Sarah Gross grew up in Shreveport, La. It was in middle school that she began volunteering at her local animal control facility, walking the dogs and socializing the cats. During that time, she also became a vegetarian and then a vegan. After moving to New York City in 2007, Gross was thrilled to discover another passion of hers, namely dark chocolate. And, as one would expect, there were plenty of choices dotting the Big Apple landscape.
So, Gross started on a mission to sample as many varieties as she could, and kept a chocolate notebook filled with wrappers and ratings. She also went to work for a raw chocolate company, Gnosis in Queens, where she developed a best-selling flavor. Meanwhile, despite the fact that Gross lived in a Brooklyn brownstone where no pets were allowed, she fell in love with (and ultimately adopted) a pit bull, which she would ultimately name Mocha.