BEING HER with Margarita Nazarenko - 107: Building an 8 Figure Business While Surviving Hyperemesis, Burnout & Motherhood.

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

What does it look like to grow a multi-million dollar business while battling hyperemesis, burnout, and the emotional rollercoaster of new motherhood?In this deeply honest and inspiring interview, I sit down with **Kiera Rumble**—founder, CEO, mother, and survivor of some of the most brutal challenges a woman can face behind the scenes of success.Kiera opens up about the raw truth of running an 8-figure wellness brand while navigating severe pregnancy illness, identity shifts, and the pressure to hold everything (and everyone) together. This conversation is about more than just business—it’s about resilience, surrender, feminine leadership, and rewriting the rules of what success can look like as a woman and a mother.We talk: 🤍 Hyperemesis gravidarum & pregnancy trauma 🔥 Business growth through personal chaos 💼 Leadership with softness & structure 👶 Motherhood and identity 💡 Burnout, boundaries, and being HER This is for the woman who’s in the thick of it—the dreamers, the doers, the mothers, the ones holding it all together. Let this conversation remind you: your mess does not disqualify your magic. ——— 📲 Follow Kiera: @krumble #BeingHer #KieraRumble #MotherhoodAndBusiness #Hyperemesis #FeminineEnergy #WomenInBusiness #BurnoutRecovery #MomCEOSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you do, a human, you doing crumbles and then you do bites. That in between is where most people stop. What did you say, no, I'm going. I go. I realize that I can't be rolling protein balls for the rest of my life and in a commercial kitchen and I wanted to scale it up. We launched the range and it failed.

I have a lot of people that have possibly come across who I am recently and they don't see the journey that it's taken for me to build the businesses up to where they everything I'm doing, obviously sure, yeah, I'd love to create generational wealth for my children. If their mom wants to be a CEO of three businesses, she can. My fertility specialist say, did they really ask you that? Women who are sitting there right now and they want the babies and they want the business, do you think it's possible? So I had this idea of pivoting the conversation to more what it means to be a mom and business

and succeeding in life because there is this thing that we're told that, like, you know, you can do it all. And what does all mean for women? And then it's having your own autonomy, money, whatever. And I was like, who am I going to talk to? And ever since I started this podcast, it's been you. Because not only have you done it, but you've done it despite things. Yeah.

And that is the story that's not told because it's glamorized. Yeah. Before we get into like the businesses and like I'm in awe, honestly, I'm in all because I can't do this. But how did you grow up? What makes you maybe? Yeah. Well, recently I've been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. And so much of my life as a child makes sense now.

But I struggled. I hated school. I never felt like I belonged. And I was really sporty. And I did a lot of sport. What symptoms did you have? Not symptoms. That's not the right words.

But what showed up as a child? Just the hyperactivity, the inability to focus properly. a constant feeling of not belonging sensory issues that were never picked up. And I guess the more I've done research, it's women are such high maskers. And my brother was diagnosed with ADHD. No. And I wasn't. And I just went under the radar until I have my second child. And I just went into this huge task paralysis. I couldn't do anything. My life just seemed, I had really bad postpartum depression. And I just seemed like everything. everything was out of control.

And I was speaking to a friend and she's like, I honestly think that you need to go get assessed for ADHD because she'd been through it. And I went and saw this incredible specialist that actually had HG therapist. Oh my God. So she instantly knew. I instantly connected and she's like, yeah. I have these moments where I'm like, I would probably be diagnosed if I went. But at the same time, I'm like, what would they do?

Do they give you something? Well, I'm on med. I'm on medication. Okay. And it changed. massively. My whole entire life has changed. I can focus. So I'm on short release medication. So I love my brain. I love it so much. I'm like, stay away from me. That's, I didn't want it to change me. And my therapist was like, honey, it's not going to change you. It's going to give you the

ability to focus and get things done in the right way. But since being diagnosed with ADHD and going on medication, my autism went. It was so because my ADHD brain was finally calm. And and all of my autistic traits started really being quite prominent. And so that's why restrictive behaviours, I have to have things shut. I have to use specific utensils, fork, spoons, sensory issues became really heightened. My routine, I never thrived off routine because of my ADHD brain. And then when that was calm and settled, the disruption that when I wasn't in routine and how it had an impact on my life.

It just became. The cabinet's closing. I have this feeling like it's almost like you're going to explode internally. If someone doesn't do the thing when I lock into that kind of. I don't know what it is. But yeah, it's so intense. It's, yeah. Why is it showing up so much in people now?

Do you think we've always had it or do you think it's food? Or you are the queen of the food. Yeah. I guess health and well-being has such an impact. But it is genetic. My mom is neurodivergent. I feel like a lot of brilliant people are. Well, I love that part of me.

Yeah. And I think it's such a strength of mine. I mean, I have three businesses. The writing was on the wall. I can't believe I didn't actually think. Or maybe I have a PhD. But yeah, I think it's just the ability to understand the way that I am and me not, this feeling of never feel.

fitting in is actually not because I don't fit in. It's just the way that my brain is wired and how it responds. So I think it gave me an understanding, okay, well, I've never felt like I've belonged in social settings. And this is the reason why. I had these moments where I don't know if you have it too, where you are doing a parenting day and you're also supposed to be working or something. And I literally feel like my brain is on fire, trying to focus on my son showing me

something he's for my daughter is doing whatever she's one and I'm also thinking about this email that I'm supposed to be doing and I don't know if that's just a parenting like it feels like a bonfire in the brain and I'm like why can I not do that thing that I saw like adults do like bum bum play with cars like I cannot do it I don't know why I don't know whether it's I heard gab or matte say that it's because you know you weren't sometimes parented like that yeah do you find it easy to just no I never used to I always struggled. I would find myself so depleted with work that I would come home after work

and be like, I just need to chill out on the couch and just get my dopamine hit by scrolling. And then I'd have to force myself to make a conscious effort to be like, okay, we're not on our phones until the kids are go to sleep. And then when I became medicated, I actually became more present and more level-headed and grounded

and less overstimulated because I had something to finally quieten down the multiple conversations in my head. I always say my brain thinks so much faster than I can speak and I always stumble my words. And being on the short release allows me at work to get things done, organize my thoughts in my head, and then it wears off. And I have the brain. Have the brain that you know and I used to. Sometimes I try and slow down, not that I'm self-diagnosing at all.

You know, we probably have a myriad of different personality types and traits that we have. But sometimes I'm like, okay, just luck in, play with your kids. You're not at work right now. You're not doing this. And my brain like, dund, dund, dint, it's all over the place. It's so hard. It's also, I mean, it probably, you probably are neurodivergent. But I think it's also, I speak to so many women.

And it's just mothers in particular. It's the mental load. Throw in business and work. Not getting any time to fill your cup. up, of course your brain is not going to be able to be like, I'm going to go and get some paint out and do arts and crafts with the kids. Because everything has a goal in mind. Like we are going to do this painting by this time. Like when it's not going to. It's the rushing that I feel guilty about. It's the rushing. It's, okay, we've got to hurry up. Why? Where do we have to be?

We literally are on the weekend. We have nothing. We have nowhere to be. It's wild. It's really complex. I feel like I always say to women I speak to unless you have and maybe this is toxic advice, know but unless you have a job you love while you have small children if he can support it just don't work because yeah what for like who who's a secretary you're going to be that it's going to be life changing yeah it's going to change your kids lives for you to be home yeah if he can support it stay home because i work because i love it yeah sometimes i'm like why did i how did i get how did this how did this how did this happen when you started your businesses did you know you're going to have three no what happened how did you do this i well my brain

Yeah. I started crumbled foods because I went through my own health journey and I was pre-diabetic and I couldn't find a healthy product range and a brand that I truly trusted. I was quite overweight, insulin resistant, pre-diabetic. How old were you at this point? 21 when I was diagnosed, 20, 21. And you were eating on the food pyramid as in like all the healthy bread and carbs and sugars. I did get to sugar.

I was. I was, yeah. It was, I had childhood trauma that then created some hectic PTSD. I binge date, addicted to sugar. And then I had a really frank conversation with my doctor. And he's like, if you keep on going the way that you're going, you'll be diabetic. And you'll have to be reliant on insulin. And it was a huge wake up to the point where I literally changed my whole entire life.

I was in a long-term relationship at that time with my high school sweetheart. we had bought an apartment. I was in real estate. My life trajectory was made. And over a year, my whole life just pretty much was catatonic. What made you change it? It's so hard to change. I think that I wasn't, I knew that I was destined to do something else rather than be married in my early 20s and be in the relationship. There was nothing wrong with my partner. He was an absolute sweetheart, but I was not fulfilled. And I felt like there was this burning desire to just turn my life around.

Do you feel like sometimes you indulge in foods and eat, I know I fall in that pattern or used to a lot when you're trying to mask something? I think that my relationship with sugar has evolved. and when I eat sugar, my mental health and my skin are not great. And we went out last weekend. We were celebrating, we were working in an expo, my partner and I, we were celebrating we've just bought a factory. I saw that.

Yeah. How insane. It's just wild. And I was eating all of the dessert. And then literally three days later, my face just broke out. And I think for me, if I'm going to indulge, it's the food that I love cooking because I love that. You make incredible like glam and things like that for your children.

I see it. I love cooking. It's my happy place. It's so beautiful. That's where I can actually slow down. Yeah. I went on to TikTok and there's this new thing called Skinny Talk, right? And it's a trend.

Oh, yes. Where they talk about, you know, you can eat everything in moderation and basically calorie restriction. Hello 90s. Yeah. But I found my happy place with food in, this is. like a blanket term, but in a keto style diet, right? So high fats, high proteins.

I feel better. I have more energy. I was locked in. I'm like, this makes me feel so good. And then I go on to Skinny Talk, not for the skinniness of it, but just the virality of it. I'm looking at it. And I'm like, maybe I should eat some cookies and sugar. Do you know what I mean?

People eat things. Yeah. I'm a normal person. Yeah. I'm going to go eat it. Do you know how shit I felt like a week later? I was like, this is not for me. I cannot sustain my life like this because now I'm half asleep.

My brain is logged off. it's gone somewhere and when people talk to me about it or they're like oh just eat this just eat this I'm like do you know what no because I'm treating myself now like an organism that needs things to function as a person it's no longer indulgent for me no and I think don't get me wrong I love like Easter's coming up and I'm not going to be restrictive but it's just it's like alcohol it's like at a price yeah you know like I know I'll be hung over yeah and I don't really drink that often I just don't like that feeling of how that kind of thing makes me feel. Don't get me wrong. Love to party in my only 20s. Once I completely blew up my life, I turned to partying. And then I went on my journey of,

okay, well, no, what I'm putting in my body is not right. And so my whole idea for a health food company started. And then it wasn't until really the past three, four years that the business has really sought. Once we launched Minnie and me, which is our third branch. We turned over, we're an eight-figure business every year, within two years. Is it the mini of me that did it? Yeah. Because there's such a space for it.

There's such an idea for it. Yeah. When you were sitting there, I always want to ask this question, when I listen to these podcasts, so I'm thinking of Amanda, the girl who's listening, potentially, or Jessica. Oh, I love these. I love how you use. Jessica, listen, if you want to start a business. So you're sitting there.

You're changing your life. You're like, these foods aren't good for me. How do you, what do you go on the computer? www. How to start a business.com? ChatGPT didn't even exist. It didn't even exist. Instagram was, yeah, it was, I mean, I love chat GPT and AI.

It's such a fundamental part of my life now. I just spent hours on YouTube. And I always knew, so I started hand rolling protein balls in my kitchen. And then a cafe was like, oh, we'd love to stop them. And then it just snowballed into 60 because I was just like, okay, this is my. this is going to be great. What was in them, the ingredients that you thought this works? It was just clean.

Just clean. Yeah, okay. And then I realized that I can't be rolling protein balls for the rest of my life. And in a commercial kitchen, I didn't want to scale it up. And I guess my dad had his own business. So I saw, you know, I saw the sacrifice actually more so. And I went into the business not really thinking that my life would be as intense as it is. But I always knew, okay, well, I want to make money.

and I want to help people. Yeah, same. And then, yeah, we launched the range and it failed. So a little bit after. What were they called? Crumbles. Crumbles. Yeah.

Why did they fail? Just we, so my partner and I at the time, so I met my partner and then he's like, you need to follow this. Like, you need to do this. This is great. And he really pushed me to like have the confidence in what I was doing because for so long I thought I needed other people to tell me what to do. and that was part of why we fail.

I thought that I needed other people to sell my product into the retailers and sell my product into distributors. And we just took the wrong advice and we launched and I just wasn't happy with the formulation. I wasn't happy with the guidance that we were getting. And then the numbers were never right. It was just never right. And then pretty much pulled it, lost money, not too much, but lost money. and then we

I saw beauty bites I came up with this idea I was taking collagen and vitamins and my probiotics was looking at what everything else was happening in the US about what they were doing and I was like why wouldn't I just have it

in a food product because you always want a snack not you but we all want a snack and you don't want to take vitamins and pills and they're always trying to make them digestible and yummy and it's like hello yeah so we spent a long time

trying to get them right they are amazing they're so delicious the idea of having it as a treat yeah it just blows my mind with sugar i know yeah yeah and so i i don't know i guess i never thought it was going to be as big as it is probably it's now bring it's it's coming back to life now that we've got our own manufacturing facility and then we're moving into a new one soon that's going to be a huge process i think that precipice of you doing crumbles and then beauty bites that in between is where most people stop. Absolutely.

What, you say not, I'm going. Ego? Yeah. If I'll be fully honest, it was ego, I didn't want to be seen as a failure. Yeah.

Yeah. That's good though. Sometimes it's there for a reason. Like every organ and your body's there for a reason. I mean, I did all kinds of YouTube, acting, whatever it was. Yeah.

It's like the dots need to connect. Absolutely. And you learn. I learned so much of what not to do. And do you know, the lesson is like just be yourself at the end. You said you took advice. I try to be like put together and wear the right clothes.

I wear black every day now because I realize the strength is in like my mind and how I talk. Other people is how they present themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to be someone else's. And I feel like feminine-led businesses, your strength is intuition, right? Absolutely. It is such, when I don't listen to that gut instinct, it just doesn't work.

And the more you listen, the louder I guess, right? Absolutely. Is that the same with you? Yeah. So you do the beauty bites, then how do you move on to the second business? You're like, this is not enough. So her virtual beauty, the skincare range, was once Cromwell Foods was up and running, Beauty Bites, we went into Priceline to launch.

I flew down so many times to that price line office, having meetings with people that weren't even the right people. And they were like, come back with more. This is great. Keep them going. And they were so supportive and so lovely. And then went down to Coles and pretty much. much got the listing then and there at Coles. It was just incredible. Seeing your product there.

So cool. It was so cool. We're no longer with Coles anymore, but we're all about online now. Which works better? It's accessible. Yeah. Yeah. And let's order at home. Yeah. Yeah. Then I went on my my fertility journey. I was desperate to become a mom. Were you still with the same partner? Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask you, how has it affected the fact that you're the driver of this business? He owns a business with me now. He owns a business with you now? Yeah. How did that story?

How do you feel in that? It was rocky. We're very fiery people and we have very strong opinions. And at the start, we were trying to do the same thing. And my brain is incredibly creative. And I make my decisions based on intuition and numbers and stats. That's just who I am in terms of implementation. I'm not an implementer.

I have these ideas and I struggle to, you know, get it across the line and actually do things, which I've noticed more since becoming a mum. And it was really rocky and really hard and we are very, not volatile, I wouldn't say volatile, but we have heated discussions all the time because he now runs the factory and the manufacturing side of things and I run the marketing and the sales. Was that hard to let go of that part? No. Was it good?

He's a genius. He is, he is a, you know, his background is not in food manufacturing, but he's just picked it up and he's so skilled. And we have people that are ex-Mars people now, Mars-Bars people. And they're just blown away with how much he knows about these machinery. Because again, he just sits on YouTube learning. And that's how we've learned. And I have this complex. feeling about people coming to me and asking me for advice and for tips and for contacts.

I bet they do a lot, huh? Yeah. And for so long, I would get frustrated when people were asking me. And I think I had to take a step back and realize, well, it's because I didn't have anyone to do that. And I think there's a right way of going around and doing it. But yeah. People ask me, how do you write a book and start a podcast just within one sentence? Yeah.

I'm like, dilute that question down. And they probably don't even follow you. Yeah. Yeah. Or where or who or how did you start or concept or which part. What do you want me to give you like a book, a thesis on how to do it all in context? It's so abstract. Do you know why it annoys me?

It doesn't really annoy me, but why it irks me a little bit is because there isn't enough thought in that question. No. That's right. You're just throwing things out. Yeah. And I'm a person who's very intentional. So I'll give you a long answer and really put time in. Yeah.

Oh, okay. Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Do you really want to do this? Yeah, it's really hard. And I feel guilty for saying that because these are young, aspirational people. But then I see, I'm like, you have so many resources now, especially with the way that the world is.

Literally ask our friend chat GPT on the phone over there. He's not always correct and he won't give you a formula, but if you ask the right question, you will find the right resources, the right answers. You have time as well. Us here with our 500 children and businesses and everything. Like, you're not very movable. No, no. Well, you can, you know, go anywhere, ask any questions, do anything.

So I fully 100% understand. And you keeping it in with your, is he still your boyfriend or your husband? Oh, well, it's funny. It's very ironic that 11 years in and I'm speaking to the queen of, why hasn't you put a ring on it and we don't have a ring on it. We put everything back in the business. I mean, we haven't taken a wage and that is probably an excuse I'm giving him, but we will.

No, it's very simple. He already has everything. you want. Oh, that's it. It's not a bad thing. It's not a good thing, but men only, male producer here, raised, rise to the standards that. Absolutely. And you know what? A ring isn't everything. Yeah, but it is to me. If it is to you, that's it. I'm going to tell you after this podcast what to do. Yeah, thanks. Come back to. Just take away everything. Nothing else. We have nothing in your life. You're sleeping outside. No, it's, it's an interesting thing because I guess men used to propose and used to give rings in order to get your time and to live with you. Like,

There was no way around it. Now you're with them having their children business set up. So it's like no matter how much of a good guy he is, it's not. Incentive is not there. Yeah. Yeah. And so we went on this big fertility journey. I have had 10 pregnancies and two living babies.

And my journey has been. Oh, I just got goosebumps. It's, yeah. And not only do you have that, but you have HG. Yeah. Do you have it in every pregnancy? Yeah. Well, it's funny.

it didn't become apparent to me or what it was until I had it with my son because that was the first pregnancy I went to term with. And so recently last year we had, so we ended up doing IVF. And last year we had a non-IVF baby, biggest surprise in the world. Your daughter? No, no, no. I had a loss, yeah. And the HG was so awful.

It was just, yeah. But that was the biggest factor. And after you knew that you have hypermen, Scravadarum, which sounds like Harry Potter, but it's not funny at all. Both of us have it, and there are several resources on my channel if you want to watch about it, about it, you can. But it's basically, if we were in the medieval ages, we would have died. Absolutely.

With dehydration. And so do you want to say how it manifested for you, like how it felt and what it was? So with my son, it was during COVID, and it was nowhere near as bad as my daughter. So my daughter, I was throwing up 30 to 40 times. times a day. I tore my esophagus. I was coughing up blood and throwing up blood because I'd given birth. My pelvic floor was a shithouse and I would wet myself. So I'd have to sit on the toilet with a bucket, the majority of the time. And fainting, passing out, you know, I went to hospital for passing out and hear my head. It is the darkest. It's so dark. I was suicidal.

I wanted to terminate her. And for someone that had an IVF baby to say that, you wanted to terminate your child multiple times and then also say that you it was just not worth living it's really dark and it's when I feel pregnant with the last baby it became very apparent that I had not processed the trauma and it's I'm desperate for another kid desperate but I have to think about I have to go and set the businesses up to the point where I can actually take nine months off while I'm pregnant, not for my postpartum period. I've never had maternity leave. I've had two weeks of maternity leave, if that.

And it's just, you feel robbed. Of any maternal experience. And you also now are aware that you've got two little children who are going to have to watch. The intense grief of missing your kid's life. Oh. I look at my son from the day that I was pregnant, even when I was doing IVF.

So I had endosurgery, I then did IVF. So there was already two months before I even fell pregnant of shit, that my headspace wasn't there. And then 37 weeks with my daughter of watching this little boy back through my camera role growing up while Mommy was on the couch. We were also setting up our business. So my partner was trying to make our business actually, say afloat we went through a significant hardship with financial um financial issues when we set up

the factory we pretty much invests a millions of dollars into the business all of our life savings into it and i don't think we knew how unwell i would get with my daughter so with my son i was vomiting seven to ten times a day yeah but functioning yeah covert time so you're functioning at home it wasn't needing to show up no other children and so i could sleep in and i could just do anything and it's just It is honestly the darkest experience. And I have some very hectic childhood trauma that I've never publicly spoken about that when you would look at it, you would go that far outweighs HG, but absolutely not. Yeah, I can 100%.

I know you can. I can see it in your eyes. And it's almost like when you see people, like you just said, you can see it in your eyes. It's like a horror experience. It's just constantly you're dehumanized. you're lying on the floor, you're throwing up. I remember just rocking in bed and being like you, the feeling doesn't pass. Recently, a woman committed suicide, like you said.

Yeah. And people would not understand unless they've been through it because, you know, take some ginger. Yeah. When I fell pregnant last year, I told my best friend and she's like, I can't lose you. Yeah. And that was her first response. I can't lose you. You can't do this.

You're not ready. Yeah. Her first response. What makes us do it though? Because the babies are delicious. Yeah, I know. They're just, it's magic, isn't it? It is just being a mother, put the business aside, being a mother is my greatest life

achievement. Oh, 100%. When people talk to me younger, I'm like 28, 29, that I don't know if I want kids kind of do. And I'm like, I don't know if it's worth it. I'm like, you should know by the fact that I do it despite having HG, how magical it is. And I'm not saying it's for everybody. It's not for everybody. No.

it is like a life-altering experience. It's like taking LSD or something. I've never taken it. But you know what I mean? When people say that it just alters their brain. Yeah. You look at this person and you like, you know, like,

oh shit. Yeah. Who are you? It's just, and watching them evolve into these little humans. My son's just had a huge growth spurt. And I'm like, who are you?

You're a little boy now. Yeah, like a teenager. Yeah, it's just wild. And just the things that he says. And I mean, my daughter is an absolute firecracker. And, yeah, it's... I've realized women are obviously not superior in a horrible way,

but just like they're so advanced quicker. You know, men catch up later. But I'm like, I can see you're already judging me with a two-year-old self. Oh, absolutely. She's going through a good biting stage at the moment. When she doesn't get her way, I'm like, holy shit. Yeah, I'm scared. And mom's like, this is you.

This was you. I didn't bite, but I was very zassy. So, yeah, it's just wild. How would your life change if you had a third one? Well, it's the planning. The business is not in the spot where I could take time off. Being so sick for nine months is... Yeah.

And I think what makes it even worse is the anxiety of not being able to function. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because you get the physical manifestation of the sickness and then the mental shit show that goes on. And for me, if I knew I had things to do at work right now, I just can't be there. But I think the trajectory that we're on in the next two years, I'll be ready. But to have a third, it just, I would feel more complete.

It's such an interesting thing. I don't know if I'm going to have three or two. Yeah. Only because often I solo parent. Yeah. Simon's a great person. He's a great dad. But he is off with the Eagles somewhere doing whatever.

he's a free bird. Yeah. And I could make him stay, but that is not, you know, he likes to do projects. He's renovating our house. He's doing a lot. Yeah. And I'm like two kids. The solo parenting business.

Like it's much. It's a lot and it's something I do a lot because all the time. When you're like I'm putting them both down tonight, again, people don't realize what a juggle that is. One wakes up, another one wakes up. What is a day in your life typically because I want to pivot to, um, When we say have it all, a business and motherhood, we've got no idea what we're talking about. It sounds very nice because you're like, I've achieved both tick.

What is your typical day? Well, I just want to address that because I have a lot of people that have possibly come across who I am recently. And they don't see the journey that it's taken for me to build the businesses up to where they are. and I think a lot of them do think that, oh, it's been an overnight success and it's been really easy for her when in fact it hasn't at all. And I think it's just, it's hard for me to be like, start your business, have kids. It's amazing because it's fucking not. It's really hard.

Don't get me wrong. I feel like I'm in a great spot in terms of the business and where it is and the growth trajectory but it's so hard some mornings I leave before the kids wake up I get to work I'm fixated on I'm not a present parent I'm not there I am so my mind is not at work when I try and leave early so I can get more things done because at the moment I time is the one thing that I really struggle with I do not have enough time in the day and I'll work all day I'll leave it four because we have a nanny. My son does go to daycare a few days a week.

And she leaves by five, you know. So I have to get home. It takes 45 minutes when you get home. And then I most often, or not do playtime, bath time, bedtime, bedtime, solo and then need to put on dinner and then I'll do more work. I haven't had a family holiday since my son was born. Four and a half years. It's a lot.

And I see. Same. Yeah. Yes, so we have a lot in common in terms of like work and experience. It's very strange and people say, when's your holiday? When are you going away next? I'm like, I cannot add more to my plate, you know? Yep.

And then people are like, why wouldn't you go away on your own? I'm like, because I don't see my children during the week and I miss them so, so much. Girls trip. I have, you know, a few dinners now and then. And I'm like, I have to be home by eight maximum. I cannot go out. I can't. Like, I'm just so locked in.

At the same time, it's kind of addictive. Yeah. Like feeling like the two things you're doing are so important that I find it hard to even like meet up with friends. Me too. Like this conversation, not this one, this one is very important for people and everything, but any conversation where I'm sitting with a friend just having coffee and she's telling me, oh, yeah, the window, you know, I'm like.

I could be working or I could be with my kids. Yeah. Yeah. It's not bad. Yeah. And I think that that's one thing that I have had to be pretty clear with my close group of friends. I have one friend that gets it.

She's the exact same. She has her own business and we speak every day and that's our form of communication and that's how we you know fill up our cups. I have some friends that love our friendship so much that they need that physical connection and I can't give it to them right now because I am working so hard to build the business up to be you know a hundred million dollar business that my sacrifices mean something mean something and i don't know if they truly understand that at the end of the week i can think of anything worse than going down to sydney and leaving my babies because i then have guilt that just builds up and fatigue and fatigue i mean my daughter

was up for three four hours last night i'm like mommy has a big day tomorrow why why are you doing this But it's, yeah, it's so hard and the juggle is so real. But I love it. It is, yeah. Isn't that the paradox of having HG and wanting a third or having this business? It's just. I sometimes wake up and I'm like, why am I running a business? I would just like to sit here and roast something.

But you wouldn't. I wouldn't, exactly. Yeah. So when women ask me for advice, what is that piece of advice that we would give? Like, just do it and do whatever you want to do. Yeah. Whatever your burning desire. is my mom was a stay-at-home mom with four beautiful children and that filled her cup up she was

you know that was who she was and that's what she wanted to do and for me this is what I wanted to do and I'm now at the point well I just want to help people that is at the end of the day I mean my team always tell me because we donate a lot of money to charities and causes and my team say to me all the time, you need to talk about it. Why aren't you talking about it? You need to tell people that this is what you do. And I'm like, but I don't need to talk about it. But I think it's important to understand that everything I'm doing, obviously sure, yeah, I'd love to create generational wealth for my children and show them that if their mom wants to be a CEO of three businesses, she can. But I think it's important to do whatever

the burning desire is in that woman. Yeah. And I think for so long we're told that we need to do one thing. And that's not right. You realize all your businesses are built through a struggle you've had and therefore you can help people through it. Yeah. Like I drank Hydromama because I could drink nothing.

I could not drink water when I had hypnosis. Yeah. Weirdest concept, you drink, you throw it up. Yeah. Straight away. Yeah. So the only thing I could potentially drink six months in was Coca-Cola. Wow.

That's not great, is it? No. So then I ordered Hydramama and it actually stayed down. Yeah. How did you come up with that? How did you formulate that? I knew that. Whilst lying there on the floor on the toilet?

Well, it's my brain that doesn't switch off. So it was this idea that I was told so many people at the hospital to drink electrolyte drinks. electrolyte drinks that were in the chemist and all your sports drinks that were fluoro with artificial colors our coloring is all natural yes it's bright because people drink and eat with their eyes and taste with their eyes but I just knew that what I was putting in was not great and I just knew that I had an idea and I knew something that is digestible but yeah yeah good for you. Yeah, and even if it's not going to cure, HG, it's not going to cure morning sickness,

but there's ways of incorporating ingredients. And it's funny because the majority of, you know, we've sold to hundreds of thousands of people in two years. And the majority are amazing reviews. But you do get the, you know, the one or two, oh, this made my morning sickness worse. Yes, sometimes you're sick. Yeah. Drinking something's not going to make it feel better. But then the majority of people are like, oh, it's.

making me feel so much better. But it's not just for pregnant women. And that's the thing. That's why I'm so excited. I'm going to go drink this because I have kids also who can drink it. You tell me. Yeah. Yeah.

So good. No, 80% of the population are dehydrated. Yeah. So 50% of our customers aren't pregnant or breastfeeding that is burnt out humans. So things like fatigue and headaches and gastro, they're all things that you need electrolytes for. But there's a lot of companies out there that taste awful. or that just try and jump on a bandwagon and change their whole story to market it because they're seeing other people having success.

And then you did a skincare line because you aren't sure what you can put on your skin. Is that right? Yeah. So habitual beauty came before many of me. Yeah. When I was doing IVF, I had embryologists and my fertility specialist say, well, what are you putting on your skin? What are you putting on in your household? What are you cleaning with?

Did they really ask you that? Mm-hmm. Wow. You're not allowed to wear personal. perfume when you go and get your, um, your egg collection. Wow. And so that was a big moment for me going, hmm, maybe this could have something to do with the whole picture.

And I, you know, have a few issues that caused me to need to do IVF. Mm-hmm. But, um, it was just a big make up. And I'm like, okay, well, I'll go switch to a natural clean beauty brand. And my skin just was not great. Yeah. So I was like, well, I'll do it myself. I do it myself.

Oh, my God. You're going to have a fourth business, aren't you? Oh, I have two other businesses that we want to stop. Are they from pain points as well? Or are they just, is there any that is just like, I don't know. Nope. Are you allowed to say what they're around based around around around? Oh, damn it.

It's so interesting because I spent so long Googling ingredients from skincare while pregnant. And I was like, why does this, is there not a database or a dedicated skincare line or something? It is so annoying. And you are, I am or you are people who've done IVF. I didn't do it, but I lost two pregnancies before I had Leo. And they were up to four or five months of hyper emphasis, doing hyperamysis for that. Which is just, can we just address how cruel that is?

Yeah. And how incredible you are that you. Thank you. Yeah. It's just, like to do it. It's, it's the feeling of miscarriage is heartbreaking. The feeling of miscarriage and hyperamesis is just like, doing the hardest thing you'll ever do. So my pregnancy with Leo, I've clearly disassociated

because I don't lock in until I was pregnant again with my daughter and then I could feel it again with that with that PTSD, right? But right now I talk about it like I'm talking about someone else. Yeah. Because that's how you move move through it, right? And I just, the whole pregnancy with him, I could not be excited. I could not be, obviously I was very, very sick and almost dying and on a drip every three days. But also I was not like, yay, well, at least this is for something because it's going to be a baby. I was like, maybe not. Even at the end, I went to have a C-section.

And everyone was like, natural's best. And I'm like, I'm getting him out alive. I don't care what is best. You can get it out of my eyeball from my ear. I don't care. Like the outcome of scar, no scar, C-section, no C-section. I was just like, I want the result now. And you wanted that end date.

Yeah. Yeah. I wanted the finish and the end date. But you did natural, didn't you? So vaginal. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Birth is natural.

Yeah, all birth is natural. Get it out of anywhere. Yeah. So my son, my water's broke at 36 weeks. Biggest shock on my life because we hadn't launched a virtual beauty yet because we, I got part, I was a selected part of a Sephora Accelerator program, which was female founders across the world. Yeah.

Then COVID happened. So I couldn't go over to San Francisco. But, yeah, I was meant to launch a virtual beauty and then go off and have my maternity leave. And so my water's broke. I went into the hospital and then they stalled. So we ended up doing an induction and he came out not breathing and then we had to do in special care. And it's funny because I completely disassociated with who he is.

And for a good week, I'd be like, oh, the baby. Yeah. And I just couldn't connect. And I think I felt guilty because I was so miserable with Hunter's pregnancy that I felt Like I had to show up to the infertility community in the fertility community because I was, you know, finally had my rainbow baby. But I was so miserable. And then I think I spoke around like the 25 week mark.

I was like, yeah, I'm still vomiting, you know, up to 10 times a day. And it's, I'm not great. I feel really awful. And the girl that owns Hyperamesis Australia, the charity, she was like, mm, I think you have hyperamesis, HG. I was like, oh, okay. And then I think that at that moment, I was like, I can allow myself. Did that diagnosis help you?

I think it allowed me to realize that it wasn't just morning sickness. Mm-hmm. And that it was pretty severe. And I think it allowed me to prepare for the next baby. Mm. I remember someone saying to me when I was really sick with Leah, oh, when I was pregnant, it was an older person. I just got on with it. I didn't have time to be sick all the time.

Yeah. wild you know wild crazy yeah did you get people saying that especially coming from the IVF community were they like be grateful no and I think that's because I didn't speak about it for so long I think with my daughter's pregnancy I pretty much went dark and it was the only time my post was like I'm still here I'm okay kind of thing but um you get so much advice and I know everyone's intentions are really pure most part, but it's not helpful. And it makes you feel, I mean, someone said the other day, oh, I had it with my son, but not my daughter.

I had it with my first problem, not the second one. I'm like, well, I, that's amazing, but I don't know that that really, actually, you know, I don't even know if that's. I think it happens in all pregnancies once you have it, no? I think so. And I don't want to say that it is, or it isn't. I think it's genetic, must be.

Well, they've found out the hormone and the gene, the gene, the gene hormone. Yeah. My mom had it. Did your mom have it? No. Lucky her. No. My mother.

So you must have got it from your dad. Well, I compared my mother's births, not births, but pregnancies and how easy she fell pregnant. She's had two RUD babies with my brothers. I was like, oh, fall pregnant easily. She was sick for like 15 weeks. Totally over. So I think, yeah.

comparisons. Going through IVF, I want to ask you because it's such a hard thing, I've got a few friends doing it. What's the wrong thing to say? What's the right thing to say? I know that's a big question. I think you're just asking that question is the right thing to do. I think it's just being there and not really saying much and not having expectations for them to show up and message you. I think having the expectations to just say, hey, I'm going to support you. you and I'm going to send you messages to saying I'm thinking of you, you don't ever have to respond. And having, it's not about you.

No. It's about them going through the process. And it's a thin line to walk between when they're like, I'm just going to give up. Yeah. Just say, no, don't give up. I know. Yeah. Or, yes, go ahead, give up. Or whatever you want to do, I'm here.

Yeah. But you don't want to be like this plankton who says nothing because you feel the person wants an interaction from you. Yeah. And you just don't want to get it wrong because it's so. I remember how everything that was said to me while I had HG, which is different, but I also had the two miscarriages before. You did, yeah. So I think things like, just delete your app and stop trying and it will happen. That kind of stuff, not helpful at all.

Well, be less stressed. Be less stressed. I'm sorry, being infertile and going through fertility treatments and having needles put into you every single. It's a lot of stressful thing. It's the most stressful thing and the thing that is stressing you the most is the fact that you're not pregnant. And my world, for a good two, three years, was just about me having a baby and trying to have a baby. I would break down in the supermarkets. I would, you know, seeing another pregnant woman. I would be triggered by so many pregnancy announcements. I think pregnancy announcements are something that we all need to address as a whole society because while you, you know, you. may not have had a challenge. One in four women is going to go through fertility challenges and

miscarriage. It is so sad and so heartbreaking. So if you're like, oops, did it again, a surprise pregnancy. Yes, that's amazing. That's so great. But I think you need to be conscious about what you put out into the universe because I guarantee you would be upsetting one person and not intentionally. And not intentionally, but also when people say nobody's asking them, they're like, on our first try, but who needs that information? No. Do you know what I mean?

It's almost like when people show off about their kids' intelligence for no reason randomly. It's like it's not you who's smart. It's your kid. Relax. You know, it doesn't give you any merits, but I know you're proud. Yeah. But tone it down. I get it.

And I think it's this empathy that I've really, I've always had instilled in me, but I think it's this understanding of, my journey has made me so much more empathetic because I wouldn't have known if I had fallen pregnant straight away would I have I would have done that and I think it's about listening to these conversations but then also not going oh I'm thinking about anyone in the trenches of fertility because that then it was like well you didn't have that so it's it's just knowing just to be mindful I don't know it's interesting my mom comes from a different time obviously in a different culture when she sees baby announcement gender reveals or anything.

She's like, why have people doing that? I'm like, what do you mean? She goes, but just have your kid. Like, why are you like, tell your friends. You're excited, but why are you doing it on media? Like, it's not like the president's coming. Like, what's happening? Yeah.

I'm like, kind of true. What, why is it so? Oh, because it's such a celebration. Celebrate with your people at home. Yeah, that is true. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I had it all.

I had the gender reveal. I had the, yeah. But when my mom was talking to me about it, she said, why are you doing that? And it kind of made me reflect. It's like a cultural thing we do. Yeah. You know? And it's not always necessary.

To finish, I want to say women who are sitting there right now and they want the babies and they want the business and they want it all. Do you think it's possible? It is. Yeah? It really is. And I was listening to a podcast with Ellen Pompeo. I don't know if you heard the little snippet about how she says that, you know, you change when you become a mother. And you can't actually.

do it all in 100% capacity, but you can still do it. I'm doing it better than I was without kids because I have a reason. Absolutely. Yeah. And the way you just said, I want a $100 million business because I want to leave it for my kids and have a legacy. That was not the cure pre-kids. Absolutely not.

You were like, I did it for ego. You said those two statements today. So legacy and children and doing it for someone wins, even for men when they do it, and they have children and they have something to do. Like in sport, they perform better. CEOs perform better when they have children because it's for someone. Yeah.

Do you have a village? Do you have a support network? I do. My mom recently moved up from Sydney to the coast to support because she's not, I can't let you do, another pregnancy like that alone. Yeah. And just that in itself.

Wow. It's just amazing. And we have an incredible nanny that I could not do it without her. Yeah. And she literally runs my house when I'm not there and I'm so thankful for her. She's your wife.

She is my housewife. Yeah. Yeah. Have you heard of that? We all need wives as opposed to like nannies and all these things. I'm like, where do I find a wife? Yeah. She is just so incredible.

And yeah, I have, I guess the biggest thing is that I don't physically be able to connect as much as I'd like to. But for me, I don't need that physical connection. It's more about how can I have that support in the way that I need it. And do you feel you being so, not dominant, it's not the right word, but so prevalent in business and everything that affects your relationship? Do you think if you were more like a mumsy stay-at-home mom, it would be different? No. No, I think.

Because women worry that if they're too successful, men won't like them. I know that's weird. Yeah, I think if it was the opposite, it probably wouldn't work. I think for him he sees how passionate and how happy it makes me. And for me, that's what I want to do. And I think, I mean, it'll be interesting to see when I build a business up to the point where I can have another baby and try and take maternity leave. It'll be interesting for him to be able to try and respect that a little bit and actually try not to talk about work when I want to have that baby bubble, which I never have because I was riddled with postpartum depression with my daughter. And it'll be interesting.

to see because his brain does not switch off at all. But no, I think for us... I love to talk about business with my husband. I love to talk about like, yeah. Yeah. It's the best. If we don't talk about that or our kids, it's not like we don't have anything to talk about, but I'm like, can we just talk about the interesting stuff now, please? Like, I don't want to talk about like what holidays? Like, I don't know. What do people talk about? Yeah. I don't know because we definitely, it's all we talk about. And, you know, maybe sure, when the kids are grown up and they're not our entire world, but that will never happen because they're always going to live with me.

I know they won't. Of course, where are they going to go? Never. I want to ask you one last thing because I keep wanting to end it, not wanting to end it, but I feel like this is a resource. How are we dealing with our HG trauma? What are we going to do? Is that therapists?

What have you found? I tried therapy during HG. Did not work. It will be different to see with my therapist now that I found because she has had HG and she gets it. But people that have never. experienced it will not understand. There's amazing Facebook community, the Hyperesis Australia charity group on Facebook. It's incredible. They also have an Instagram, finding the right

healthcare provider. Why do you think it affected you so darkly because you're helpless? You said you had a trauma when you were younger and it affected you more. Absolutely, because it was complex every single day. Every single day you were living with being incapacitated. Yeah. throwing up almost from your own doing because this is something you wanted yeah and that guilt of having a child there already i've done this because i wanted it thank you so much for coming and um can you tell people where they can find you and how they can interact with you uh my instagram rumble k rumbb le or kira dot rumble or t-tok you can find all the links to these brands and where can they buy habitual beauty uh we're an adult beauty and online at the moment love it yeah and can i

Thank you for my kids the bites. You sure can. All right. Thank you for coming. Thank you, honey.