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Two Former Goldman Sachs Bankers Are Now in the Chocolate Business

Elements Truffles specializes in vegan sweets.

Elements’ vegan chocolate come in boxes with hand-stitched labels. 

Elements’ vegan chocolate come in boxes with hand-stitched labels. 

Source: Elements Truffles

When he was a vice president at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, managing portfolio analytics for the fixed-income desk, Kushal Choksi would stress when the short end of the interest rate curve steepened. “Then all my hedges were off, and I would have to recalibrate my models.” Now, he says, “the biggest stress of my life is when the UPS truck doesn’t show up.”

Choksi and his wife Alak Vasa, a former vice president for algorithmic trading at Goldman, are the founders of Elements Truffles. The Jersey City-based chocolate company specializes in sweets inspired by ayurveda, the Indian practice of natural medicine that highlights ingredients such as turmeric that are believed to have healing and health benefits.