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Meet the Glowgetter- Deliciously Ella

How did you upbringing impact your love of healthy food?

My mum was very into home cooking and using meal times as a way in which to bring our family together, which is something that has really inspired me. I love the sense of community. That being said, I wasn’t a healthy eater growing up and really resisted all fruit and veg!

It wasn’t until I got unwell with a condition that affected my autonomic nervous system half way through my time at university that I started getting interested in healthy food. I subsequently learnt to cook and began Deliciously Ella.

How did you discover blogging?

Through a girlfriend. I was looking for something positive to do with my time whilst I was ill. I’d spent the best part of a year in bed on my own watching the Kardashians and refreshing Facebook, which had had a really negative impact on my mental health. Every day just blurred into one.

I felt like I wasn’t growing or learning. I’d become interested in healthy living and thought it could help me with some of my symptoms. My friend said I should record my experiments on a blog. She showed me how to use it and got me set up with deliciouslyella.com, which was (and still is) a WordPress blog.

Starting Deliciously Ella has been life changing in so many ways. It introduced me to my husband, who became my business partner.

What changed everything for you?

Starting Deliciously Ella has been life changing in so many ways. It introduced me to my husband, who became my business partner. We now run a team of about 60 people, which isn’t something I ever thought I’d be capable of.

My life revolves around a passion that I’d previously been so disinterested in. It’s been a big reminder to me of how able we are to turn negative situations into positive ones. And how you never know what’s coming in life so you’ve got to make the best of everything. I feel so incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon this path. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

What are the challenges and joys of running your own Glowcation?

The biggest challenge has been maintaining consistency (and cash flow) through such quick growth in several areas. Over the last two years we’ve opened three cafés, done multiple pop-ups, launched three product ranges into 5,500 stores across the UK – from Tesco to Sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado, Starbucks, Boots and WHSmiths – while also publishing two more books in several countries, growing our team from two to sixty, evolving our app, running events and managing and growing our social media channels, which now reach millions of people a week.

Maintaining a sense of positivity, optimism and strength during the inevitable challenges and fears of keeping the lights on has been hard at times.

I couldn’t love it more though, and have learnt more than I ever thought I could. I’m also incredibly inspired by our readers and the Deliciously Ella community, who make what we do possible through their support and encouragement.

How important is social media to you? Do you create food with Instagram in mind?

It’s been really important to us – it’s really where we started, first with the blog then with Instagram.

It’s through the strength and support of those channels that my initial projects, the app and first book, were successful and that launched the second phase of what we do.

They made my first book the best-selling debut cookbook ever in the UK, it was absolutely amazing!

How has healthy eating in London changed?

It’s become so much more accessible, as well as much more interesting, which I love. People are realising that healthy food can taste amazing, which is so important as I believe that for anything to be sustainable it has to be enjoyable.

Where is healthy eating going both in London and globally in cities?

I think it’s becoming increasingly mainstream, which is brilliant.