B.A. Eli Broad College of Business, 2010; Ph.D. Massey University, 2012
Young Alumni Award: Presented to alumni age 40 or younger who have distinguished themselves through a high level of professional accomplishment early in their career.
She is a creative entrepreneur, founder and president of a successful business and a Spartan.
Alex Clark is an outstanding 2010 graduate of MSU’s highly ranked Hospitality Business and Agriculture programs. After receiving certification in chocolate from The French Pastry School of Chicago, she left the country on a full ride scholarship to New Zealand’s prestigious Massey University to complete a postgraduate diploma in Agricultural Commerce and continue her research on value chains in the cocoa and chocolate industry with USAID’s Partnerships for Food Industry Development. She traveled the world to study and stage attending Vancouver’s Ecole Chocolat before returning to Michigan to study under Master Pastry Chef Joe Decker and Master Chef Jeff Gabriel at Schoolcraft College.
Clark has since taken her entrepreneurial spirit, passion for design, and love of chocolate and merged them into a phenomenally successful business, Bon Bon Bon – a wildly popular artisan chocolate company. Since opening in the Detroit-surrounded city of Hamtramck in 2014, the shop has earned national acclaim, expanded into a 5,000-square-foot factory, added four retail shops, a full-service e-commerce platform and earned features from likes of Shake Shack and The James Beard Foundation.
Clark's work has received acclaim from Bon Appetit, Food & Wine Magazine, Martha Stewart, Crains (20 in their 20s), and Forbes Magazine (Best Pastry Chef Under 30). Alex continues to challenge the status quo as Founder and President of Bon Bon Bon while also growing a small portfolio of like-minded businesses from publishing to household supplies. She has appeared on the cover of Spartan Magazine and generously given her time to MSU students and alumni through various programs and events.
“I build businesses that challenge the status quo. Why can't we use great design in order to implement something more simply or more beautifully, or in a way that makes life better for everyone?”
Who will innovate business? Spartans Will.