Did you know that only 5% of cocoa flowers will produce fruit? We chose this name, “CocoaMommas,” perhaps quite obviously because it represents the beautiful colors of our various skins. Unlike most in the mainstream mommy blogosphere, we are black and brown mothers. And we’re proud of it. But just like the small numbers of cocoa flowers that will eventually produce fruit, we know that the world doesn’t always see the beauty in our color, or that of our children. In a country where little black boys are more likely to end up in prison than in college, or where missing brown children are largely ignored by the mainstream press while blond ones get  round the clock coverage, our jobs to produce fruit are even more crucial. This blog recognizes these inequities; something the rest of the mommy blogs are privileged to be able to ignore.

Interesting fact #2: did you know that unlike most trees in the northern hemisphere, cocoa fruit can ripen at different times each year? This blog is for us, as mommies and women too, to rely our challenges, our fears, our heartbreaks and our victories.   The women writing this blog are just like the cocoa fruit – we are all growing and ripening at different stages, yet all of us, have not only born the fruit of beautiful children but have also had successes in our careers. This blog is our stories of how we are attempting to both ripen them and ourselves.

One last thing that I didn’t know about cocoa beans – during fermentation, an essential part of the process to change the beans from raw beans into the chocolate we all know and love, the beans develop their flavor, bitterness subsides, and it is then that the beans turn into a deep rich shade of brown. This blog is written by a group of women that I know, from knowing them all, that are going through their own fermentation process. We are developing our flavor as mothers, partners, co-parents, as career women, writers, academics, and as spiritual beings. Raw bitterness is falling away and being replaced by deep roasted chocolatey hmm-hmmm goodness.

So, dear readers, I hope you’ll join us as we embark on this new venture. We’ll vent, we’ll debate, we empathize, we’ll give advice. Visit often and comments are always welcome!

Peace,

LaToya