Making gourmet chocolate in my own kitchen is a dream job'

Bev Stephenson, artisan chocolatier

Bev Stephenson has the definition of a squiggly career', one that twists and turns, takes unexpected side roads and detours, and ends up in the most exciting and fulfilling destinations. At the start, it was all about burning the midnight oil. I was editor of an award-winning listings magazine called The Crack in Newcastle, after starting out as their arts correspondent while studying for a degree in History of Art and Design at university. I eventually became co-owner of the magazine.'

It was a seven-day-a-week, late-hours job. In my thirties, I was burnt out. I was happier in my garden than going out pubbing and clubbing, so I went back to university in 2008 to study horticulture and then arboriculture.' Bev began a job as a horticultural consultant for businesses, while also working as a freelance journalist. It was interesting but exhausting; I'd be in Kent one day and Aberdeen the next, and I wanted to spend more time at home with my partner Simon, in our little cottage in Forest Hall.'

It was on one of her journalistic assignments that the seed of Bev's next career shift was sown. For a tiny piece in The Guardian, I'd interviewed a baker in Kendal whose kitchen was basically the size of a cupboard. After the article appeared, she'd called me saying orders for her cakes had gone bonkers. It opened my eyes to the possibility of having a successful career that I could run flexibly from home. I'd always loved chocolate. Who doesn't love chocolate? And I could see there was a gap in the market for gourmet chocolate here in the North East!'