Being Epic

Elif Oskan is the woman behind Gül, Rosi, and Miss Marshall. Restaurant owner, chef, magician in the kitchen, ice cream queen, truthfully, I couldn’t do her career justice, so it’s best to just go and book yourself a table at one of the restaurants and let yourself be immersed in culture, compassion and cuisine. She’s had the idea for Gül since 2015 and in the beginning of this year, 2019, it finally opened its doors and has quickly become a Zurich favorite. Starting her career in Zurich and then moving abroad to refine her skills and absorb the different cultures. She ultimately decided to come back to Zurich and opened a few pop-ups, built Miss Marshall, a catering business purely focused on desserts and her famous nitrogen ice cream, Rosi, a Bavarian restaurant and Gül, a Turkish restaurant, both of which she opened with her partner, Markus Stöckle. Elif didn’t always know she wanted to be a chef but made her decision when it was time to figure out what to do post school and since then she’s never looked back, we could say she found her calling. Food is truly something special, not just in the Turkish culture but also in her family, sitting together, eating together, sharing, and talking about what to eat next. We talk about whether she realizes how much she’s accomplished, the celebration of food, treating yourself, the importance of family, debunking the stereotype of chefs, how she gets inspired, and who she would most like to have dinner with. https://www.guel.ch https://www.rosi.restaurant https://www.missmarshall.ch www.instagram.com/guelrestoran www.instagram.com/rosi.restaurant www.instagram.com/miss_marshall_queen www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Britta Kürzi is the wonderwoman behind Kürzi Kakao, a new, artisanal, bean-to-bar chocolate company that challenges the way you think about chocolate, the way you consume chocolate and the way you taste chocolate. Fun fact, she uses all organic ingredients, sourced from the best locations, injects a whole lot of love and passion and thereby creates vegan, palm oil free and gluten free chocolate, that is mind-blowingly good. Consider this your call to action and follow her along her journey on her website and Instagram channel to find out when her chocolate launches and then order it immediately. It’s a taste explosion like you’ve never had it before. Britta’s story has many ups and downs, and it didn’t include chocolate until fairly recently, but once the idea of her business came to her she put her foot down and learnt everything there was to learn about chocolate and traveled across the world to understand first-hand what the process of bean to bar was, how to improve the process and what big factories vs. little factories look like. Fast forward to now, a few months after recording our episode, and she found herself an atelier, renovated it, got it ready for production and is set to launch later this year. We talk about the science behind chocolate, she explains the process and gives us a deep insight into the world of chocolate – as we like to call it “Nerd Alert!”, and then we go way into family issues, the hustle mantra, what being normal means and some behind the scenes of life as an entrepreneur and we had a live chocolate tasting. www.kuerzikakao.ch www.instagram.com/kuerzikakao www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Britta Kürzi is the wonderwoman behind Kürzi Kakao, a new, artisanal, bean-to-bar chocolate company that challenges the way you think about chocolate, the way you consume chocolate and the way you taste chocolate. Fun fact, she uses all organic ingredients, sourced from the best locations, injects a whole lot of love and passion and thereby creates vegan, palm oil free and gluten free chocolate, that is mind-blowingly good. Consider this your call to action and follow her along her journey on her website and Instagram channel to find out when her chocolate launches and then order it immediately. It’s a taste explosion like you’ve never had it before. Britta’s story has many ups and downs, and it didn’t include chocolate until fairly recently, but once the idea of her business came to her she put her foot down and learnt everything there was to learn about chocolate and traveled across the world to understand first-hand what the process of bean to bar was, how to improve the process and what big factories vs. little factories look like. Fast forward to now, a few months after recording our episode, and she found herself an atelier, renovated it, got it ready for production and is set to launch later this year. We talk about the science behind chocolate, she explains the process and gives us a deep insight into the world of chocolate – as we like to call it “Nerd Alert!”, and then we go way into family issues, the hustle mantra, what being normal means and some behind the scenes of life as an entrepreneur and we had a live chocolate tasting. www.kuerzikakao.ch www.instagram.com/kuerzikakao www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Emma Hutchings is the woman behind Circle Soaps which are handmade, cold process soaps that are organic and using plant-based ingredients. It was very important to Emma that her company focuses on zero-waste, using recyclable materials for packaging and producing as little waste as possible when making soaps. The idea came when she was looking for soap that is organic, natural, plant-based, locally produced and with a reasonable price tag which she wasn’t able to find so she took the opportunity and decided to fill the niche. She’s a very hands-on person, having experimented with creating toothpaste, lip balms, deodorants, etc. before playing with soap. Once the idea manifested, she took a soap making course in England and then played with different recipes from which she came up with her favorite pieces. We talked about her previous job in the finance industry and how it didn’t fulfill her and she didn’t see the joy in making wealthy people more wealthy, how quitting a job without a back-up plan can be scary but liberating, her journey with zero-waste and veganism, and of course, how she came up with the idea and then launched her company. https://www.circlesoaps.com https://www.instagram.com/circlesoaps/ www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Kathrin Würtele is the wonderful soul behind Kathrin Würtele Coaching where she focuses on having her clients reconnect to themselves and thereby unleash their true potential and ultimately finding their purpose. She is also the woman behind Ensouling Ideas which is a branding, marketing and business strategies company where she helps clients find the soul of the business and focus on the why in order to also here, unleash a company’s full potential. Her eye for detail and beautiful aesthetics shows in her surrounding, especially her new office, and work, her energy fills the room with love and calmness which makes you feel safe and protected, and her insights and knowledge inspire everyone that has a conversation with her. There are certain people we connect to in ways that are simply indescribable, and this was the case with Kathrin. Seeing and speaking about the work she does in helping individuals tap into their core and slowly undo the knots that have tied them to their limited belief is truly admirable.  We talked about what makes a coach a good coach, the work of a coach and what her intention is as a coach, finding a new expression for the word “coach”, the trend of self-development, what makes a person authentic, being misunderstood, criticized and facing confrontation, unleashing potential, traveling, sources of inspiration and a nod to photography.  The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav www.ensoulingideas.com www.instagram.com/kathrinwuertele www.instagram.com/ensouling_ideas www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Kathrin Würtele is the wonderful soul behind Kathrin Würtele Coaching where she focuses on having her clients reconnect to themselves and thereby unleash their true potential and ultimately finding their purpose. She is also the woman behind Ensouling Ideas which is a branding, marketing and business strategies company where she helps clients find the soul of the business and focus on the why in order to also here, unleash a company’s full potential.  Her eye for detail and beautiful aesthetics shows in her surrounding, especially her new office, and work, her energy fills the room with love and calmness which makes you feel safe and protected, and her insights and knowledge inspire everyone that has a conversation with her. There are certain people we connect to in ways that are simply indescribable, and this was the case with Kathrin. Seeing and speaking about the work she does in helping individuals tap into their core and slowly undo the knots that have tied them to their limited belief is truly admirable. Kathrin and I tend to talk for hours when we have time to see each other and this podcast episode recording was no exception. We talked about her career in corporate and why she decided to choose a different path a few years ago, whether having entrepreneurial blood was a source of inspiration or a possible hurdle, learning new things, opening the space for honest conversation and speaking about the “shitty days” and the ups and downs of social media. www.ensoulingideas.com www.instagram.com/kathrinwuertele www.instagram.com/ensouling_ideas www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Alina Russ is the creator being Lola’s Kitchen, a vegan, gluten/dairy/refined-sugar free (say that three times fast) cake company. The business began out of curiosity in wanting to make a dessert that she could actually eat, that wasn’t a fruit salad. Her cake was such a hit at the dinner she brought it to that she started getting requests from others via Instagram. The philosophy behind Lola’s Kitchen is that everyone should be able to treat themselves to something sweet, children, adults, and everyone with dietary restrictions. On top of that, she felt that there was a gap in the market for how we purchase cakes, having to go to the bakery and then either being in or out of luck, so she solved that problem by creating an online business, where you can order your cake and it’s ready for when you need it. This formula has led her to the success she is having, and has allowed her to now open her own cake shop (which is set to open this month) and therefore, expand her business. We talked about how she came to her business idea, what it means to run a business, how time management and organization are an integral part and what her advice is to someone that would like to start their own company.    ﹒﹒﹒ https://lolaskitchen.ch https://www.instagram.com/lolasdailykitchen/ www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Clare Howard is the magician behind Bloem, a flower styling and subscription company with a beautiful message: Delivering Happiness in the Freshest Form. After working in the corporate industry for many years she wanted to re-route and work with her passion, flowers. She had a business idea but wasn’t sure if it would be successful, sure enough, a little over a year later, I think she consider herself, as well as her original idea a success. Clare created a game changer with Bloem, by offering something new, fresh and exciting – a subscription service where you can treat yourself to a fresh hand-styled arrangement, once a week, bi-monthly or monthly, delivered straight to your door by E-Bike. The wildflower arrangements are unique and eye-catching, and have become quite known in the Zurich area, attracting brands such as VIU Eyewear and Calida. Clare has also been moved into events and workshops with Bloem where you can learn first-hand how to create these magical arrangements and how to take care of them afterwards. We talked about how she got the idea to start Bloem, how we handle self-doubt, the criticism of not holding a florist certificate, what we do to turn our minds off from spinning endless circles, how she wanted to disrupt the industry with Bloem and what it means to be a self-employed woman.  ﹒﹒﹒  https://www.bloem.io www.instagram.com/bloem_zh www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Clare Howard is the magician behind Bloem, a flower styling and subscription company with a beautiful message: Delivering Happiness in the Freshest Form. After working in the corporate industry for many years she wanted to re-route and work with her passion, flowers. She had a business idea but wasn’t sure if it would be successful, sure enough, a little over a year later, I think she consider herself, as well as her original idea a success. Clare created a game changer with Bloem, by offering something new, fresh and exciting – a subscription service where you can treat yourself to a fresh hand-styled arrangement, once a week, bi-monthly or monthly, delivered straight to your door by E-Bike. The wildflower arrangements are unique and eye-catching, and have become quite known in the Zurich area, attracting brands such as VIU Eyewear and Calida. Clare has also been moved into events and workshops with Bloem where you can learn first-hand how to create these magical arrangements and how to take care of them afterwards. We talked about how she got the idea to start Bloem, how we handle self-doubt, the criticism of not holding a florist certificate, what we do to turn our minds off from spinning endless circles, how she wanted to disrupt the industry with Bloem and what it means to be a self-employed woman.  ﹒﹒﹒   https://www.bloem.io   www.instagram.com/bloem_zh   www.instagram.com/jmt_creative

Anja Heimer is the woman behind Anja Heimer Grafikdesign, a graphic design service-based company focusing on print and web design. She doesn’t just bring her multitude of experience to the table, but she also has an open mind, a creative spirit and a truly welcoming personality. She has worked in small and larger companies before deciding to re-position herself and her interests and thereby, starting her own company. She told me her goal is to be able to finance her life through her company solely by next year, which I have no doubt that she’ll achieve that. Our conversation touched on equal pay, our experiences in Advertising and Agency life in general, the development of work-life-balance which can often be construed as more life than work, the importance of traveling, our sources of inspiration and whether we believe to draw focus towards our strengths or rather our weaknesses. ﹒﹒﹒ https://www.anjaheimer.com www.instagram.com/anjaheimer www.instagram.com/jmt_creative