Women & Leadership: Breaking Barriers in Law, Science & Business

Syovata Edari

How do women break barriers in business?  What are the unique obstacles they encounter?  How do they forge opportunities?  Join us for the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy's colloquium series on women in leadership, where we highlight chief executive officers, executive directors, and business leaders changing the way we think about women and entrepreneurship.  This spring we will feature a discussion with Syovata Edari, an award-winning chocolatier, businesswoman, and lawyer who has taken the world of chocolate by storm.

This event continues as a part of a larger workshop series that focuses on bringing the career paths of entrepreneurs in science and business to the forefront. Last year we featured Kay Napier, the CEO of Arbonne International Cosmetics.  Please join us.

March 20, 2017
MPAA Executive Commons
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Light lunch will be served

Co-Sponsored by the UCI Paul Merage School of Business

About Syovata Edari

Syovata Edari (Vata) is a businesswoman, chocolatier and, and lawyer.  She has been recognized as a leading voice and advocate in the U.S. criminal justice system, both in the public and private sectors. Ms. Edari graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Law in 2001. After an appellate court clerkship, she began practicing in the State Public Defender Office in Milwaukee, WI, in 2003. Her career in public interest law included serving as an Assistant Federal Defender in the federal District of Kansas and the Eastern District of Washington.  In 2013, Ms. Edari was inspired to establish her own firm to handle high profile state and federal criminal cases. Her work has been praised for breaking new ground in sentencing advocacy, the use of technology in the courtroom, including sentencing videos.  Often her cases involve complex litigation, identifying and developing novel legal arguments, as well as defending against unusual prosecutions of rarely invoked statutes such as the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act. 

Ms. Edari is also the founder of CocoVaa Chocolatier, a boutique, artisanal chocolate company. Her company is known for unique flavor combinations that reflect Ms. Edari's own diverse background and experiences, including her travel in Kenya, Jamaica, France, Italy, and other nations throughout the world.  Although she’s been a chocolate “hobbyist” since she can remember, in 2014 she decided to pursue formal training through Ecole Chocolat where she developed a strong foundation in classic chocolate technique. In part to relieve the stress of trial practice, Ms. Edari continued to pursue knowledge in the world of the chocolate arts. Her fascination with chocolate took her to L’Hermitage, France in April 2016 where she was trained at Valrhona, further expanding her scope into the versatile world of chocolate. On her return from France, she founded CocoVaa Chocolatier and launched a small “microfactory” in a shared commercial kitchen in Madison, Wisconsin. She has been featured in numerous magazines and media outlets for her chocolates. In April 2017 she will travel to Italy to work with Italian master chocolatiers in their chocolate laboratory on the shores of Lake Como.

Syovata Edari and CocoVaa

MAKE A GIFT >

CBGHP Activities

Tune in for On The Issues with Michele Goodwina Podcast hosted by Professor Goodwin!

April 26, 2021: Town Hall on Inclusive Healthcare in UC System

REWATCH: Advancing Women's Equality: What's Next?

PREVIOUS EVENTS:

March 10, 2021: Advancing Women's Equality: Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

March 1, 2021: Ongoing Challenges of Disability Discrimination in Law, Politics & Society

February 19, 2021: Reckoning and Reconciliation: Art, Architecture, and Culture in Contested Sites

February 8, 2021: Advancing Women's Equality: Race, Sex, and Policing in America

January 13, 2021: Advancing Women's Equality: Women, Mass Incarceration, and Criminal Justice

October 30, 2020:  Women on the Frontlines: COVID & Beyond

October 7, 2020: The Appeal & Now This: Ending Legalized Slavery In U.S. Prisons

June 4, 2020:  A Conversation on Protecting Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Times of Political Crisis 

June 30, 2020: After June Medical Services: The Past, Present, and Future of Regulating Reproduction

June 30, 2020: Elevating and Engaging with Black Lives on Law School Campuses

May 14, 2020: UCI Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center Panel on COVID-19

May 13, 2020: Michele Goodwin on Quarantine and the Limits of Government Action - COVID-19 & The Law Series

May 12, 2020: Panel Discussion: Reproductive Health & Rights in a Time of Coronavirus

May 4, 2020: Disparate Impact of COVID-19 on Communities of Color hosted by American Constituion Society 

Contact

Nassim Alisobhani
Coordinator
nalisobhani@law.uci.edu
(949) 824-5601 

Merima Tricic
Senior Fellow
mtricic@uci.edu