“Chocolatier of the Year 2013” Chef Melissa left her home country of Colombia to study pastry at The French Pastry school in Chicago. Soon after, she moved to Las Vegas to work at Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, a three Michelin star Restaurant where she run the pastry kitchen of L’atelier de Joel Robuchon.
Realizing that her true passion was chocolate she moved to Caesar’s Palace Casino were she was in charge of all of the chocolate production for the Casino. When the opportunity arose to work with Chef Jean-Marie Auboine she decided to go to the Bellagio. After working together and realizing the potential of their collaboration Chef Melissa and Chef Jean-Marie decided to branch out on their own and co-founded Jean-Marie Auboine Chocolates in Las Vegas. Chef Melissa won People’s choice award and placed second overall on the Chocolatier of the year 2012 competition in Atlanta. And in 2013 She won both titles: “Chocolatier of the Year 2013” as well as the “People Choice Awards”.