EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally was published in the November issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins across campus or digitally.
Abigail Schlesinger thought she would follow in her family’s footsteps and become a teacher. But she developed a taste for business and, at 15, became a budding entrepreneur, reselling clothes online.
To her surprise, the opportunity to teach resurfaced, thanks to her booming business, Charcuterie Collective.
Schlesinger, who graduated from Grand Canyon University in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising and a minor in entrepreneurial studies, admits she gets greater satisfaction out of teaching others to curl a prosciutto ribbon or create a Camembert fan than she does making them herself.
“It’s very interactive,” said Schlesinger of teaching how to elevate boards with zesty meats, cheeses, fruits and sweets. “As you can probably tell, I’m very extroverted. I do love getting to talk to people, hear people’s stories, especially for our in-home classes. There’s typically anywhere between six to 12 participants in the classes when we do them in homes.”
Then there are the big classes that excite her for a different reason: “I love getting to share something that’s so special to my family.”
Schlesinger’s business has expanded from a family-supported entrepreneurial pursuit to employing 10 staffers.
Her gastronomically stunning boards incorporate such designs as salami roses and blackberry jam-filled brie cutouts, with themes that run the gamut, from Christmas to a Valentine’s Day board that might include chocolate and even jelly bean hearts.
Her website, CharcuterieCollective.com, features a blog that shares posts of food discoveries she made in foreign countries, boards she created for celebrations – even preschool proms – and stores she found that sell products conducive to customers’ creations.
One of Schlesinger’s biggest thrills was teaching a charcuterie board class at GCU’s Family Weekend last fall.
“To finally get to teach one at my own school was awesome,” said Schlesinger, who also has helmed classes at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Brigham Young University.
“I was still a student there when I taught the classes … and some of my friends and their parents that attended the class got to see me in my element.”
Schlesinger describes charcuterie as “an instant magnet” that attracts people. It’s how she sees her business, as something that brings people together.
That comes as no surprise to her entrepreneurship professor, Paul Sorensen. He first heard about her from Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs.
“This isn’t just about charcuterie boards,” said Sorensen, who also teaches Christian worldview courses and serves as pastor at Hope Church. “This is about people, relationships, community and connection. In our world, that’s so important. In Jesus, so much of His ministry centered around meals, and she gets that.”
Charcuterie Collective started to gain traction at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, when life started to return to normal.
“People were kind of itching to host a lot of gender-reveal parties and different sorts of parties that maybe weren’t as big of an event before COVID because people were just looking for any way to celebrate anything,” Schlesinger said. “So it was kind of the perfect time for us because people were ready to host events. They were wanting to go big. They were wanting to celebrate more.
“We were able to just come right in and provide a service to help with that.”
It helps that the Schlesinger family – father Josh, mother Lindsay, brother Jackson (who enrolled at GCU this fall) and Abigail – are foodies. That came in handy when Lindsay started making jams, from spicy to boozy, during the pandemic.
The spicy jam has become a staple of most of Schlesinger’s charcuterie boards.
“Everyone wants to know where they can buy it, but we only exclusively do it on our boards,” she said.
Schlesinger’s mother and aunt, who are involved in the business, allowed her to live a normal college life at GCU.
“My parents walked alongside me so that I could still experience (college life) while also learning and growing in the business,” Schlesinger said.
Last summer, Charcuterie Collective served a wedding in England.
“It was cool because some of our cheeses that we use when we’re here in the States are actually imported, such as English or Irish cheeses. We were able to buy those locally when we were in England and see what the differences were,” Schlesinger said.
That was part of a six-country, 26-day trip that enabled the Schlesingers to test cheeses, tapas and jams and re-create those flavors after returning to Arizona.
Charcuterie Collective stays busy from October to May, with Halloween and Thanksgiving spiking business as well as high school and college graduations in late spring.
Schlesinger credits professors Connie Clary, Cori Telzrow, Robert King, Larry Siferd, Tim Kelley and Sorensen for making an impact.
“There are a lot of things that you have to learn through trial and error and teach yourself,” Schlesinger said. “… Specifically with the salami roses, there’s different ways that they’ll tell you to do it on the internet, and we found a way with a certain kind of glass that works really well for us.”
Sorensen said students like Schlesinger who display a passion and find their purpose is “what makes it so fulfilling to teach at GCU,” and thought back to what the Glendale mayor told him about Schlesinger. “She said, ‘There’s a new girl who is going to be in your class. Keep your eye out for her because she’s really special.’”
