Sister Act : MELT Confections

As born and bred Edmontonians, the children of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are so passionate about supporting others that start businesses in our great city! When we first heard about Melt Confections we KNEW we wanted to get to know these lovely ladies: Ale and Josefina Chaves Posse. I mean, another Sister team? This is AMAZING!

If you’ve seen their creations on Instagram or at the Italian Center or Plum Home & Design, you KNOW their confections are more than just delicious, but true works of art. We sat down with Ale and Jo to get the scoop on what Melt is all about!

RCS: How did the idea of Melt come to be?

Both: MELT was born out of a shared love for creating, and collaborating on creative projects. As a family, we love hosting parties and get-togethers, and one of our favorite ways to collaborate was to create beautiful and intricate dessert tables for our friends and family. Ale – the baker and confectioner, would dream up delicious treats, and myself – the designer, I would brainstorm themes – colour palettes, place cards, floral arrangements, etc. We had such a great time working together, so we took it one step further by combining Ale’s baking talents and creativity, with my design background. Ta-da – MELT!

RCS: We are no strangers to “moonlighting” with our blog, while we hold down other jobs. Do you ladies have other occupations?

Ale: I’m a full-time student at the U of A, majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies.
Jo: I recently left the corporate world after many years as a Graphic Designer, and while I still do some freelance, my primary focus is MELT.

All photos by the talented Jillian Schecher

RCS: What is the best thing about being in business with your sister?

Ale: I would say the best thing is that because we know each other so well we are comfortable sharing our opinions with one another and we can have complete honesty with each other.

Jo: The best thing is that you’ve had a lifetime to get to know one other, so you have a better understanding of how to work together – what buttons not to push, etc. Plus, we just genuinely love spending time together, so most of the time, it doesn’t feel like work!

RCS: What is the worst thing about being in business with your sister? (ha ha!)

Jo: That we’ve had a lifetime to get to know one other (haha!). Knowing so much about one another, sometimes makes it really hard to separate yourself from the personal dynamics, and just have things be about the business. It’s learning how to navigate work situations from a professional standpoint – not a personal one.

Ale: I agree – I think it can be difficult at times to separate our professional dynamic from our sibling dynamic, especially because of the large age difference between us.

RCS: What is the most difficult or time consuming item to make?

Ale – Our Studio collection chocolates and custom alfajores and chocolates are definitely more time consuming because they are handmade, hand embellished and painted. Not only that, but we put a great deal of time in conceptualizing the look and feel of each collection.

All photos by the talented Jillian Schecher

RCS: What is you all time favorite Melt Creation?

Ale: I really love the studio and custom chocolates because I’m always excited to take our colour palettes and inspiration and translate it into a collection of beautiful and unique chocolates.

Jo: I second that! I love that they are always different, and unique. Ale and I brainstorm colour palettes and overall aesthetic, but then we part ways – she takes that inspiration and makes the confections, and I work on social posts, photography, etc. When we come together I’m always so blown away by how she’s interpreted all those components – I just love them!

RCS: What is your hope for MELT as a company?

Both: Our hope for MELT is that it will grow to be something that can sustain not just the two of us, but create jobs and opportunities for other people. This business is something we are so passionate about, and something that gives us so much joy, we hope to be able to grow that with more people who share the same passion. We also have so many ideas of local charities we’d like to partner with, so our hope is that as we grow this little business of ours, it will become a channel through which we can give back to the community in a bigger way.