I’m originally from Mexico and moved to Australia four years ago. When I became a mum, I wanted healthy food for my daughter, who is now three. I looked in the supermarket for healthy products for her, but didn’t find many, so I decided to develop my own.
I come from a background in food science. I always dreamt of starting my own food company and finally I’m working on my dream as the founder of Minjums Foods. Our mission is to educate and improve healthy eating by developing healthy sweet spreads that are made of wholesome ingredients such as lentils, fruits and vegetables. When I created Minjums, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, but, being new in the country and also new in business, I didn’t know who I should contact to find the resources and understanding about how to start a business.
I found Global Sisters through Business Connect in Parramatta and Liverpool Neighbourhood Connection and joined the My Big Idea workshop in 2018. I realised, hey, my idea’s not a bad idea! It just opened my eyes to a whole new world, I hadn’t realised how business had changed, it’s all online. One of the scary bits is social media – I’m a little private so it’s very hard to learn to put yourself out there.
From there, I completed Sister School. It’s non-prejudiced and they take you for who you are, they love you for who you are and their whole intention is to help you grow legs, stand tall and become a success. They opened doors for me that I wouldn’t be able to open alone. They’re not just talk, they’re action – they haven’t just taken me to a level and then forgotten about me, they are there with me the whole way.
I joined Global Sisters in March 2019 and it changed my life. It is not just all the knowledge that I got from the school but all the people that I met there, all the Sisters doing the same training.
I got the opportunity to participate in a wine and food festival and that was a big jump for me, I had the pressure to get my product ready and after more than a year finally I launched my product. I started in farmers markets and now my products are stocked by two retailers, it’s amazing. My product is something new, it’s something unique - we have just launched our products online, it’s a bit of a challenge because it's a chilled product but we’re going to work on that.
Global Sisters really wants you to make your business work and they give you all the resources, training and tools that they can. Mainly I feel that I’m not alone, I have a lot of people behind me helping me and supporting me to achieve my dream and what I want in terms of the business. Being in that community and looking at how other sisters are doing - sometimes we are struggling, most of us have been through the same things and everyone is supporting each other. The sistertribe is about happiness, confidence and sisterhood.
Starting a business was a dream that I had a long time ago and sometimes I felt that it was so far away and it was very complicated. It’s brought me confidence to know I can do it and it’s feasible to do it and that I have the support to make it happen. To me, success is doing what I want to do and what I am passionate about. It’s about being with my family. It’s also knowing that my daughter tried my product and loves it - she’s my number one fan!”
