After many years in the industry, I (Sarah Mcleod Hardwicke) founded Chocolate Orange in 2008, as I wanted to focus on creating phenomenal events with my clients in a conscious and responsible way.

This starts with the conversation around why are you wanting to host an event? What are your objectives, what are your dreams and how can we turn those into a reality with unparalleled opportunities for success?

And then how do we meet and exceed those objectives, in a way that uses as little resource as possible, is environmentally responsible, creates positive social impacts and sends out a message of meaning, hope and lasting impact.

And from this Chocolate Orange was born…and we have spent many, many happy years designing events and collaborating with incredible teams from across our globe, always learning and giving our all.

The COVID pandemic created an opportunity for myself and my family, and we chose to take a sabbatical. We spent over two years sailing to beautiful parts of our world. We made countless memories and saw with our own eyes the impact climate change is having on our planet.

This sabbatical gave me time to reflect on the work we do, the responsibilities of brands, organisations, suppliers and ourselves as the event architects, to ensure we meet the objectives of the event but in a way that does not leave a footprint of negligent choices behind.

I came home with an even greater inspiration and intention to work with teams, foundations, brands and people wanting to host events in the most responsible, engaging and successful way possible.