foodie. After studying Art History at Emory University, and spending a year eating his way through France, Theo came home to his native New York to dabble in a few art galleries. He then started the infamous Lansky Lounge on the Lower East Side before selling it to escape town. After stints on the run in New Mexico, Maine, and Vermont, working his culinary magic, Theo has finally come home.
NINA SMITH, our first ever full-time rioter, is now our “Catalyst of Cool Customers Emeritus” and recently founded the Nina’s Music Book company. Nina is one multi-faceted woman who is an amazing flutist, a dedicated family member, a clay pigeon shooter, a “yard football” competitor, a creator of homemade yogurt, a knitter of lace shawls, and much more. She also dreams of piloting a fighter jet. If anyone has a fighter jet, please contact us immediately.
More Rioting Volunteers > back to top
GRACE AUGUSTINE is a part-time demoing diva who works in consulting by day and moonlights for sweetriot in her spare time. She went to the rival high school as Sarah and then followed in her footsteps to the University of Michigan. Grace is rioting in Ann Arbor, and has to battle against the squirrels and raccoons who attempt to eat the cacao that arrives on her front porch. Score: Wild Animals 1, Grace 1, saga to be continued.
MEGAN STOCKER HEADLEY* is a city girl gone country who ate and drank her way through the food and wine worlds of New York, San Francisco, and Florence before moving down to Charlottesville, Virginia to teach others what she’s learned. She has finally figured it out that it is her subject matter and not just her right-eye wink that makes her so popular! With a new apartment that is bigger than a breadbox, she plans to wash her bathmats once a week, bake pies to cool on the windowsill, and roll around in the grass daily.
*almost … still just “Stocker” for a few months …
OLIVER MARQUIS is a wine fanatic who knew his fancy of wine could be translated to chocolate. The proud winner of a $17.99 plaque, Oliver achieved unsurpassed heights in middle school with his entry in the “Howard County Human Rights Essay Contest.” Eleven years later, “Wild on New York” located the acclaimed writer at a Kahlua sponsored event, offering him the opportunity to speak on their TV show. Oliver accepted, of course, and will graduate from Columbia Business School in 2006.
DAVID NACZYCZ is a crazy Motor City man who likes to dance to Macho Man and Salsa. The only pets he ever owned were Sea Monkeys that lived twice as long as they should have. Dave attended the University of Michigan where as he fondly recalls, he once jumped on a plane with nothing but the clothes on his back.
ROB PENTY is a web guy by day, and a killer of comedy audiences by night. Stand up, sketch comedy, improv … he wanders the stages of New York dispensing fierce (but fair!) comic justice. He once wrote a novel in 30 days (viva la NaNoWriMo), and one day he will be able to buy and sell us all, but will choose not to out of wisdom and compassion.
SCOTT TWOREK hails from gorgeous Racine, Wisconsin and is a graduate of UW-Madison and Pepperdine University. Luckily he escaped to Manhattan to riot but can still be found grilling Wisconsin bratwurst. Round the globe you may find Scott in Spain where he knows the Marbella police personally, or Northeast China where he was educated by locals in a strip dice game.
LAURA WOO was born exactly 2 years and 20 minutes before her brother and lived in over 6 countries by the time she reached the age of 18. Finance used to be her gig, but due to an almighty belief in the sweet tooth, she decided chocolate would be more her speed. Laura will complete her MBA in 2006 and hails Columbia University as her 2 time Alma Mater.
sweetriot would especially like to thank the talented full-time students who have worked on sweetriot in their time outside of classes.
Raquel Almeida, Ross Business School, The University of Michigan
- Loudly sings 80's music in the shower.
- Developed a love for boiled chicken feet in childhood.
- Almost contracted the plague while in a village in Madagascar.
- Dances a mean Salsa, particularly with a partner better than her.
Erika Dressler, Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management
- Once walked the Great Wall of China.
- Eats green peas, one by one, with chopsticks.
- Sent a coconut from Hawaii to home - through the mail and without a box - and it made it!
Michelle Gansle, Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management
- Once shared breakfast with Anita Roddick.
- Recieved a scholarship for being a good speller.
- Teaches adults to swim.
Laura Howard, Harvard Business School
- Trained Reiki practitioner.
- Loves vocal jazz and karaoke.
- Has a fine British accent.
Puneet Sapra, Harvard Business School
- Swims, bikes, and runs triathlons just for fun.
- Grew up in the smallest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Haley E. Sawyer, Ross Business School, The University of Michigan
- Eats burnt popcorn on a regular basis.
- In a relationship with a cartoon character on The Facebook.
Kagan Seymenoglu, Ross Business School, The University of Michigan
- First letters of each city he has visited form the alphabet (minus Q and X).
- A Llama spit on him.
Pablo Velez, Harvard Business School
- Ran the NY marathon with wife Veronica.
- Climbed a 200 meter rock without rope.
- Likes reading in the shower.
Margaret Wells, Harvard Business School
- A professional roommate: lived with 12 different roommates.
- Avid sleepwalker.
- Eats cookies for breakfast and keeps chocolate her bedside.
Special Acknowledgements for our friends and family: Ken Endline, Mary Endline, Diane & Bill King, Chris Smith, and many NYC friends
