Anna Sanina from Hamilton had been following Pastry Chef Lecturer Helen Vass on social media for quite some time when she decided to enrol on our evening Introduction to Chocolate Course.
Anna had always been a big fan of Helen’s work and decided she’d love to be taught on one of her courses.
Anna said “Working full time made it impossible for me to join in the daytime classes Helen taught, so I always assumed I’d never get the chance to learn from the best. However, I was delighted when I read that there would be an evening class for Introduction to Chocolate at South Lanarkshire College taught by Helen Vass”. Anna laughed “I’m positive I was so keen to enrol, that I was first person to contact the college to study the course. To be honest, if it was patisserie, or any baking or cooking evening class with the chef I would have been keen to join, but, this was a double bonus, as I’m quite the chocolate fan” Who isn’t Anna?
Since completing the course in March 2020, Anna has started her own successful chocolate business, “Lockdown worked for me actually” said Anna, “everything happened at the right time. I just finished the course and decided to purchase some ingredients straight away before we went into full lockdown. I started to practise the skills I’d learned and over the next few months, I began to expand my chocolate knowledge. At the end of 2020, I officially started to sell my chocolate creations, and since then Bella Chocolate has gone from strength to strength, with customers old and new coming back to try the delicacies, time after time. I am now trading with several shops and in September 2021, I took Bella Chocolate to the Speciality Fine Food Fair. I’ve got lots of plans for the year ahead, it’s a really exciting time”
Anna’s Chef Lecturer, Helen Vass, she said “To think that one year ago, Anna came to my 10 week chocolate night class with no previous knowledge of creating chocolate recipes, and now she is running her own successful business! I am so proud of her and I look forward to watching her business grow.”
