My Story

Hi! My name is Soulla, and I’m on a forever journey to live my best life. 

I live by the beach in Bronte, Sydney, with my 2 grown-up kids. I’m an ardent lover of the sun and sea, a passion I developed as a kid growing up on the Gold Coast.  

I was born to Greek Cypriot migrant parents where mum made meals from scratch, dad had a proud veggie patch (with fig and lemon trees) amidst the concrete balustrades, we entertained friends with a Greek BBQ feast most weekends, and an endless stream of visitors would pop in most days for a Greek coffee (“caffé”) and home made Greek biscuits (“koulourakia”). Our pantry and fridge were also full of white bread, margarine, soft drinks, and junk food, which my parents (who escaped poverty from Cyprus) would have subconsciously considered a sign of “affluence”.  

It was really through a series of health crises as a burnt-out corporate lawyer at 27 that I started my healing journey. Hospitalised and bedridden for 2 months was the wake-up call that I needed to appreciate how my lifestyle choices had finally caught up with me. I started questioning everything about my ‘successful’ life - from the processed foods and take outs that essentially made up my diet, to my vocation, to my relationship, to my sedentary lifestyle, to working late into the night, to the binge drinking, to being city bound in an office under fluoro lights, to the perfumes and lotions I was using – things that are considered so normal in today’s society… but not so normal for our ancient DNA. My body and my soul felt the disconnect so poignantly…and I was cracking at the seams. Chronic osteo-skeletal issues, recurring migraines, fainting spells, acne, legally blind, irregular periods, PMT, and constipation (to name a few of my health issues).  

My spectacular crash with rock bottom was the grand invitation to pivot onto a healthier path. Looking for answers but not knowing where to turn (in the days well before internet and podcasts), I intuitively felt a strong gravitational pull to start Iyengar yoga (considered very “hippy woo woo” back in 1999), to take up bush walking, to move out of the law firm and into corporate (until I figured out my grander purpose), and to reduce processed foods. I also became a vegan (thinking it was healthier). Two steps forward, two steps back.  

A few years later, when my firstborn (who we were also raising as a vegan) ended up in the hospital at 11 months, my world shattered, and like a mother lioness, I searched for answers, leaving no stone unturned.  I started questioning our vegan diet and the allopathic medical system with its band-aid, pharmaceuticalised, approach.  

I discovered the work of Weston A Price and ancestral diets. I dove deep into the nutritional anthropology to learn what we as humans evolved to eat and not eat. Despite the sharp contrasts with mainstream dietetics, it was undeniable that robust science backed the wisdom of our ancestors. Intuitively, it made sense to eat the nutrient dense whole foods that nourished humanity since the beginning of time prior to the industrialisation of our food supply… the fat, bones, meat and organs of animals, wild seafood, raw dairy, fermented foods, cod liver oil, properly prepared (activated) nuts and unrefined salt. This was A LOT to digest for a hardcore vegan (physically and emotionally!).  

In a space of a few months, we went from barely surviving to thriving, just from changing our diet. These forgotten foods of yesteryear lit up the very fabric of our DNA when we consumed them. More than just igniting us on a physical level, it touched our souls. It felt right. This was the food my great-grandmother would have made. I was anchoring back into the ancestral lineage of my past, and paying homage to the lineage of humanity who survived and thrived for millennia on real, whole, nutrient-rich foods.  

This is when the power of food as medicine hit me hard. There is no drug, medication, or supplement that could have as powerful, profound, and fast an effect.  

Persistent friends wanted to buy any surplus food I made, and then, through word of mouth, friends of friends came knocking at my door.  The circle kept expanding and expanding until one mother’s helper turned into sixteen over the years. My house was full of dehydrators, boxes of raw ingredients, and stock pots simmering away. Despite the chaos and the struggles as a solo mama with 2 young kids, I found my passion and my purpose. I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  

My wholefoods brand ‘Star Anise Organic Wholefoods’ was officially birthed (my third child). I never set out to start a business. It was simply born from a powerful desire as a mama to heal and nourish myself and my little family. 

As the business outgrew my home, I set up a retail store (Broth Bar & Larder) in Bronte– the home of Star Anise Organic Wholefoods. An online store and wholesale arm were developed to meet the burgeoning demand as more and more people were questioning mainstream dietetics and allopathic medicine, and turning to ancestral / paleo diets as a way to heal and nourish with profound results.

I felt it was very much my honour, responsibility, and privilege to teach women how to make this nourishing food themselves in their own home, so I ran hundreds of cooking classes over 10 years. I openly shared this important and life changing information that I was learning through one on one health coaching sessions, my blog, social media and my Food As Medicine tour across Australia (now encapsulated in my Food as Medicine digital package)… and somehow from a burnt out vegan lawyer, I developed a reputation as Australia’s queen of wholefoods. The greatest privilege for me is empowering people to take back control of their health through simple, easy lifestyle swaps.

While I started my health journey with a strong focus on food and nutrition, I quickly came to appreciate that health embraces so much more than nutrition. As profound as nutrition is on our health, it is only 1 of 8 lifestyle or environmental factors that profoundly influence our health...What I coined as “the 8 Foundations of Health”.  

These 8 lifestyle choices influence our health far more than our hard-coded genes (and in fact switch our genes on or off for better or for worse).

These 8 lifestyle choices are, at their core, the foundations of true self-care. We have been bestowed the extraordinary privilege of this earthly body and this earthly experience, and because of that, we have the responsibility to look after our (physical, emotional and spiritual) body by nourishing it, so that we can show up as the best possible versions of ourselves and live our best life. Without our health, we have nothing, as I learnt in my 20s.  

Unexpectedly, another health crisis hit me in 2016 (in my mid-40s) in the form of mould in my home, which left my kids and me very sick for months on end and this is how I accidentally fell into my Young Living low-tox business. The gift, I discovered, was learning firsthand the profound impact that the health of your home can have on your health. An unhealthy home (whether from mould or toxic personal care products, or cleaning products) means unhealthy humans who inhabit it. Through this experience, I also was bestowed the gift of discovering a comprehensive system of medicine that I could use in my own home in place of pharmaceuticals– Young Living therapeutic grade essential oils – which are potent plant medicine at their core. These oils provide a safe, powerful and effective system of medicine that I could use for day to day issues and overall wellness, reclaiming power back from external providers and bringing that power back into our own hands and home where it belongs. It was only a matter of time that I started teaching others how to use Young Living oils as their go-to medicine cabinet in place of pharmaceuticals and how to go low tox by kicking the chemicals in their home with simple healthy swaps, in a positive and empowering way. 

So that is my story, and my mission is essentially to inspire and empower you with practical tools and resources to lead a less toxic, more nourishing life in all areas of your life, but really starting with your home. I believe vibrant health starts in the home. It starts with the food, the personal care products, the cleaning products, and the forms of medicines that you CHOOSE to bring into your home. Your home is the ONLY place that you have control over, and it’s where you spend the majority of your time. Small changes incrementally add up to make a big impact. 

I invite you to join me on this journey of nourishing deeply and living cleanly, so that we and the next generation can function optimally, perform our best, and reach our true potential.  
 
Love Soulla xx