Meet the St. Paul chocolatier whose bonbons make life a little sweeter

As he sits on a bus stop bench, the title character of "Forrest Gump" tells a fellow rider what his Mama always said: "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get."

Mary Leonard admits her life has been that way. Orphaned before her senior year of high school, she worked her way through the University of Minnesota, learned about food and business, and embarked on a career in information technology and communications.

But that box of chocolates kept calling to her. So much so that at 46, she plunged into a new life as an entrepreneur. Since 2001, Leonard's Midway-based Chocolat Céleste has treated customers across the country with premium, velvety and decadent bonbons and truffles.

Eye On St. Paul visited Leonard at her business this week to learn more of her story. Yes, chocolate may have been consumed. This interview has been edited for length.

Q: Did you grow up in St. Paul?

A: Yes. By St. Therese. I went to Highland Park [junior and senior high school]. I graduated in 1972.

Q: What did you do then?

A: Well, I'd lost my parents. [Her father died of sepsis when she was a junior, and her mother died of cancer three months later.] One of the things about me is that I'm determined and stubborn and so those two things contribute to deciding I'm going to make it, no matter what.

Q: You attended the U. What did you study?

A: I studied electives [laughs]. Really. I didn't know what I was doing. It was kind of a little bit of a confusing time there for me for a few years. So I took Spanish, Portuguese, business. [She earned degrees in food science and business.]

Q: That must have been difficult, doing that completely on your own.

A: Well, it was different. There was the loneliness of it, and not that many relatives stayed around. Some that lived elsewhere thought I was all grown up already. That was the hardest thing: Knowing what to do with my life.

Q: Did you have a particular goal in mind for what you chose to study?

A: Get a job. But then I also made mistakes that, if I'd had a mother, I wouldn't have made.

Q: Such as?

A: Getting married. I was 22 [she was 32 when they divorced]. I really married him because I liked his family and I fit in so well. It wasn't because of a strong connection. He was determined. He had it in his mind that he would be president of the United States one day. He was getting a Ph.D. in economics.

After I graduated, I got a job at an ad agency and I was pretty much everything to the owner. I bought radio time. I was the hands and had some of the feet and I did the bookkeeping. I did key lining.

I also managed a restaurant in a hospital. And I was assistant director of dietary services at two different local hospitals. I was tasked with testing recipes and creating the recipes.

Q: When did you decide to start your own business?

A: It was always in the background. After I got divorced, I felt like I was really alone again. I'd gone away to Le Cordon Bleu and another school in Paris. Later, I got a job at a new program at the state of Minnesota. It was being a champion of a new technology [and] creating software programs to increase efficiencies in government.

Q: So, you had a passion for cooking — but worked in IT?

A: I also had a passion for IT. It was really fun and interesting and got me in on the ground floor of changes in IT. I have a passion for doing new things and maybe chasing the shiny object.

One day I got a phone call and they said, "Congratulations, you've won the Rock the World Award." And I got another phone call saying, "It's been good knowing you." I'd been laid off. I felt like because I'd gained what was a comfortable amount of money, it was time to start a business.

I'd taken chocolate classes and I had made chocolates every year at Christmas time. I started the company around 2001 and my first sale, my first two, were kind of just trying out things. I sold to a company that was a gift store in Highland Park, and my second customer was in Montevideo [Minn.].

Q: Do you have a store?

A: Yes. Right out front here [652 Transfer Rd.]. But we do a lot of our business online. Law firms and financial services. Sixty-five percent of my revenue comes from Christmas and also comes from businesses.

[She offers a sample box of seasonal chocolates.]

Q: Which would you recommend?

A: They're all good. I don't think there are any bad chocolates. Everything's fresh whipping cream and butter. The butter is from a company in southern Minnesota. It has a higher butterfat content and a lower moisture so that it has a creamier consistency.

Q: What's your favorite?

A: It's between two: apple pie and lemon. It's covered in dark chocolate and the flavor combination is really, really good.

Q: You've had an interesting life. What's next?

A: I used to say I'll bump into something. I feel like after 22 years, I need to bump into something new. I'm interested in creating products that stand out as really extraordinary.