Check Out Abigail Schlesinger’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Schlesinger.

Hi Abigail, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I started the Charcuterie Collective when I was a junior in high school at age 16! I wanted to have a job that I loved and provided the flexibility for me to still be involved in sports and student council at my high school! Charcuterie was always something my family enjoyed doing together, so I decided to turn it into a business and see what we could turn it into! Over the last four years, I have been blessed by so many amazing people, businesses, and AMAZING clients all over Arizona, as well as some work we have done in Utah over the last few years! Now, I manage a team of the absolute best employees as we do in-person grazing tables all over the valley, and my mom and I teach charcuterie classes together as well! 

Our interactive classes are so fun as they provide an opportunity for us to connect with clients all over and build connections across the state! We teach classes for neighborhoods, girls’ nights, and sororities at ASU and UofA, as well as for the business MBA students at BYU in Provo, UT! 

We are so blessed to do what we do, and I am so grateful to continue to do what I love, bringing community to our amazing clients through charcuterie, while still being a full-time student, now at Grand Canyon University in the Colangelo College of Business, while also operating my business! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been countless challenges that have arisen on this journey of owning my own business! I started it when I was 16 and am now 20 years old, and still learning new things every day. I am so thankful for the mentorship I have received from so many adults in the business community who have taken me in and guided me through the world of entrepreneurship and business! I started this business without any prior experience, so a lot of my challenges were situations where I had to learn as I went through trial and error and learn from my mistakes in order to better run my business and serve my clients. I have had to learn how to continue to be a student and have a social life while also running a business and a team. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Hey! My name is Abi & I am the owner and operator of the Charcuterie Collective! We are a charcuterie board company based out of Phoenix, Arizona. We built our brand on the idea of community and bringing your favorite people together in a unique and special way. I started this business when I was in my junior year of high school at age 16! My aunt Jess was the first person who introduced me to charcuterie, and what started out as a fun hobby and family tradition eventually turned into my next business venture! I personally always loved charcuterie because my family all live across the country, but every time we get to be together, we always make a big charcuterie spread and sit around the table for hours and just get to sit, chat, and eat a meal together. 

Some of my favorite memories come from sitting around the table with my family, talking about our lives, and reflecting on our times together as a family! After practicing building and serving these boards a multitude of times, I had many friends and family suggest that I start it into a business after seeing my boards on my own personal Instagram. 

At the time, I wasn’t interested in starting another business because I already owned an online clothing resale business that I started at age 15. After a while, I finally opened up to the idea of starting the charcuterie business, and in November of 2020, we accepted our first order! It has been almost four years since we officially opened our business. 

Over the last four years, our business has grown dramatically, and I am so immensely grateful for the support from countless clients and friends; we have felt ALL of the love and support these past few years. I absolutely love what I do, and I could not be more grateful for this business and the people I have met through it. Some of the greatest advice I have ever received is from my grandpa. 

When I first started my business, he sat me down and told me this, “If you pursue a job that you love, you will never work a day in your life.” That phrase has stuck with me through the good and hard times of owning a business. I get so much joy when I get to meet and build a relationship with clients and other business owners. 

I absolutely love teaching charcuterie classes as well because I get to teach those classes with my mom. It is a fun time for her and me to be together, and we absolutely love meeting people and connecting with people from the community in our charcuterie classes! My mom has been vital to the success of my business and has worked so hard to help me grow the business over the last few years. 

One of my absolute favorite parts about my job is that I get to be a very small part of so many people’s best days and memories. It is an honor for our team to be involved, even in a small part, in our clients’ milestone days, such as their wedding days, birthday parties, baby showers, and all of the other sweet events in between! 

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
For me and my family, charcuterie is a very special tradition. Charcuterie is a sweet way to bring people together and provide an opportunity for community. When we were starting our brand, we wanted to prioritize the simple idea of bringing people together and how important it is to invest in your community. Our goal with building charcuterie boards is to provide a simple way for our clients to connect with their people. Charcuterie is more than just the food on the table, but the people around it – and we hope that our clients can experience that same community! Our key to success has been the idea of creating a space and a unique way for people to live in this community! I thrive, and I know so many people thrive greatly when they are living in community with others and enjoying life with the people we love, so I feel as though my success has come from creating a space for people to do that and also relying on my community to help me every day to continue to build this business! 

Contact Info:

• Website: charcuteriecollective.com
• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/charcuteriecollective/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charcuteriecollective/ 

Image Credits
@pictureswithsyd