Meet Sienna Trapp Bowie | CoFounder, Fortuna

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sienna Trapp Bowie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sienna, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We are queer, latinx, feminist chocolate makers and have spent all of our adult lives exploring borders. All three of us have backgrounds in the arts; multi-lingual opera, analogue music composition, visual mixed media art. As a result we are confidant in our ability to commit to a creative concept and work towards its manifestation. For us, Fortuna is an art collective or a band and we come from that perspective as co-founders of our business.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are from what is now called Mexico and the so called United States of America. As a bicultural family of chocolate makers we ask the question “What is America?” Living together as immigrants in Japan, we tried to answer the question. We wanted to explain not only the landscape or food but a deeper explanation that included sadness and violence. An explanation that honored those who were damaged by the collision that forced up the “Americas” into being. After years of thinking deeply about the answer we realized it was time to return home. And so, Fortuna was born on the road. Fortuna was born on a bicycle in the streets of Tokyo and at a long wooden table in the Danish countryside. It was born on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and in the forests of the Rocky Mountains. We are questing for the answer and each step we take new worlds open, unknown narratives reveal themselves and we come closer to the whole story. Cacao is our medium. Witness to our story and elder, we sit at the feet of its wisdom. Bloodied by human hands and talisman of our ceremonies, cacao is already answering our questions.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would invite them to a mediatation session at the Boulder Shambhala Center and a walk along Boulder Creek, then share a pot of tea and reading session at the Trident Cafe. Morning start to a through hike on the Mesa trial, pick up a CSA at one of the local farms out east & grill at Eben G Fine Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to honor those whose stolen land we reside on: Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and the small scale indigenous farmers around the world that continue to show us the way.

Website: www.fortuna-chocolate.com

Instagram: @fortuna_chocolate

Facebook: @fortunachocolateboulder

Image Credits
Fortuna