Pep Talk With Grace

So as you might know, if you've spied my Instagram stories this week, I've recently been exploring investing in shares and learning a bit more about sharemarkets - it's always been on my "to do" list, but I haven't quite set aside the time to really dig in yet. And so that's where this week's guest comes into things – Kristen co-founded Hatch along with her business partner Natalie, launching just 15 months ago.

Hatch is an online platform that allows you to invest into the US sharemarkets, all online and super easy from your couch or even your phone. These guys are opening up this world that was previously so inaccessible, and not only making it easier for existing investors but also educating and helping along those – like me! – who are new to these things!

Kristen is no stranger to New Zealand start-ups and especially loves working with digital disruptors. She’s a firm believer that technology should simplify our financial lives and help us to be better with our money. As Hatch’s General Manager, she spends her time working to inspire Kiwis to be as wealthy as they should be by democratising access to world-class investment opportunities.

As well as being a tech entrepreneur, Kristen has a huge passion for supporting women in leadership and I can't wait to pick her brain on the work she's doing in this space – and of course ask her for some tips for my adventures into sharemarket investing! Let's find out more...​

To give Hatch a try and grab $20 free credit when you deposit NZ$100, head to this website (https://hatch.as/PepTalkNZ) to sign up now! Come along for the ride with me while I give it a go. You can also follow Hatch on Instagram @hatch_invest.

It's a beautiful moment when a passion and a career come together, and that's exactly what my guests today, Mindy and Gretta from Twig & Arrow, have created. I feel very lucky to have got to know Mindy and her amazing family during my time at Sweet Bakery - as wedding industry comrades - and I'm really excited to introduce you guys to them today too.

This beautiful duo aren't exactly your typical florists, they are botanical stylists, creating the most stunning bouquets, installations, and downright pieces of art from flowers and greenery.Their style is modern and lush, with a beautiful studio shop space in Wellington, and they also hold super fun workshops (I can say from experience!).

Mindy has been a florist for over 15 years now, and more recently her lovely daughter Gretta has joined the team, helping to take Twig & Arrow to the next level with online deliveries and their new retail space.

I can't wait to hear all about how Mindy started and built this beautiful business, what it's like working as a mother-daughter duo, and what their plans for the future are.

*Free delivery!* Next time you are in need of a lush gift in Wellington check out twigandarrow.com and use the code TEAMTWIG for free delivery. Yay!

So call me crazy, but today's guest is... me! That's right, a few people have suggested along the way that, since I founded Sweet Bakery & Cakery here in Wellington, it might be cool for me to have a bit of a chat on one episode about my own journey starting a bakery business.

I started Sweet Bakery back in 2014, fresh back off the plane from my OE in London, where I worked and trained at the most amazing cupcake bakery - Crumbs & Doilies. I kicked off with a stall at the Underground Market on Wellington's Waterfront, and selling cakes online for parties and events, and after a year or so I opened a retail eat-in cake shop in Karori (where my commercial kitchen was). A few years later we opened a seond cake shop, on Cuba St in Wellington, and by that stage our team had grown to 13 people - including my husband Brad (who I roped in to a full time job at Sweet along the way!).

I put a call out for questions on Instagram (@peptalknz if you have fomo), and so while I'm usually the interview-ER, today you guys are doing the interviewing and I'll be answering your burning questions along the way.

The wonderful Sweet Bakery is still going in all it's deliciousness - you can order online for delivery in Wellington (www.sweetbakery.co.nz) or visit the cake shops in Karori and on Cuba St. Keep up with the latest flavours and treats on Instagram (@sweetbakerynz). Yum!

After delving into the world of micro-mobility hearing all about e-scooters a few weeks ago, I was very intrigued to complete the picture and hear a bit more about Mevo– the car share service.

Erik, along with his business partner Finn and a team of significant backers from Audi NZ to Z Energy, started Australasia's first free-floating car-sharing service. You reserve a car on the app, unlock it with your phone, and drive for as long as you need it for (so much more flexible than a traditional car hire service). Best of all when you're done you can park it wherever you like in the home zone - with no parking fees.

Plus it ends up being way cheaper than car ownership – and you don't need to worry about getting a WOF or the battery going flat in your driveway. Given that we use our cars for only on average 1 hour each day – 4% of the time we own them for – car sharing makes total sense. Plus, it means you get a fancy, clean, well-serviced car to jump into every time you drive. Dreamy!

Each Mevo car replaces 10 private cars on the road, which given that transport contributes to 58% of Wellington's carbon emissions, will make a huge difference. On top of that, the Mevo team are carbon-positive, meaning they offset 120% of the business' carbon emissions.

Erik is hugely passionate about the green economy and smart cities, I'm really looking forward to picking his brain in today's chat.

If you're intrigued about Mevo, you can find out more on their website (mevo.co.nz), and stay up to date with their journey on Instagram (@mevo_nz). Remember, it's free to join!

Needless to say, having founded a business literally called "Sweet", I have a major sweet tooth! So I've been itching to have a chat with Gabe – co-founder of Wellington Chocolate Factory.

Wellington Chocolate Factory are New Zealand's first Certified Organic, bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Their tablets of chocolate are all very much hand-crafted and truly artisanal – I've been to the factory many times and can assure you when they say they are hand-made, they really are!

If you visit their factory on Eva Street in the heart of Wellington, you can see the whole team in action, it's wide open – and YES it smells amazing! You can jump on a tour, and even do a workshop with the actual chocolate makers. Not to mention, their chocolate really is very special and unique, with beautiful packaging too. The brand is grounded by fantastic values, including paying their bean growers a fair price and truly respecting the origins of their beans.

If you're listening to this episode around the time of release, make sure you head to my Instagram (@peptalknz) where you can enter our giveaway to WIN an amazing pack of Wellington Chocolate Factory - so you can try all their flavours for yourself.

If hearing Gabe talk all about their delicious chocolate tempts you, you can order Wellington Chocolate Factory online with an amazing 15% off especially for our Pep Talk gang! Use the code PEPTALK for your sweet special when you order online at www.wcf.co.nz.

Make sure you rally the kids in your life to enter the awesome Chocolate Dreams competition Gabe and the team are running! Find all the info about the competition and follow Wellington Chocolate Factory on Instagram (@wellingtonchocolatefactory).

If there's one product hat maybe hadn't been disrupted, I feel like it could be toilet paper. Like those rolls haven't changed much over the years! And that's where the idea to chat with today's guest came from.

Fraser is the General Manager of Innocent Packaging and Smartass. These guys make both toilet paper and amazing food packaging products from plants.

Turning things like bagasse, a waste product from sugar production (that would normally be burnt-off) into useful products - this is the ideal win win solution. And it's full circle – not only does the production of the product cause less harm in the first place, but at the end of their lives these handy products can be composted and return back to the earth to be re-born.

I especially enjoyed this chat as a way to hear a slightly different career path – Fraser left school early, didn't go to uni, and worked his way into the career he's in now without any formal training. It's also kinda cool to hear a business story from someone other than the founder – Fraser has a huge role in the success of Innocent Packaging and no doubt has a slightly different take on things from your traditional founder.

You can order a case of Smartass TP on their website (www.smartass.co.nz), and jump on to follow the Innocent Packaging gang over on Instagram (@innocentpackaging).

I'm sure if you've been in Wellington, Auckland or Christchurch pre-lockdown, you'll have noticed the hot pink electronic scooters dotted around the city – Flamingo Scooters.

These are the only NZ owned and operated option for e-scooters on our streets – going up against worldwide giants like Uber. And even more amazing is that Flamingo was started by two 21 year old guys from Wellington, Jacksen Love and Nick Hyland.

If you're a business geek like me, when you see a business pop-up like this one, you have so many questions about how it all works behind the scenes and how on earth you even go about starting an e-scooter business. Which is why I was so interested to get Jacksen on for a chat today – to ask all my burning questions about this awesome NZ start-up.

On top of that, I knew these guys would have lots of interesting Covid related chat to share – especially because while their scooters have been off the streets during lockdown, they've launched Flamingo Food, delivering food on behalf of local restaurants by delivery drivers on their scooters. How's that for a fantastic pivot?! I can't wait to hear all about it...

Check out Flamingo Food for your next food delivery (www.flamingofood.co.nz) and make sure you choose the hot pink locally owned e-scooters next time you need to get somewhere quick!

Remember all those times you went for a coffee but forgot your reusable cup? Well Again Again - founded by my guest today Nada and her business partner Melissa - is the ideal way to stop you from having to use as single use cup that ends up in the landfill.

Again Again is a takeaway coffee cup service – the customer pays a $3 deposit when they use their first cup, then they can either return the cup and get their deposit back, or they can swap the cup for another one next time.

Why do we need this? Well scarily, I know we have good intentions – but actually only 5% of takeaway coffees are made in reusable cups! We throw away 295 million disposable cups every single year in New Zealand alone, and worldwide that clocks up to 88 billion cups. I don't know about you but I'm pretty horrified by those numbers!

Since they started less than 18 months ago, Again Again have nearly 200 cafes on board (across Wellington and Auckland), and are already diverting 30,000 disposable cups from waste every month. Amazing!

I really hope you'll have a listen to this chat and think twice about your choices next time you're getting a coffee. The Again Again system makes it effortless to do the right thing – and I can't wait for you to hear all about the behind the scenes from Nada.

*We recorded this chat right at the start of Level 3, at the time reusable cups weren't able to be used in cafes under the Covid-19 regulations. Luckily (for Again Again and the environment!) this has been reconsidered and now reusable cups are allowed to be used during lockdown.

Find out more on Again Again's website (www.againagain.co) and follow on social for the latest updates (@againagainco)

I think the real test of a true peanut butter fan is when you eat it straight from the jar with a spoon, and I am proud to put my hand up! So needless to say I've been a big Fix & Fogg fan for a long time - since back in my Sweet days, I met Roman as a fellow ex-lawyer turned food business owner, when we were both starting out.

I'm not sure if this is even necessary as Fix & Fogg has become pretty much a household name in New Zealand now, but just in case you're not sure – Fix & Fogg make the best nut butters right here in Wellington. Not just peanut butter, these guys now also make amazing hazelnut, almond and 'everything' butter. And also not just for breakfast, peanut butter makes a cracking lunch on a bagel, or you know, just straight from the jar like the best of us do.

My guest today Roman runs Fix & Fogg along with his wife Andrea, and their factory until recently was next door to our Six Barrel Soda Co. factory on Lukes Lane, so we were lucky to get wafts of roasting nuts down the hall (and not to mention the factory seconds!!).

So I was very happy to get co-founder Roman on the line for a chat, with so many questions about just how exactly you turn humble peanuts into this liquid gold, and also about their very exciting plans expanding - and actually now producing - in the USA.

This chat today is going to be such a great way to kick off the week – I'm so glad it's coming out on a Monday – because today I'm chatting with Lisa from Move It Mama and Move It at Home.

Just a couple of years ago after having her fourth baby (!!), Lisa started doing workouts at home to get her mojo and strength back.

After other parents started asking her what her secret was, she shared her workouts online via Facebook Live, and from there this thing has just spread like wildfire throughout the country - with nearly 5000 people (not just Mums) subscribing to her at home workouts (which by the way are just $10 a month!).

Lisa has some seriously amazing tips to share in this chat – all about feeling great, growing a community, handling imposter syndrome and so much more.

Join Lisa's workouts via her website for just $10 a month (www.moveitmama.co.nz), and follow on Instagram (@moveitmamasparkleon) for daily doses on inspiration and fun.