Adam spent his twenties in kitchens. Graveyard line cook, then chef, then helping open restaurants, then studying at the French Culinary Institute in New York, then almost moving back to work there permanently. Instead, he left restaurants entirely and went to work at a food cooperative in Tucson — drawn by a growing need to understand where food actually comes from.

That decision changed everything. Buying for the co-op introduced him to chocolate as a specialty food category, to the idea that cacao from different origins tastes fundamentally different, and to a small but serious community of people who cared about both. A few years later, working at a market in Portland, he built what was likely the largest craft chocolate retail program in the country — over 1,200 individual bars, with free public tastings every week. He was not yet making chocolate. He was obsessed with it, which is a different thing, and arguably a necessary precondition.

He started making chocolate in his living room. Secondhand appliances, a wet grinder ordered online, batches that were, by his own account, terrible. The difficulty made it more interesting. He read everything he could find. He moved to Tucson with a business plan and not much else, and in 2017 opened Monsoon Chocolate on a shoestring and a willingness to figure things out under pressure. The early days were scrappy. Then a mention in Food & Wine. Then awards. Then demand that consistently outpaced production capacity for years.

Athene grew up in Stuttgart, Germany, shaped by Korean and German-American food culture on both sides of her family — the kind of upbringing where knowing what good food tastes like is not a hobby but a baseline. She moved to Omaha as a teenager, came to Tucson to study at the University of Arizona, left a pre-med program, studied fine arts, worked at a bookstore. Then, without any relevant experience and not expecting to be hired, she applied for a pastry assistant position at a local pie shop. She got the job. Within a year she was recruited to build and lead a pastry program at a well-regarded Tucson restaurant. Within a year after that, Adam asked if she'd consider joining Monsoon.

By then they were already close friends — the kind of friends who talk about food the way other people talk about everything else. They grew up differently and come from different places, but share a palate and a set of standards that turns out to be the most important thing when you are trying to make something genuinely good.

Athene joined Monsoon on opening day in 2018. She built the pastry program from scratch, and as the chocolate side of the business grew, she moved into it — slowly at first, then entirely. The bon bon program is hers. The ganaches, pralines, and gianduja are made from scratch under her direction, and the hand-decorated shells that define Monsoon's visual identity reflect her eye as much as her technique. She and Adam have collaborated on products that have won national awards. Adam made her a partner in 2020. She is now Head Chocolatier and co-owner, running all production.

Monsoon is the creative collaboration between the two of them, supported by a small but dedicated production team.