Chef Olha Yaloza is the Chef and Owner of U4U Chocolates in Orange County, California and the WINNER of our 2025 LA Chef Con Center Stage competition! She just won a trip to this year’s LA Chef Conference where she’ll be featured with her own station, getting to present her winning dish: Plantain Chocolate Mousse with Leaf & Ladybug Bonbons. Ahead of the conference, we interviewed Chef Olha to learn a little bit more about her culinary journey. Read the full interview below and don’t forget to follow her on Instagram!
Tell us a little bit about your culinary journey and how you got to where you are now.
In Ukraine, I started out as an engineer, working in measurements, metrology, and certification. But after my son was born, my heart pulled me into pastry — what began as a hobby grew into a full passion. I opened my own studio with a team, and we created everything: cakes, macarons, chocolate showpieces, dragées, and bars. After the war began and I had to emigrate, I started from zero again in the U.S. The simplest way back was with bonbons — no big machines, just pure craft — and from there I’ve been rebuilding my chocolate journey step by step.
Why were you originally drawn to start working in chocolate?
Chocolate feels alive — it reacts to touch, to temperature, even to your mood. I love that it’s both precise and magical at the same time. It gives me endless space to create, to surprise people, and to tell stories through flavor and color.
What influences or inspirations do you draw from when creating a new dish or chocolate?
Energy is everywhere — in nature, in people, in moments, in flavors. When my energy connects with something, it sparks an idea, and suddenly I see a new combination in my mind. I always want to try, how will this taste in a chocolate? That curiosity is my biggest engine. For me, it’s the true flavor of life — and I’m so grateful I have it.
You started your own chocolate business U4U Chocolates. What are the most rewarding parts of running your own company?
When I came to America as an immigrant, the job options were limited — and honestly, I didn’t like them. Starting my own business was not easy, and it’s still a challenge, but it gave me something priceless: freedom. As a creator, the greatest reward is being able to create when inspiration strikes. That kind of freedom doesn’t exist in a regular job, and for me it’s the key to real growth.
We’d love to hear more about your Kickstarter campaign! What are you hoping to achieve?
Kickstarter is helping me make my dream real — to continue the work I began in Ukraine and grow step by step, adding new products to my business. It turned out to be much more than just a project. It opened a whole new world of communication, connections, and opportunities. And it also carries a mission of helping others. Together with the Ukrainian project Unbroken Gen, which supports talented children, part of the income from my dragée sales will go toward creating opportunities for these kids. This year in Ukraine, they already organized a camp for them, and I am so happy to know that my chocolate can play a small role in supporting their future.
What are you most looking forward to at the LA Chef Conference?
For me, this conference is a unique opportunity. It feels like stepping out of a small aquarium into the wide ocean — meeting innovators, chefs with huge experience, and people who share the same passion for creating food. It’s a chance to touch the world that already lives inside me, now adapted here in the U.S. I know I’ll come away with an incredible dose of inspiration and energy to carry forward. I’m endlessly grateful to be part of this event, and I deeply respect and appreciate the organizers for making the world better — and tastier.
Photos courtesy of Chef Olha Yaloza.
