Katerina Lee stands up, rushing eagerly to assist a customer, not immediately recognising the woman as a regular customer. Unexpectedly, Kate’s customer produces a painting she has hidden, showing a pond surrounded by trees, and hands it over to Kate. The customer’s gift is for Kate’s husband, Tommy Lee, knowing his background in Pohang, South Korea.
“It’s a gesture that speaks volumes about her understanding of his connection to the piece and its cultural origins,” Kate says. “She has been coming here since the beginning.”
Kate strives to create a joyful and healthy community by making people’s tastebuds happy with chocolate.
Before her life in the Sunshine Chocolatier shop, Kate studied Catholic Theology at Charles University in Prague. She wanted to learn about the church’s history, culture and the foundations of its beliefs and values. She put her studies to use in her job as a journalist on Radio Proglas, a small Christian radio station in Brno, Czech Republic.
The radio station was her life until December 2015. “There was lots of pressure in my previous life,” Kate says.
She was in desperate need of a change. She first began her travels to Australia with a goal to learn English and find a job in an English-speaking radio station.
She even travelled to San Francisco to attend a three-month intense language course. Kate, however, still struggles with many challenges when learning English.
“I was so good at writing, yet everything is so different now,” she says, covering her face. “I get so frustrated.”
The many expeditions Kate took to learn English, however, made her increasingly fond of travelling. “I went to America; I went around Europe,” she says.
Kate met Tommy during her first week of travelling in Australia. Together, they moved to Praha, Kate’s hometown. While living there, Tommy studied accounting and worked in the food industry, working with foods such as chocolate.
They had a son, Daniel, and Kate and Tommy made the decision to move to Australia in April 2018 because of its openness to diverse backgrounds and sticking commonly to the English language.
“The primary reason for moving back was to create an environment where Daniel’s growth wasn’t dominated solely by my or Tommy’s culture,” she says.
The couple’s business ideas started small: they started selling chocolate in Eumundi, Caloundra and Noosa markets in December 2018, and they opened their shop 10 months later.
The business gave Kate much more freedom to create her new, easier and less stressful life. Her old life as a journalist is a memory now and the change has invigorated her.
“There is pressure in business, but we work as a family, can make decisions easier, and just be ourselves,” she says.
It was also an opportunity for Kate to interact and connect with her customers.
“I love my customers so much,” she says with a huge smile. “From my busy, crazy life of radio broadcast journalism, just the small talk … it’s fulfilling me much more.”
Kate and Tommy even started making their chocolate dairy, gluten and palm oil-free, so everyone can enjoy eating the delicious treat.
“Nowadays, many people have health issues,” Kate says. “We love chocolate, but many people have limitations.”
The chocolate does not contain palm oil, just cocoa butter, giving the chocolate a silky and rich texture. Their dark chocolate does not contain any dairy ingredients, making it vegan-friendly. There is also no use of alkalising methods, offering many benefits such as more antioxidants and fewer preservatives.
Through her love of chocolate and customers, Kate has built an inclusive and healthy community via Sunshine Chocolatier in her new life of less stress and pressure.
Shelby Meek is a student at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
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