Christina comes to AUI with years of experience as a chocolatier, specializing in designing chocolates for corporate accounts. Her mother was the primary influence that encouraged Christina to become involved in the chocolate industry. She used to make chocolates and truffles for family and friends as gifts, until Christina had the idea to start selling them. She joined her mother in chocolate making because “its fun and I have a terrible sweet tooth.”

Christina started Exquis Confections with her mother often designing chocolates, hand-dipped truffles, and specialty chocolate products for many clients, including the Coca-Cola Company and Time Life Books. “I used to get comments from my clients saying their employees were asking if they were going to get the chocolates again that year. It made me feel good to know that people liked our products that much.” Her company also created products for government functions, including the U.S. Presidential Dinner and the U.S. Supreme Court Reception. In 1992 Exquis Confections’ “Tiger Butter”, a white chocolate confection decorated with dark chocolate tiger stripes, was selected as an NASFT Fancy Foods Show finalist.  

After hand-dipping about 10,000 chocolate truffles and working countless hours selling the confections at trade-shows and in several retail outlets she decided she needed a break. Christina had previously earned her Bachelor of Arts in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Maryland. She decided to return to her roots, working in the television industry as an Account Executive and Channel Manager. She has worked in many aspects of the television industry including sales and developing media products for clients. This experience combined with her role at Exquis Confections makes her an ideal fit for the role of AUI’s Corporate Account Manager for Retail Markets.