Story & Lesson Highlights with Aysenur Cakmak of Los Angeles

Aysenur Cakmak shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Aysenur, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
What I’m most proud of building is the invisible foundation behind everything people see today — my resilience, discipline, and inner healing. Before the chocolates, the brand, and the recognition, I had to rebuild myself in a completely new country, culture, and language.

There were moments of fear, isolation, and uncertainty that no one ever sees behind the polished desserts and beautiful visuals. I built emotional strength through long nights of work, self-doubt, and persistence. I built confidence when no one was watching. I built courage by choosing my freedom, my craft, and my future over fear.

That unseen version of me — the one who kept going when it was hardest — is what I am most proud of building. Everything else grew from there.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Aysenur Cakmak, and I’m a pastry and chocolate chef and the founder of Nush Chocolatier, a boutique chocolate brand rooted in craftsmanship, emotion, and storytelling. I was born and raised in Turkey, where my culinary journey began through a pastry internship that unexpectedly changed the direction of my life. What started as curiosity quickly turned into a lifelong devotion to chocolate and pastry arts.

My career later carried me across the world to the United States, where I’ve worked in high-end luxury hospitality environments and continued refining my craft. Today, my work focuses on handmade bonbon chocolates, plated desserts, and conceptual chocolate design that blends technique with emotion, memory, and culture. My background in menu engineering and neurogastronomy deeply influences how I build flavor, texture, and sensory experience.

Nush Chocolatier represents more than chocolate — it represents transformation, courage, and creative freedom. Each piece is designed to tell a story, often inspired by nature, architecture, travel, and personal evolution. I focus on bold flavor pairings, artistic presentation, and small-batch production to preserve quality and intention.

At this stage of my journey, I’m actively growing Nush Chocolatier through collaborations, media features, and curated releases while continuing to evolve as a pastry professional. My mission is to create chocolates that people don’t just taste — but truly feel.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
The person who saw me clearly before I could see myself was my Executive Pastry Chef Elizabeth Zuniga in USA I walked into my pastry internship with no idea that I belonged in this world, no confidence, and no real understanding of my own potential. But she saw something in me long before I did — my discipline, my sensitivity to detail, and the way I connected emotionally to flavors and aesthetics.

She was the first person who told me, “You were made for this,” at a time when I didn’t believe that about myself. Coming from a very conservative environment where creativity wasn’t encouraged, her belief in me became the spark that changed my entire life.

Long before I had the courage to envision a future in pastry or chocolate, She held that vision for me. And sometimes all it takes is one person who sees you before you can see yourself — that was the moment my journey truly began.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes — there was a moment when I came very close to giving up. When I first moved to the United States, I arrived alone, with no family support, no financial safety net, and no clear path ahead. I was trying to build a new life from zero while navigating a new language, a new culture, and the weight of starting over.

There were days when the loneliness felt overwhelming and the uncertainty felt too heavy. I questioned whether I had made the right decision, whether I was strong enough, and whether my dreams were unrealistic. I remember one night, sitting in a small room after a long shift, thinking, “Maybe this is too much for one person.”

But something inside me refused to let go — the part of me that had survived so much already. I reminded myself that I didn’t come this far just to stop in the middle. So I kept going, one step at a time, even when I was exhausted or scared.

Looking back now, that moment became one of the strongest turning points in my life. It taught me that resilience isn’t loud or glamorous — it’s the quiet decision to keep moving forward, even when no one sees the struggle. And that decision is the reason I’m here today, building my career and my brand with purpose and gratitude.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
One important truth that very few people seem to agree with me on is that success doesn’t come from hustle alone — it comes from alignment. So many people believe that the harder you push, the more you sacrifice your body, your peace, and your values, the more successful you’ll become. I’ve learned the opposite.

The moments when my career truly moved forward were not when I was forcing things, but when I was deeply aligned with my purpose, my creativity, and my inner voice. When I create from a place of meaning instead of pressure, the work carries a different energy — and people feel that.

I also believe that rest, intuition, and emotional awareness are not weaknesses in business — they are strengths. That’s something many people still don’t agree with. But for me, they’ve been the foundation of both my resilience and my success.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
Yes — and it still happens more often than people might expect. I remember feeling that kind of excitement during the first days when I truly realized that pastry and chocolate weren’t just a job for me, but my calling. There were mornings when I couldn’t wait to step into the kitchen, almost running through the door just to start creating.

Another powerful season of that excitement came when I began designing my own chocolate concepts and later when I officially launched Nush Chocolatier. Every new flavor experiment, every successful batch of bonbons, every moment someone tasted my chocolate and closed their eyes — those were the days when work didn’t feel like work at all.

Even now, that same feeling returns whenever I’m developing a new collection, preparing for a collaboration, or pushing myself creatively into unknown territory. That childlike excitement is how I know I’m still exactly where I’m meant to be

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nushchocolatier.net/
• Instagram: @byaysenurcakmak @nushchocolatier
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ay%C5%9Fenur-%C3%A7akmak-30b935291?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app