Is it just me or are there are a lot of people scrambling to make a buck from the wellness industry? Well, let me tell you well before many of them crawled from the primordial slime of promotion- one goddess was striking a mighty and genuine sword against the big boys of unhealthy food and the SUGAR menace before it climbed notoriety. Leaving a brilliant career, and putting her money where her passion lies, not for the bank account but the PURE FIRE of WANTING CHANGE! I know right? Awesomeness.
That woman was television producer turned Food Warrior and entrepreneur Emma Dumas.
She is on the path of good, and she has been impressing this for years, in a Food Industry that spits people out quicker than you can Snap Crackle or Pop.
A few years ago I was at a junket of sorts, a PR “place” and I was not all that comfortable or terrific and this gorgeously funky, funny chic came bouncing in with little micro-packets of the best tasting muesli I had ever eaten. There was a story to the muesli, littered with ardent and real anecdotes of a woman on a mission and a message. She began this food journey all the way back in 2004, before the wave of anti-sugar messengers. She was before her time, which in this world of commercial ideas and the hedonistic planet of food glorious food: is pretty cool.
Before you knew it, we were sharing each other’s story and clicked; it was a positivity scale of 200+. We were both overcomers of ill-health and both armed with a dark sense of humor and it became apparent we would keep in touch. She is one of the most grounded and funny women I have met in a really long time.
It has been the people like Emma who have given me the inspiration to reimagine Ponderings, so to interview and speak with this excellent human who has overcome obstacles, or smashed through them, swum, dug, crawled, some even crying and bleeding to the other side making wisecracks.
Her why? Years ago she discovered (quite a while before the “others”) that sugar was enemy number one, and she had a crack at making some healthy muesli for her friend and personal trainer Donna Aston. “They couldn’t find a breakfast to complement their fitness programs. That’s why I created The Muesli. It’s the most important meal of the day. So if you’re investing in getting fit and losing weight – it’s important to enjoy a quality breakfast.”
You see I didn’t know this until I met Emma, but the majority of Mueslis on the market are PACKED with sugar. They don’t follow the 1 Line Rule. (ON ANY NUTRITION PANEL, CHECK ONE LINE, SUGARS. IF IT’S MORE THAN 5g/100g (5%), MOVE ON.) Or they are toasted, and all of the contents lose their nutritional quality. They are often “filled” with cheap bits and pieces instead of being nutritionally dense and rich.
All these years later and Emma and her partner with the help of their families are kicking butt and taking on the Sugar industry. Emma she is super excited about the path The Muesli is taking, as it is opening, even more, doors and eyes and created a team of people so passionate about fixing the bodies of Australians and then moving it towards a global scale.
No stranger to success, Emma comes “armed with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physical Education, with 5 Carols By Candlelight, 3 ARIA Awards & 4 Logie Awards broadcasts, Series 1 of Frontline, The World’s Greatest Commercials, Great Escapes, Oz Encounters – UFO’s in Australia, plus 5 years producing The Panel, then a series of Thank God You’re Here & Santo Sam & Ed’s Cup Fever (World Cup 2010), under my belt – I couldn’t see why producing a beautiful premium and naturally sugar free muesli should be any different!”
“It’s been interesting and I’m certainly in it for the long haul. Turns out there’s a lot to the food industry and working in it, that does in fact, bear similarities to working for the Australian television networks.”
To see more about Emma and what makes her tick, check out her interview with the gorgeous Sarah Mackay from eco-candle company Time to Thrive.
