Chef Kirsten shares with Amalia how having her daughter was a turning point to live a healthier life. Listen in to hear how Kirsten became a chef to professional athletes and her advice on staying true to who you are.
For Kirsten, having her daughter was a turning point to live a healthier life. At 24, she was significantly obese and pre-diabetic with high blood pressure. To change this, Kirsten decided she needed to overcome the toxic diet culture and processed food lifestyle she was used to and truly learn what it means to live healthily. And she did it. Now, Kirsten’s a former chef to professional athletes and the founder of Mesa De Vida, a series of globally inspired natural ingredient starter sauces — as well as being a mom of two. Listen in to hear how Kirsten achieved all this (and more), along with her advice on staying true to who you are and feeling good in what you're doing.
@chefkirstensandoval
@mesadevida
The Whole Damn Pie
Kirsten Sandoval Interview
Kirsten: Food is the great connector in the world.
Amalia: Welcome to The Whole Damn Pie. Today we're speaking with Chef Kirsten Sandoval. She's a mom of two, a former chef to professional athletes, and the founder of Mesa De Vida, a series of globally inspired natural ingredient starter sauces. I met Kirsten maybe 10 or 15 years ago when we were both single moms just trying to figure it out.
We were at the beginning of this journey and asking ourselves, Where do we want to live? How do we want to work? How can we do this all as single mothers? So I've been joyfully watching Kirsten's success from afar.
Kirsten: It's so wild. We met, literally the kids and I had just started our lives over. Um, my cooking career started, I really picked up on cooking when I was about four years old and my daughter was little and I was extremely unhealthy. [00:01:00] I, I cooked a lot, but I cooked with processed food all the time. So I, uh, was just extremely unhealthy.
As I said, I mean, I was significantly obese. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pre diabetic and basically
Amalia: At 24.
Kirsten: 24.
Amalia: Wow.
Kirsten: Yes. Yeah, I had battled my weight my whole life. I was always on fad diets like lean cuisine and slim fast and things like that.
Amalia: Oh girl, I know how that feels. I remember going to the store way too young to even be buying like slim fast shakes, right? But I was probably like 11 or some crazy, it's just crazy to look back. But it was so part of our culture at that time.
Kirsten: It was. It was all about get skinny, stay skinny, no matter what. And I remember my first day paying my little jobs I had as a teenager, the money I would spend on was going to the grocery store and buying Lean Cuisines and Slim Fast so I could have them at home for myself.
Amalia: Oh my god, same! That's bonkers! You know what the best part is, though? If we told our daughters that now, my daughter now would say like, that is crazy. That is so unhealthy and toxic. And you have body disorder. Like she can like verbalize all these things that I'm now just figuring out. Do you get that from your daughter too?
Kirsten: Yeah, I literally was thinking that. Like, there's no way my daughter, number one, I, thankfully, I don't think she would ever feel that she would need to, um, do things like that to hurt her body or sacrifice pleasure and good food and eat fake foods. So I think they're more aware of that. And maybe that has to do with a lot of us who had to undo a lot of damage. You know, uh, not that I got it from my parents in any sort of way. Um, they never talked to me about those things. It was all just societal, just, just what you observe the magazines.
Amalia: It was just the water that we swam in, right? It was just the world at that time. Okay, so you were battling a lot of health things at a pretty young age.
Kirsten: I always say, like, this is my turning point in my life. One of my first turning points of [00:03:00] many in my life. Um, so my daughter was laying, sitting on the floor playing and she was just so cute and bubbly and had so much energy.
And I remember she was dressed in a pink tutu and a little pink, like, ballerina top and was just dancing around so happy and energetic and loving herself. And I was literally sitting on the couch, uh, could not get down and play with her. I was constantly tired, constantly sick, and I just felt like a complete failure right there.
Like, I, if I continue this, she's going to potentially end up in the same spot I am either, you know, hating herself or so healthy that she can't even play with her own child. Literally, it was that moment. I remember going in the bathroom and looking at myself like you are You are a good person and you deserve good things and you're just going to focus on your heart.
Like, how can we keep your heart? Because I grew up in a family with heart disease. So I was like, I'm heading down that path. So I was like, how do I keep my heart healthy? Because I figured if you can take care of your heart, the rest will kind of fall in place. That was the [00:04:00] catalyst. I, uh, did not know what healthy meant at that point.
So I had to really go down a journey of figuring it out. And to me before, For that I thought health was, you know, you're somebody who runs marathons or are just skinny. And so I, I mean Weight Watchers did all of those things and then I came across the Blue Zones diet and I, and it was new. Now it's like super popular. I mean this was significant, this was over 20 years ago.
Amalia: Blue Zones are the small global regions where people live the longest. A lot of people know about the Blue Zone diet now, after the Netflix documentary, but Kirsten was way ahead of the curve. She was following the Blue Zone diet nearly 20 years ago.
Kirsten: I just thought, well, okay, what are they doing? Because they must be doing something right. They're healthy. They're living active, healthy lives for as long as possible, like where the most centenarians are. So they had some research on it back then and they were all very [00:05:00] different, you know, some were very pescetarian, some were total vegetarians. Some ate actually quite a bit of meat. The one thing I could take away from it was it was all real food. It was not processed. Right. And so the number one thing I did was go to my pantry and just get rid of all processed foods, like packages and pouches, which were everything I cooked with back then.
I mean, we all know that part of the store where you go and you buy pouches and packets and you add it to the frozen stuff.
Amalia: Cheap. Fast.
Kirsten: Exactly. Yep. I had to learn how to cook from scratch then and I mean it just, I just sparked a passion. I loved it. It's just so creative and fun.
Amalia: So you taught yourself how to cook.
Kirsten: It is
Amalia: Is that how you became a chef?
Kirsten: Yeah. So I loved cooking and didn't think anything about having a career about it. And I started getting healthier and, um, I try not to focus on weight, but I did lose about 50 pounds in that first year. So it was slow, slowly but surely, but I was feeling amazing. All my lab work came back [00:06:00] great.
The doctor was like, okay, whatever you're doing, keep doing it. And I just was feeling amazing. So I was like, how can I help other people with this? And just looked around and thought, well, there's other people who need either help cooking or planning their meals and, uh, figuring out what healthy means also, you know, I wanted to be a restaurant chef, but I had a little girl there, I worked a midnight shift. I was, I've been working crazy hours, a huge part of my life, and there's no way I could have done both. So I thought, well, how else can I do this? So I found out about the personal chef industry and I was like, well, I can do that. I can start a business and just have some customers.
But to earn my cooking chops, I would go to the library and check out cookbooks from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute of America. And I created like tracks for myself. So I would do like a three month track on bread baking, a three month track on Italian cuisine, a three month track on like knife skills.
I definitely self trained and then just observing. I'm a big observer. I love watching other people's, how they work and [00:07:00] how they cook and um, just pick up what I can from that.
Amalia: Where do you think that drive came from?
Kirsten: I think it's internal. I think it's just one of those things. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, you have to have it as an entrepreneur. You have to have that inner drive.
Amalia: And that passion really, I mean, you really changed your life, right? You left a pretty unhealthy situation. And you, like you said, we met when you were just kind of restarting your life. Can you share whatever you want to about, about that time?
Kirsten: So I started off like dabbling, you know, I had a client here and there, but I formally launched it when my son who was born five years after my daughter, um, after that's when I kicked off and started the business.
Um, and then a few years after that, the kids and I, uh, The marriage was abusive and, um, had to leave. The police basically said, one day, if you don't leave, we come back, you might not be alive. So we, we left. I didn't know what to do. Um, you know, I had created my third baby, which was my business and it was [00:08:00] thriving and I was catering and I had great clients.
And. I did not know what to do. I hadn't shared with my family about the abuse or friends. Pretty much nobody knew about it. So I went to a domestic violence shelter where we lived and that's where the police told me to go. They said they'll help you and they did. It was very quick. They helped me immediately get a restraining order.
They helped us get, you know, here's how to go move forward in your new life. And I had to rip that band aid off and tell my family what was going on and our friends and ask for help. They would have been there to help me before, but I was just too, I felt like I was a failure for being in that situation.
And, um, Now all I want to do is tell women who are in that situation, you are not the failure.
Amalia: Yeah. Well, you're so brave to share it. I mean, nothing's ever as it appears, it seems like, and we never get where we're going on our own. So the fact that you had somebody who supported you out of there [00:09:00] and resources available and family who supported you.
Kirsten: Yeah. Yep. It was good. It was hard. It was hard. I hate asking for help. Like you said, you get further with other people and supporting each other. And it's so true, but I'm the worst at it. So we had some rough times. Yeah. Like there was times I, I remember I didn't eat for days. Um, I was working two jobs trying to keep my personal chef business alive.
And I was working another midnight shift at a grocery store just to have insurance and food on the table. Wow. And, um, But yeah, like we were happy for the first time in our lives and it was, it just felt like a whole new life immediately. So it was such a great time. Very difficult, but also so good.
Amalia: Yeah. Looking back on it, you're really thankful for, I'm sure, but what a struggle. But I mean, you're so resilient, so you're a single mom with your own business, also working two jobs to just keep food on the table and, you know, taking care of yourself and all that. That's a lot. [00:10:00]
Kirsten: Yeah.
Amalia: And then I think. This is probably about the time that I met you.
I didn't know any of those things were going on. My first impression of you is you said, you know, I do cook some things and, and it's okay, I'll bring it to you. Cause I was like, I'm at my daughter's soccer practice and I, I couldn't get to where you were like, I'm in the area. I'll drop it off. And wow.Thank you. That was so sweet of you. But I think it also shows like just who you are. You know, like, not only are you a good cook, but you, you go the extra to help move things forward. That was kind.
So let's talk about Mesa DeVita. So how did that start?
Kirsten: Actually, right about that time, so you and I had met. After I got divorced and everything turned our lives around, I never thought I was going to get married again.
I did not want to get married again. I didn't want any resemblance of a relationship like that. And met my wonderful husband who I'm married to now. He gave me the courage to restart my business because I was working. I thought, I'm going to put the business aside now. I'm just going to have to have [00:11:00] a regular job, a real job.
And he was like, why not? Why don't you just start your business again? And I thought, there's no way I can do that. You know? I need insurance. I need to do these things. And he was like, no, just go for it. And so having him in my corner just gave me that confidence to move forward. So when I met you, I had just started networking.
I had no clients in the area. I had no idea how to get clients. All I knew was that I wanted to not lose who I was as a chef. You know, the chef industry is very dominated by men and there's an expectation of how you're going to look and what you're going to wear. And I really wanted to. own my femininity and be a representation of a really strong, powerful woman as a chef and, and an entrepreneur.
So I just started networking and learning about learning other entrepreneurs and meeting them. And it was fun. So I think that's where we just got connected. I, I mean, I started off, I knew to get SEO back then you had to have a blog. So I [00:12:00] started a blog and that's, that just led to so many things. I started volunteering for the American Heart Association, ended up facilitating their better you program, which was a 12 week program focused on women's heart health and how to take just very minimal small changes, but how impactful they can be.
So started doing that and then just, Kind of being who I was, being authentic to who I am. I want to help people. I want to do this. I want to own and stay true to who I am. Just these things started happening. And I had taken online certifications in health and wellness and things like that, focusing on athlete nutrition.
And, uh, just one day, Out of the blue, somebody called up and said, I happen to know a Seattle Seahawk, and here's their, here's the information for their naturopath that was actually a cousin of mine. And it worked out. So all of a sudden I started working for one and then I ended up working for like eight of them.
Amalia: Yeah. So, I mean, I think that might be like a [00:13:00] dream job for a lot of people, right? Like working in sports or for athletes. But I want to talk about your, because your philosophy for food is all about natural ingredients and natural cooking, right? And so you brought that into your business when you started to cook for professional athletes.
What does that look like? Give us a glimpse behind the curtain of what it looks like to like cook for a famous football player.
Kirsten: Not glamorous whatsoever. So I, yes, I would come into it with my philosophy on food. Like it's just healthy, real ingredients. And then I would get paired with like geneticists, doctors, trainers, and they would be telling me, you know, this is what's going on with their health, this is what we need to fix, this is what we're working on.
And so then I had to take all of that information, create basically a nutrition program, but then I had to make it taste good. So. Most of the athletes I had been through had already been through natural food chefs, um, optimization chefs, things like that, and they hated the food. They just, they, they'd be with them for a couple weeks and say, I just want to be [00:14:00] away with, I don't want to eat this.
Amalia: It's just like boring and tastes the same and it's like meal prepping. It's like me trying to meal prep for myself and I make the same food for a week and then like by Thursday I'm like, never, never again.
Kirsten: Yeah. Chicken rice and chicken rice and broccoli
Amalia: Right!
Kirsten: I, I almost envy people who don't care about food that much and can't eat just like that.
Amalia: Just eat for like the, the nutrients of it or yeah, just the function of it. Yeah. I can't either.
Kirsten: Oh, nor could I. That's the only reason why I could have got healthy. I think it's because I had to figure out how to make it taste good. And most of that inspiration came from food from all over, all around the world.
You know, these, these cuisines that are big on flavor, big on these just punchy, beautiful aromatics and, and herbs and spices, and that makes food taste delicious. So I essentially took whatever macros that I needed to hit with these players. And to make them match the goals we had for their nutrition as well, [00:15:00] I just started creating these flavor bases.
You know, I would ask them, where are you from? Where's your, you know, your home or heritage? What did, what did mom cook? What did grandma cook? What do you, what are the aromas you want to walk in and smell when you come home? Uh, what feeling do you want to get when you come home? And so, uh, started with one player and he was from the, uh, the Caribbean area.
So he was telling me, Oh, I grew up eating these kinds of foods. So I created a flavor base with, um, basically I love like Indian and Thai curry pastes. I love them. And I was like, well, there's nothing like that for anywhere else. So, uh, I started, I created it of my own and, um, I was able to sneak in like all the nutrients.
Cause I found, I was called my players, my boys, because they were, always younger than me. And, uh, they didn't like to eat their vegetables. And so I could hide them in those blends and, um, sneak a nutrition supplement into it or things like that if I needed to get specific oils or whatever. And, um, so I would just, I cooked everything with it.
So when you're creating very macro based [00:16:00] meals, it's a lot of soups, a lot of stews, a lot of like chilies type, you know, pasta dishes, things like that, pasta and rice dishes. And so I could start all of those with that base. So it's, you know, if I'm making a pot roast, I'm adding that to it. And, um, it just, it cut my time in the kitchen in half.
And, you know, I thought, well, there's something there someday. And, um, being a chef is really hard on your body. Um, your neck, you're down all the time, you're chopping, your hands are literally destroyed from the acid in foods and then soaps. And, um, you know, I thought, well, I've got to figure out a way to, to do something else or how can I scale this?
Amalia: Yeah, because your business started growing. It went from like professional football players to basketball players and female basketball players. Like it's just started growing. Word of mouth. And I have to say it was probably the food, but it was probably also how you showed up. Like for you to walk in and say, what did your mom cook? What did your grandma cook? [00:17:00] What do you want to hear? What do you want to smell? What do you want to feel? That. is nurturing in itself. And I think that's really who you are.
Kirsten: Yes. I mean, I started this business, this current vision of Mesa DeVita because I just wanted to feed more people. How can I help more people with food?
And, um, yeah, you're right. I mean, there's a level of trust there when I'm in these people's homes. I have their key to their home. Like I really wanted them to know that I, I'm in their corner. I'm part of their team. And, um, it was really cool. It was, it was such a great time in my life. And, yeah. I could have really grown it from there.
But again, like, I wasn't quite sure how to do it. I went about like, do I grow a team of other chefs under me? But then I was worried that I would find somebody who I couldn't trust or, you know, they would jeopardize that trust. So I honestly don't know. I mean, I would just get home from cooking all day and wish I had these sauces in my own pantry.
And so that's kind of, I kept coming back to that. Like, how can I make this happen, so.
Amalia: So then you pivoted and [00:18:00] you scaled with the sauces. You call them starter sauces, right?
Kirsten: Yes.
Amalia: Okay. And you have many of them, and I've used many of them, but tell us about the whole collection.
Kirsten: Yeah, so they are meal starter sauces slash cooking sauces.
I feel like cooking sauce, everybody just assumes that's just a simmer sauce, but these do so much more. Um, so they are just, they're just like a simple way to get a great meal on the table, to still cook, to still have that act of nurturing and still getting in the kitchen and feeling like you're doing something, but they just make it so much easier.
And, um, they give you, they're more inspired, like the flavors aren't boring. I wanted to, you know, healthy eating, for me, I could not have probably lost the weight. I couldn't have got healthier if I didn't enjoy the food too. So, yeah. So, and again, connecting people. I mean, food is the great connector in the world.
Like, whether we're connecting to a memory, connecting to, uh, cuisine across the world that we want to learn more about to, uh, [00:19:00] yeah. So that's a great, great way to, to opening the door to impact. Oh, I love Moroccan food. Who would have known? Now I'm going to try this great Moroccan restaurant in town now that I'm kind of familiar with these flavors.
I've just been figuring this out as I go, I say building this airplane as we're flying. So it's been a pretty much solopreneur on, um, journey this whole time and, uh, started off as a side hustle. So I got the sauces made at a co packer because I knew that I knew. So I spent about a year building out the business plan and learning about what I could about the food industry.
And I thought I knew it all. I'm a chef. I shop in the stores all the time. And I mean, my grocery bill between all my clients was upwards of 6, 000 a week.
Amalia: Oh my gosh.
Kirsten: Yeah. I had to feed them a lot of food. So I thought, Oh, I know everything there is about the grocery industry. Um, no, I did not. And, um, so I started off slowly.
The one thing I did know, I have to have a co-pack or make it. I'm not, I cannot be physically making [00:20:00] these sauces. And try to sell them at the same time.
Amalia: You're not in your garage like your dad was with the sausages. You had to get a co- packer. Okay.
Kirsten: Exactly. Yeah. So did that. And then it was just a side hustle.
I would take the kids. We would do farmer's markets, um, you know, drive door to door to the, to the stores and hand deliver it to the back door. And then, uh, yeah, Whole Foods called and said that it's exactly what, you know, the consumers are saying. They want more. globally inspired flavors. They want to be inspired by their food and they want it to be easy and they want it to be healthy and we fit all of those things.
So, uh, we, we did launch nationally with Whole Foods, which I would never recommend somebody my, at our stage to do, but it was exciting and it was unfortunately right before the pandemic.
Amalia: Oh, now why wouldn't you recommend it? Because it was just hard to scale that. Fast?
Kirsten: I would say, yeah, definitely hard to scale that fast.
I didn't know that once you get in that the hard, the easiest part is getting on shelf. The hardest part [00:21:00] is staying on shelf. You have to have, you definitely, if you were going to launch nationally with Whole Foods, you should have an investment behind you. And we didn't, we did not. We, and we took out loans for our, you know, production runs and things like that.
So definitely I would not recommend that. Um, unless you do have that investment and that it's chopped, but you know what, we, we're still alive and we're still cruising and it was valuable lessons and just like everything else that I've been through on my journey, these multiple pivots I've had to take, I’ve gone through it I think for a reason and it's to either help somebody else along the way with these things I've learned or maybe someday I can turn it into a consulting business of my own. I'm not sure. Like everything I did, here's not what to do. That's what I would call it.
Amalia: That is a valuable lesson, actually. So do you have investors now or is it still just you?
Kirsten: Yeah, we have partners. Yeah, we have. Yeah, we're not, I mean, definitely like friends and family. [00:22:00] We're not, you know, we don't have any VCs or anything like that.
We are definitely still growing very slowly, uh, very strategically, very carefully. And I always think, God, if I had that million dollar investment, Oh, if I could get that 500,000.
Amalia: Yeah.
Kirsten: But I, I think. Well, then I would have made probably bigger mistakes, more expensive mistakes.
Amalia: Right. No, I understand that. I totally understand that.
And then you have another brain in the room, another rationale. And it makes, I think it could make the work harder, right? I don't know. I agree. This is our burnt toast theory that, you know, it's all meant to happen.
Kirsten: I love that. Having friends and family as our partners is so special to me, too, because I feel, I mean, it's a massive responsibility on my shoulders.
Like, I, you know, want to be very careful with their money and very, very strategic with it. And I want to get them great returns, but it also is just something beautiful that we have, you know, I feel like their trust and, you know, hopefully going to create wealth for them and all of those good things [00:23:00] for them trusting me with the, with it.
And, uh, they, I trust them too. So it's, it is something beautiful at that stage.
Amalia: Well, you have a great product. I mean, can you talk us through the sauces that you have now?
Kirsten: So we have five starter sauces. We have Caribbean, Creole, Latin, Northern Mediterranean, and Moroccan inspired flavors. And literally every one of them was inspired by a player that I cooked for.
So I have many, many other flavors in my back pocket that I can't wait to, to develop someday. But right now at this stage, we're just going with the ones that were my tried and true. And yeah, so there are simmer sauces, sauté sauces, cooking, um, braising sauces, slow cooker sauces. You do all kinds of different things with them.
I always say instead of, you know, buying a cabinet full of spices and herbs and chopping a basket full of vegetables just to make one meal, this is just the simple solution to it. Uh, think of it as like spaghetti sauce, how we, how we're so accustomed to using spaghetti sauces. It's a way to [00:24:00] do that, but you get connected to other flavors.
And I always hope, you know, some people, I love it when I do demos and people say like, Oh, I'm from that area. And I don't, that's so great. Like you don't see our flavors represented on the grocery store shelf because in the grocery store shelves, it's really only three to four flavors represented. This world is much more beautifully diverse than that.
And I feel like the flavors we crave are also more diverse than that. And what I've learned through this is that most stores, when I present them the product, like, well, I don't know where to put you. And like in your cooking sauce set, well, our cooking sauce set is only three flavors. And I'm like, well, why is your cooking sauce set only three flavors?
There are some great products out there. And so for one, you know, like I think there's some beautiful African sauces out there, West African sauces. But them sitting alone on the shelf in that section, that is not going to expand it sadly. And, or they're not going to expand for the one flavor. So I really hope with this brand block, with their, our whole product line being about [00:25:00] expanding the, you know, the culinary, uh, inspiration for people, it will hopefully help widen that category, making it the hotspot in the store where people go to discover new flavors and, uh, get that inspiration.
Amalia: Wow. I want to talk a little bit about, I mean, health and wellness and heart health and every, you know, body positivity. It seems like it's part of your whole journey and your whole company and There's so many different diet trends out there that have come and like you and I hit on some like early 90 ones, right?
But it it doesn't stop. It just evolves now You call it like strong as the new skinny or you know, you're all about health not skinny but whole 30 to keto to macro to did it like how do you do you you kind of like miss all those because you really? Just focused on natural ingredients
Kirsten: Yeah. Wow.
So I went through during COVID [00:26:00] and um, multiple surgeries. So I donated my kidney in 2019. Then it dehe later that year. So that I, I went in for the kidney transplant or the donation, expecting to wake up with a scar down my side. Uhhuh totally anticipated. I woke up with it right down the middle of my stomach and, um.
That was not expected. And so, dehiscence means it basically ripped open from the inside.
Amalia: Oh, man.
Kirsten: Not fun. So, I'd have another surgery, and then I had a third surgery. So, I've had three surgeries now. And during that time, I went from being an extremely athletic, or not athletic, just energetic, I would say.
Like, I was never an athlete, but I would jog. I would, tons of walks, always doing Pilates, and loved being active. And I could not be active. I couldn't lift anything for a long time and I started gaining weight back. Started saying I'm allowed to have, I'm not allowed to have this or allowed to have this and I thought that's not healthy.
So I went through a lot of unlearning because all of the certifications that I had got in health and [00:27:00] wellness and nutrition were now looking back very diet culturey. Replacing one eating disorder with another is what it was.
Amalia: Completely eliminating food groups or one something is good versus something is bad.
Kirsten: Yes. It's sad.
Amalia: Well, it's overwhelming, right? Like at some point you're just like, I give up. We're going to McDonald's because apparently, like, now this is bad for me, right? Like you just pick up your social media from one day to another. Like what you thought was a healthy choice is now the worst thing you could do.
Kirsten: Oh, totally. It's, it's never ending. And I hear that so often. So many. They're like, I'm just giving up then. I'm just going to eat what I want. And I almost feel like I went down that a little bit, but I had to figure out again what healthy meant. I think the experience in working with so many, you know, the geneticists and things like that, really dialing into what these players needed and what they could have and couldn't have, or what was not going to be good for them.
It was really eye opening to me and I have just discovered like we are all so individual and [00:28:00] I'm all for going down the path of figuring out what works for you. Like if you do feel like every time, that's funny, every time I eat these almonds I feel terrible. Well, then cut them out. Like there's, that's great.
Like do that. I think just if you're taking your health and nutrition advice from diet culture, don't do that. Like, you know, or recognize that it is and figure out how to do it in a healthier way that's good for your mind and not, not convincing yourself you have other things going on.
Amalia: Well, that's a great way to think about healthy eating.
It's individualized. So start to really do what feels right for your body, which makes a lot of sense, but it can be really hard. I mean, I guess the more we can move away from the rigidity of one diet versus another, the more balance we're likely to find in the long term. Okay, so zooming back out a little, you've had these really huge moments in your life.
I mean, leaving an abusive relationship, teaching yourself not only to cook, but how to cook [00:29:00] healthy, satisfying, and flavorful meals? Then you turn your fantastic sauce recipe into its own business, reaching national shelves through Whole Foods. All while raising two children and donating a kidney. It is so inspiring.
But I know there must have been rough times. I mean, how did you push through? Because I have to say, I don't know. I am so struck by your resilience and your positivity as you tell your story.
Kirsten: I think I relate everything, number one, to childbirth. Um, like my daughter was a 38 hour laborer. No pain medicines.
They kept pumping me full of Pitocin. She was not advancing. She came out with the pain. A horrific cone head and, um, I now I tell myself, if I can do that, I can do anything. Um, so that's short term things. And then when I, when it comes to bigger things, like days where it is really tough, like, you know, maybe the orders are not coming in.
We didn't land a big retailer. You know, you watch the, the bank account dwindle as you're spending to try to grow the company [00:30:00] and you're like, okay, when's this gonna turn around? It's funny because the hard times when we did start our lives over. I didn't think were hard when I was in it. I was just doing it.
You just don't have a choice. You just get through it. You make it happen. And, and I needed to be strong for my kids. So I was always strong for them. And so now I relate everything to that as well. Like, well, you did that. You can do this too. This isn't as hard. You're going to be fine. So just, I think, not letting yourself get too down because things will always get you down, but also allowing it, you know, feeling those feelings.
Um, I allow myself every once in a while, I have a day where I can tell my energy is zilch. My attention span is zilch. And I think it's usually when I've had to be around a lot of people, I've had to do a lot of talking, also a lot of, just a lot of bad news coming all at once. And those days I give myself permission to just lay around and relax, and I find those are the days where, like, an idea will pop into my head that I would not have had the [00:31:00] bandwidth for, I think, at that point.
Yeah, you gotta recharge your batteries.
Amalia: No, I love that. Okay, the top of your website. I notice, I have to ask, it says that we can have it all and I love that. So how do you balance your family, your business, your cooking business, which seems like it's still growing. How do you do it all?
Kirsten: I think constantly staying true to who you are.
Amalia: Yes, staying true to who you are has been a through line in your story, and it's clearly worked for you.
Kirsten: All of the pivots I've taken, everything, I really have listened to my gut, and it's something I tell both of my children, but my daughter especially. Listen to your gut. You know, it's a little woo woo, but I feel like our ancestors are telling us where to go.
Our guts tell us the feelings we get around certain people or certain places, whether that's positive or negative, are guiding us to where we are supposed to be, and so. Not being so rigid that you don't [00:32:00] think you can jump, just take a jump and leap of faith because I've taken so many. Definitely listening to your gut is a huge thing.
And then when it comes to you know, managing it all and balancing it all. It will never be perfect. And I think when you're looking for perfection, you're just going to be constantly disappointed.
Amalia: Isn't that the truth? Yeah, you miss out on all the stuff, right?
Kirsten: Yeah. Yeah. And when you do look up and you look back, like the stuff was hard when you're in it, but you're like, Oh, I'm glad I went through that stuff.
That was, that was for a reason.
Amalia: Amen. Yep. We always say perfection does not live here. Okay. I can't let you go without asking you, what does having the whole damn pie mean to you?
Kirsten: Having the whole damn pie means to me feeling good in what I'm doing. So again, listening to that gut. There's times where it's all about my family.
Like my kids are going to come first. Both my children have a rare genetic cancer syndrome, and there's a lot of doctor's meetings, and a lot of doctor's visits, and a lot of procedures, and there are [00:33:00] times where I have a deadline, and there is stuff I have to do for work, I have to put it away, and I have to be okay with that.
I tell myself it is fine. This will be fine. That will be there when I come back. Always putting that first. But then there's times when the business needs to come first. The kids are fine and everything's good. And I'm like, okay, mom, mom's going on. Do not disturb. You guys are not going to bother me for a while.
She's like, my children are about to be 23 and 18 now, so they're not little anymore. So it was a much more difficult, but I've evolved. I could not have done what I'm doing now as basically a solopreneur when they were little. There's just no way. So that's why the personal chef business was perfect when they were little.
I was able to go to work, focus on work, and come home and be done with it. This time of my life, this is perfect for building a business and building a, you know, hopefully a very successful sauce company that gets acquired by another company and evolves from just sauces, you know, turns into other convenient products on the store shelves that need innovation and inspiration.
I think it's good to have a goal, like to have a vision of what things [00:34:00] I remember when I was on my health journey, I had a very specific vision and what I wanted to wear when I was at my healthiest and felt the healthiest and I literally saw myself spinning, wearing that outfit with like a grandchild and so that's a vision and I didn't know how I was going to get there but I knew I would and then with this business now still. I have a very specific vision of what it will look like, and I don't know how the heck I'm going to get there. And some days I think it's not going to happen, those hard ones, but, um, yeah, yeah.
Amalia: I like that visioning. Sometimes you just got to say the thing or want the thing or, you know, dream for the thing.
Kirsten: And does it feel good when you're dreaming about it? That's another big clue. Is this the journey you're supposed to be on? Is this the thing? And if it doesn't feel good to you. Keep your eyes open and heart open and gut open to what else feels good to you. And that might be the, that might be the road you need to take.
Amalia: Heart open and gut open to what feels right for you. Isn't that good advice for all of us? [00:35:00] And it applies to nearly every area of our lives. Kirsten is asking herself the right questions and we see the success she's found. Does it feel good when you're dreaming about it? Gut check, heart check, can't lose.