Women in Business, sponsored by Eclipse Recruitment
Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers… or you can grow weeds.
Women in Business events are always popular, but today North Shore Golf Club was absolutely packed to the rafters – and no surprises why. Nadia Lim is one of New Zealand’s most beloved chefs, whose warm, approachable style and keen entrepreneurial spirit have won her legions of fans around the world.
Having a Malay/Chinese dad and a Kiwi mum, and spending her early years in Malaysia helped to form Nadia’s philosophies and for her to see different perspectives. Even now, whenever considering a new project, she always returns to her dad’s advice: bring it back to how you can help people and what problems of theirs you can solve.
It was as a 13-year-old with a crush on Jamie Oliver that Nadia’s love for food really started to blossom. Pre-her 2010 Masterchef triumph she was working as a dietician for Auckland DHB – and then, a lightbulb moment. Having the knowledge about healthy foods and how to eat better is not enough; you have to have the tools and support in place too. She knew she wanted to do more, so, after Masterchef, and despite everyone’s advice, she quit her job and ran with the opportunity.
In defining “Brand Nadia” she also helped to craft My Food Bag’s core values: to have a positive effect on the way New Zealanders eat by using only 100 per cent free range ingredients sourced, wherever possible, from local producers. The idea of meal kits was not well-received at first! Even her parents asked why they would want someone else deciding what they should have for dinner. However, Nadia is sure that it was the team’s passion, enthusiasm and utmost belief in the concept that won over suppliers and drove the business forward. She also believes that, for any venture to succeed, you have to start from the ground up, understand every facet inside out, and get your hands dirty – sometimes literally!
Nadia has not been involved with the day-to-day operations of My Food Bag for about three years, and she and her husband have gone back into farming, with a focus on biodiversity and biodynamics. In her opinion, if we really want to help solve food production and sustainability issues, we need to start growing more of our own food. It eliminates so many environmental problems, such as plastics, packaging, and transportation. She would also love to see some gardening and farming included within the curriculum, so that the next generation can gain a better understanding of where food comes from.
During lockdown, Nadia’s Comfort Kitchen was a world first, being filmed entirely on an iPhone (Nadia’s husband’s!). The concept was then taken around the world by Warner Brothers and picked up by none other than Jamie Oliver!
Not all of her ideas work however. Everyone appreciated Nadia’s honesty, when she admitted to juggling and dropping proverbial balls. You have to be realistic and expect that. The trick is to figure out which balls are glass, which are rubber, and which you can afford to let roll down the hill. She also advised that, if you do not really love a concept, it probably will not work. But, fail fast and get back up fast. It always comes down to attitude. Be careful of others’ expectations and of false perceptions of success. This is different for all of us, and there is no one right answer.
When considering whether or not to proceed with an idea, she thinks about what 80-year-old nana Nadia would tell her younger self. More often than not, it is: back yourself. Do not be brought down with paralysis by analysis.
- Ignore BS diet fads.
- Eat real food from the land, sea and sky.
- Trust your gut, not just figuratively. Listen to what your body tells you about certain foods.
Nadia’s penultimate comments harked back to an earlier announcement about Business North Harbour’s women in leadership mentoring programme. Do not just choose a mentor based purely on paper. Think, do you want to be like that person – because they will influence your behaviours. And, finally, you genuinely have to be invested in your team. Love them, value them, and make sure they know this.
Click here to see the event’s photos
