Chocolatier Extraordinaire
As the menswear product-development director for Macy’s, alumna Miléne Jardine traveled the world overseeing trends, sourcing, and development for the retailer’s clothing lines. Little could she have anticipated that her forays to dozens of nations would be a source of inspiration after making a mid-career change in 2016 to become a chocolate maker. Today, Jardine RC’04, RBS’04 is the proprietor of Miléne Jardine Chocolatier, a high-end line of chocolates distinguished in taste because of ingredients such as herbs, spices, and chocolate from around the world like Taiwanese-inspired black plum (the Elixir) and a Norwegian-influenced beer/cloudberry option (the Lionheart). Given the pandemic’s psychic toll on an anxious public, her truffles, bars, and gift sets have provided a small slice of wanderlust and necessary indulgence. Miléne Jardine Chocolatier, based in Queens, New York, fulfills Jardine’s childhood passion for creating desserts that had dovetailed, after graduating from Rutgers with a marketing degree, with moonlighting to make chocolate favors and centerpieces for special occasions. Visit milenejardine.com.