How Julia turned her dreams into reality to build Little Choc Apothecary
From idea to reality took 4 years and a lot of execution
I originally wrote this article about Julia Kravets on October 23, 2017, but as my vision of Those That Inspire has turned into reality, I wanted to re-release this article to showcase how Julia turned her dreams into reality. How she transitioned from a modeling career to owning the only vegan creperie in Brooklyn.
Meet Julia Kravets from Little Choc Apothecary; she is a talented, local entrepreneur in New York City. Julia and I originally sat down for this interview in December of 2016, but I think I was waiting for the right platform to release this blog, and I think Those That Inspire fits Julia perfectly.
Coincidentally the day I originally wrote this article, October 23, 2017, is also the 3 year anniversary of when Little Choc Apothecary opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The picture below is a picture of her holding the keys to Little Choc on opening day, October 23, 2014.
Little Choc is a vegan creperie in New York City, and the only fully vegan creperie in the city. I’m personally not a vegan but I can’t get enough of their food every time I go, and their coffee, it is amazing! It’s also a great place to take your friends when they are in town. I mean look at this pizza crepe!
Let’s start back at the beginning, Julia is 30 and from Kiev, Ukraine. She moved to New York at the age of 10 with her family after they won green cards to move to the United States. She started her career and studies in modeling and nutrition, but was very driven and knew that she wanted to create a business.
Nevertheless, she wasn’t totally sure what type of business that was going to be at first; she originally thought Little Choc would be a bakery with just awesome quality ingredients.
The the idea matured over time into a creperie, but the journey to get Little Choc up and running wasn’t exactly an easy process. It involved a little bit of luck and a lot of just putting her thoughts into action. Julia described herself as a jack of all trades, but she did a lot of execution and learning to obtain those skills. She watched a lot of YouTube videos and took advantage of the small business center in NYC.
From the start of the idea to actually opening the Little Choc’s door, it took about 3 or 4 years. Julia had to deal with a lot of negative support at the time from people that were close to her and they just thought she should go to nursing school; but she persisted through. She found funding, she managed the construction (which went nearly twice over budget), and she built her staff.
Now 5 years later, Little Choc is a thriving business and has great support from the local community. I love the vibe inside the restaurant, it’s a great place to enjoy lunch with your friends and they even have special evening wine and dinner events sometimes. They even have their own line of products, highly recommend the coconut bacon!
The last thing I asked Julia during our interview was would you trade this for anything. Her answer: “Hell No!” And that’s what I hear from so many other aspiring entrepreneurs and freelancers, including myself.
This life is not easy, it takes a lot of hard work. But when you see your dream and your vision turn into a reality, there is nothing that matches that feeling. And it’s creates a life of freedom and excitement to wake up every day, to run something that you truly love that makes a difference in other people’s lives.
This Those That Inspire group and the 90 Day content challenge is my own version of seeing my dreams turn into reality. I’m now focusing the ideas of the group to really support people that are interested in the transition from their 9–5 to a life of freedom as an independent business owner. If you know others that have gone down this journey, please let me know about them in the comments below!
