The Mvr Book

I'm Rebecca Hamilton, the founder and owner of a million-dollar bakery called Chick Boss Cake, the #1 bakery and dessert spot that all the locals in southwestern Ontario are obsessed with. I know what you're thinking: she must be highly educated with some kind of fancy business or baking diploma. Well, I'm not. Sorry to burst your idyllic bubble, but if I did happen to be armed with the "proper" education or "ideal" upbringing, I wouldn't be writing this book because, well... that never makes for a great story now does it? No one likes to read stories about prestigious, silver-spooned Harvard-educated know-it-alls who achieve success via entitlement and the birth canal of their rich mother. Nah, the best success stories come from someone like me. Allow me to explain... I dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to move out with my (then) boyfriend. I never set foot in a college or university unless it was to attend a party when I was (very) underage. I got stuck in several unhealthy and abusive relationships and found myself in plenty of "what the fuck?" situations along the way. I was angry, depressed, stubborn, riddled with anxiety and basically a runaway freight train trying not to go off the rails. I'm here to keep it real and share my personal story of how I built a million-dollar bakery business from nothing but pure grit and tenacity when no one else believed in me. Let's be real: If I can create this much success with a little bakery in small-town Ontario, Canada, I absolutely know for a fact that you can create the same level of success within any industry! This book is for everyone who's been through the worst and is still here against all odds. It's for the woman who lost her voice but knows the world needs to hear what she has to say. It's for the wife who pursued a career that society made her feel was the only respectable option. It's for the girl who settled down too soon instead of chasing her wild and crazy dreams that everyone laughed at. It's for the entrepreneur-at-heart who shows up every day to their soul-crushing 9-5 job feeling unfulfilled instead of pursuing their passion and igniting the fire within. This is the story of how I created the life of my dreams, and there ain't no sugar-coating it (bakery puns are essential in this book, for obvious reasons). Get ready to open your mind to endless possibilities and unlock your potential. Shit's about to get real.

February 2016. Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Tareq Hadhad was worried about his father: Isam did not know what to do with his life. Before the war began in Syria, Isam had run a chocolate company for over twenty years. But that life was gone now. The factory was destroyed, and he and his family had spent three years in limbo as refugees before coming to Canada. So, in an unfamiliar kitchen in a small town, Isam began to make chocolate again. This remarkable book tells the extraordinary story of the Hadhad family -- Isam, his wife Shahnaz, and their sons and daughters -- and the founding of the chocolatier, Peace by Chocolate. From the devastation of the Syrian civil war, through their life as refugees in Lebanon, to their arrival in a small town in Atlantic Canada, Peace by Chocolateis the story of one family. It is also the story of the people of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and so many towns across Canada, who welcomed strangers and helped them face the challenges of settling in an unfamiliar land.