#GIRLBOSS Episode 2: Jacqui Toumbas / Miss Bliss Australia

Our local Girl Boss series is a project that I have been working on to unite, inspire and share real down-to-Earth stories from local Brisbane girl bosses.

If you’re a creative and aspiring #girlboss, start-uper or just love watching and supporting women in business then be sure to tune in to our YouTube channel (click me!) for more on this series - you won’t want to miss a single episode!

At the time of posting this on our YouTube channel it was Women’s Health Week. Did you know that the two biggest barriers for women not maintaining a healthy lifestyle is ‘lack of time’ and ‘health not being a priority’?

This couldn’t be more of a perfect opportunity to share episode 2 of our #girlboss series featuring Jacqui Toumbas, aka the nutritionist, ‘queen taste tester’ and girl boss behind Miss Bliss Australia.We sat down with Jacqui to talk all things nutrition, women’s health and hormones, as well as balancing a business while making sure to prioritise the important things in life - like spending time with family!

Mikki: It is nice to see you, thank you so much for doing this for us. I’m really excited to have you as part of our women’s health #girlboss series. 

Jacqui: Actually when I got the email I was very excited!

Mikki: My partner and I eat plant-based so we really love food and cooking together and things like that so I think talking to you about Miss Bliss is something that is going to be really interesting. I’m excited!

Jacqui: My life revolves around food, so for me that’s what I love to talk about!

Mikki: So, I’ve always said that ‘if you can master yourself, you can master your business’ but I think mental health is obviously a hard one to master. I really don’t keep my mind is healthy as I can. As a nutritionist can you share your thoughts and advice on eating for mental health?

Jacqui: Of course, it’s something that’s really important to me. Especially, I find more moments that I sort of even needed to remind myself ‘I need to take better care of myself’ because obviously it’s now four years into the business and there were times where I think my mental health wasn’t the best. It was because I neglected a few things. So, and it’s not just nutrition, so they all come hand in hand. For me, it’s making sure you’re eating a wholefoods diet - and so that’s what Miss Bliss is. I wanted to have a concept that was so easy for people to understand but also has so many benefits. So, having a wholefoods diet and making sure that you’re eating good fats. Coming from a Greek background... olive oil is the best thing in the world! I’m a massive advocate for olive oil. So your healthy fats - walnuts are a massive thing in terms of mental health and your brain but it’s also understanding things like how to manage stress. Which I’m the first person to admit at the start I probably didn’t have very many good coping mechanisms… but also exercise. It doesn’t have to be doing something... I’ve always said ‘don’t do it if it’s going to do more damage to you, if you’re doing something you don’t like’. You’re going to put your body under a lot more stress if you’re going to these classes that you’re not enjoying, you’re not looking forward to, you’re pushing yourself, and I’ve had to learn that. I had to learn those differences. Before I started Miss Bliss I went through a stage where I was training twice a day, 6 days a week, eating strictly only what I had meal prepped, I wouldn’t go visit my grandma, or you know, I didn’t want to steer from that. I wasn’t in a very good place mentally. Going into Miss Bliss taking this concept of wholefoods, and just real food. Avoiding things like your really refined sugar things and stuff like that. I still love sugar, don’t get me wrong, but we can use it in alternate ways so your body can process it a little bit better. So it is a factor of elements and that all has to be taken into consideration when discussing mental health and trying to work out the best plan for you. I love afternoon walks, I live on the river in West End and it is not only good in terms of exercise but mentally. I bought these really cool new headphones too, so listening to a podcast or just… breathe, and be outside and be able to enjoy it.

IN BRISBANE WE HAVE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL LOCATIONS AND THAT’S SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE UNDERESTIMATE HOW IT CAN HELP YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.

I think cooking, for me, and it might not be everyone, so therapeutic, I get excited. All weekend I was looking forward to baking - I made a green curry with chickpeas and vegetables and everything and I actually enjoyed it a lot more too because I enjoyed the moment of making it.

Mikki: So, I’m just going to throw it out there - hormones. Hormones are hard to balance and they affect us everyday. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are our worst enemy. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience as a nutritionist, and how it’s perhaps helped you gain a better understanding of your hormonal biology?

Jacqui: Hormones are something that I always wanted to, that I was always like leaning more towards during my studies. It was really hard because there was nothing based just on female hormone optimisation but it was always something that I wanted to find out a way.

WHENEVER I WENT TO THE DOCTORS IT WAS ALWAYS LIKE ‘WELL TAKE THIS PILL, TAKE THIS NUTRIENT, THIS AND THAT’ AND I’M LIKE BUT IF THIS IS MADE FROM A FOOD CAN’T I GET IT IN MY DIET?

Some people can’t and we have to supplement but I think the first stage of trying to get our hormones to the optimal state is through food. I think that step’s usually mixed, it’s usually jumped to and people usually go straight to your doctor or something like that. When I first started doing a lot in female hormones was when I first left uni and I was working at a gym. I had a lot of women that wanted me to implement a 6 week challenge sort of thing and I’m sort of against that because it really puts your body through a lot of pressure - if it’s not done properly. So that’s when I started this concept that I put together which took me nearly 2 years, which was sort of an elimination process to see what effects you and how it affects you but also how it affects your hormones.

THE EASIEST WAY TO DO THAT IS TO KEEP A FOOD DIARY BUT ALSO KEEP LIKE HOW YOU’RE FEELING AND HOW YOU’RE BLOATING AND THINGS LIKE THAT. IT’S A LONG PROCESS SO YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT FOR A LONG TIME TO UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BODY IS FUNCTIONING.

I think it works best when whoever is seeking it, so if I’m seeking to get my hormones to an optimal level I need to and I want to understand it myself - instead of someone saying to me ‘you need to be eating more greens’. I want to know how it affects me. So that’s sort of the process I went through. What we need to understand is fats, it’s very similar to mental health, your fats are something really important when it comes to your hormones. So your good fat, legumes and beans are really good - and that’s something I think people usually by-pass. That’s the way that people can help to optimise their hormones and be able to get them in the right state. Might I also say, if there are inconsistencies you do need to go see a practitioner and have a talk about that and get your blood tested.

Mikki: You’re a part of a girl gang, Real Women Co. - can you tell me a little bit about what is that you guys do and how any aspiring hustling girl bosses can be apart of this?

Jacqui: My friend Catherine and I, a few years ago, I actually met her through the cafe, and she was working part time and then doing her own sort of consulting on the side.

I WAS STRUGGLING WHEN I FIRST OPENED MISS BLISS, BECAUSE I HAD NO ONE TO BOUNCE IDEAS OFF. IT GETS REALLY LONELY SOMETIMES.

You may be surrounded by staff or other people but sometimes it feels sort of sad and lonely. So it was maybe once a month, or a few times a month when we would catch up and go to a cafe and work from there. Even though she didn’t know anything about the industry I was in, or she did but we were able to bounce ideas off each other. We were talking about should we create something where everyone can do that - bounce ideas and connect with people and then we found that there were quite a few groups of women that would get together but we wanted to change that and make it different and make it educational. She is an occupational therapist so for her to up-skill she would get to do that for work and then I started to think ‘well if I want to up-skill.. how do I do that?’. I wanted to learn things about the basics of advertising, marketing, taxes and accounting.. all the fun stuff!

SO WE STARTED TO CREATE THESE EVENTS WHERE WE WOULD FIND EXPERTS IN THAT FIELD AND WE WOULD AIM FOR STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMEN THAT WE COULD FIND IN BRISBANE AND HOST AN EVENT THAT THEY COULD SHARE TOP TIPS, SOME WAYS WE COULD CONNECT THEM AND EVERYONE COULD WALK AWAY HAVING LEARNT SOMETHING.

Our biggest thing was we wanted people to walk away with real tools. We made sure every single person got a pen and notepad because that was one of the things that meant the most to us. We’ve put it a little bit on the back burner lately because we both have been absolutely inundated with so many things but we are working towards a few different things. I think that’s something that we really want to be able to make sure we know the right stuff to be able to give you the tools.

Mikki: One of my favourite questions, do you have a biggest business fuck up to date that you’ve learnt from?

Jacqui: I wouldn’t say, in terms of... there are lots of little things that I did that I’m maybe like ‘hmm maybe I wouldn’t have done’ in terms of maybe trying to expand and do something different that didn’t work. I find my biggest one in business would be losing myself and it’s not something necessarily in terms of the actual business but at one point I knew that I had put so much into my business that it was affecting my business but also me personally. That was the point for me that I was like ‘ok well something has to change’. So I guess that would be it.

Mikki: You have two businesses, you have Miss Bliss and Miss Bliss Treats plus you support and empower girl bosses behind Real Women Co., which we’ve just spoken about, and you have a growing family with the recent addition of two baby nieces - which obviously you want to be a present aunty to. How do you balance the busyness that comes with being a leader within 3 businesses as well as enjoy time with your family, and do you have any processes to take time out and be with your family?

Jacqui: I actually have 3 - I have 2 nieces and a little nephew that has come along, so it’s 4 altogether which has just, I don’t know, it’s just the most beautiful thing! So I’ve made a pact to myself - once a week I have to go spend at least half a day with one of them and rotate that around, and that is a non negotiable. The other week I went and picked up my 2 year old nephew and we went and had lunch and just went out for the day while his mum got some sleep, or whether it is hanging out last week to take little baby Mary on errands strapped to my chest… until she vomited on me but we made it. I just said, that’s it. It will happen, and it’s usually a Thursday but for me that’s really important. I’m very lucky too that I do live in the same building as my grandma. In our family, that’s like the meeting place. I don’t have to go far to catch up with everyone. I go down a lift down to level 1 and everyone’s there. So that’s something I’m very grateful for and that’s something that keeps me connected. There are still times that I might get really busy and haven’t been able to do that, and that does get to me, and that’s when I know that ‘ok, I have to do this’.

Mikki: What is your number one online tool when it comes to making your life as a business owner easier?

Jacqui: I just recently got onto ASANA - it’s really different, to manage a team, it is incredible. For everyone to be able to have their task, everyone has a little tab. If you put your task and put your date that you need it to be done by, the tab at the start that just tells you what’s upcoming. So I know ‘ok I have to get this done’. I also love Google Keep, which is lists, so I have one shared with my head chef, I have one shared with the front of house staff. I don’t even have to communicate anything with them if it’s on there. But other than that, that’s like... and my Google Calendar. So I try to keep it simple, I’m an Android girl so I’ve sort of always had that, but I think having those few things intact... I will forget things.

Mikki: It helps streamline things?

Jacqui: Yep.

Mikki: Thank you so much for being a part of this, I really appreciate it.

Jacqui: No worries, thanks for having me!