SENECA KLASSEN
FOUNDER, CHOCOLATE MAKER & CACAO FARMER
Following a lifelong passion for chocolate, in 2004 Seneca co-founded a chain of chocolate cafes located in the San Francisco Bay Area. A new generation of chocolate makers was laying the groundwork for today’s craft chocolate industry.
At Bittersweet, he started to sell these new craft chocolates, and imported bars from producers around the world, so that his customers could educate their palates by tasting bars from many origins. This led to Seneca’s own bean-to-bar experimentation and he began buying beans from various countries, bringing them to California, and making chocolate as fast as he could learn.
Inspiration through chocolate
In 2008, Seneca curated the chocolate panel at the Slow Food Nation conference in San Francisco, with leaders from the artisanal chocolate industry. Nearly 100,000 attendees, chefs, farmers, and consumers learned how to better connect with their food and achieve food-chain transparency.
With that inspiration in mind, he set his sights on creating an estate-grown chocolate company.
Educating for global change
Seneca continues to educate throughout the U.S. on both what it takes to start an estate-grown chocolate company and why it’s so important to change the current global business model.
He assists in leading chocolate adventure trips with his life partner and fellow chocolate entrepreneur Sunita de Tourreil, and together they have produced a five-part video series about cacao and chocolate across the globe.
Award-Winning Chocolate
Lonohana has earned multiple awards for chocolate since its inception and perhaps most importantly, has allowed Seneca to continue to play a leading role in helping to establish Hawaii as a world-class origin for cacao and the young chocolate industry that has blossomed since his dream began a reality.
LISA & EMMA KLASSEN-LEE
CO-FOUNDERS
Lisa and Emma joined Seneca in the move from Northern California to Hawaii in 2010 to assist with the dream of building Lonohana Estate Chocolate. Over the years they have planted, pruned and picked cacao; helped build the chocolate factory; wrapped more bars in foil than any one can imagine; and loved (nearly) ever minute of it.
Today, Lisa is a marketing professional at an Hawaii-based Insurance Company and helps with marketing aspects of Lonohana. Emma works in both the factory and our retail store and thereʻs no one better to explain the entire process, because she has lived it. Emma is also a wonderfully talented artist and began her college career in 2022 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She creates the gorgeous illustrations for our Onomea chocolate series.
LAWRENCE, VIRGINIE
& MILES BOONE
CO-FOUNDERS
Lawrence and Seneca grew up together in a small farming community in Central California, and in 2011 he, his wife and their son (only six years old at the time) joined in this adventure. Both Lawrence and Virginie spent several decades in the California wine industry, and the concept of launching an estate-grown chocolate company was not dissimilar to what began in the Napa Valley a half-century before. Lawrence & Virignie also wanted their son to experience and respect the importance of farming, to have exposure at an early age of what it means to work hard and dream big.
Lawrence handles the business aspects of Lonohana and helps guide the sales for the Company. Virginie makes sure our marketing and media are on point and their son, Miles, while happiest up on the farm is equally content cleaning the factory, working the store, driving the tractor or (thankfully) any task that needs to be done. He currently attends college —yes this photo is really out of date— at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a focus on Agricultural Sciences .
CYNTHIA CRUZ
MARKETING & OPERATIONS
Cynthia has so many skills she’s the one who keeps everything rolling. With a decade of project management & marketing experience, primarily in the natural and specialty food industries, Cynthia primarily manages our marketing, but she also makes sure that all the daily challenges that pop up in a small business are professionally tackled whether its accounting, sales, production or tours.
Before joining Lonohana, Cynthia spent 5 years working in the marketing department at Down to Earth Organic & Natural Market here on Oahu and is passionate about helping Hawaii make further strides towards food sustainability.
Super passionate about craft chocolate, Cynthia brings fresh ideas and a level headed analysis to how to help Lonohana both thrive and make a bigger impact on the cacao industry here in Hawaii.
RUSSELL GHEEN
PARTNER - FINANCE STRATEGIC PLANNING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Russell joined the Lonohana management team in 2024 after having spent nearly two decades working in agriculture. He worked every job up through the ranks at Growerʻs Ice, the preeminent vegetable storage and logistics company in the Salinas Valley. Eventually becoming General Manager, Russell managed finance, HR, legal & business development, and led the company through its successful sale.
Russell brings a wealth of experience to us as we continue to grow, making sure that we have the strong operational and financial controls required of a vertically integrated farming and manufacturing company. Russell was born and raised only a few miles (as a crow flies) from Seneca & Lawrence and shares the same love for farming, land preservation and wild entrepreneurship.
TINGTING HUANG
ASSISTANT CHOCOLATE MAKER
Tingting joined Lonohana in 2023 after having worked most recently at The Halekūlani Hotel here in Honolulu. Her decade plus of experience in the culinary arts began in Northern California where she worked at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants, and we are very fortunate that she moved to Hawaii in 2018 and now brings her passion and skills to our team.
Not only have our chocolate products continue to improve with her keen eye for quality, but Tingting also is playing an instrumental role in expanding our product lines intended to broaden the scope of how our guests enjoy Hawaii-grown chocolate, be it small run seasonal specials or origin-specific bon bons.
ANI IZUTA
VP Sales
Ani oversees all of our sales at the store and factory, as well as manages our wholesale accounts. She joined Lonohana after three years as Director of Retail at The Ritz-Carlton Turtle Bay Oʻahu, Turtle Bay. Previously, she worked as in-house sales for Burton, HAYN and Billabong in Hawaii, Japan and Guam.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Ani has a real passion for the promotion of Hawaiian companies and sustainable agriculture. She cares deeply about helping to leave the aina better than before. Aniʻs love for retail traces back to her childhood where she accompanied her mother to trade shows, and she thrives in and excels at customer relationships and helping to create authentic guest experiences. up with the most organized, thoughtful and efficient operational plans.
ROBERT "DUKE" MORGAN
FARM MANAGER
Duke joined us in 2021 as our farm manager after spending the prior six years as the Horticultural Specialist at Waimea Valley Botanical Garden. He brings over a decade of experience farming in Hawaii after graduating from University of Hawaii with a degree in Tropical Plants and Soil Structure.
Duke is deeply committed to and holds a wealth of knowledge in regenerative agriculture, the main farming philosophy we adhere to on our North Shore cacao farm.
Not only is Duke passionate about cacao and its potential here in Hawaii, his skillset includes aquaculture, breadfruit cultivation, forest preservation, nursery and orchard maintenance, indigenous plant propagation and protection, and continues a decade of consulting for Kohala Forest Reserve and its native endangered plants.
Pictured here with our most tenured and essential worker “Coco” the tractor.
GOPIKA TOPRANI
RETAIL MANAGER
Gopika joined Lonohana as a Sales Associate in early 2023 bringing infectious enthusiasm and years of prior retail, events & design experience. Within a few weeks, at our store in SALT@OurKaka’ako, Gopika was leading by example and making improvements in how to tell our story and better engage with customers.
By early Fall, her desire to help us reimagine what our chocolate tasting experiences could be, she took over as Retail Sales Manager. Gopika has been instrumental in elevating our customer engagement as well as leads a team of amazing Sales Associates, training, experimenting and always greeting guests with a warm welcome and a smile.
With a deep passion for the environment and humanity, Gopika is also an in-demand yoga and meditation instructor often donating her time to people and communities that are dealing with hardship, conflict and stress.
