Deliciously Ella Interview on Self-Care Values & Authentic Living | Moore & Moore Living
Ella, Matt & Austin Mills
Spring Blog Guest Feature | Moore & Moore Living
Images @deliciouslyella
Ella Mills is the co-founder and co-CEO of Deliciously Ella with her husband Matt Mills. Deliciously Ella began as a plant-based ingredients blog and quickly grew to become a leading healthy food and lifestyle brand. Their products can be found in their MaE deli in Marylebone and stores across the UK including Waitrose, Selfridges, Ocado, Sainsburys, Whole Foods and lots of independent stores. The book 'Deliciously Ella Everyday' was the fastest selling debut cookbook in the UK and translated in 16 languages. We are all excitedly awaiting the latest book on pre-order due to launch in August this year.
Deliciously Ella’s story is testament to how vulnerability can be the birthplace of so much growth and creativity. They are continuous source of inspiration to us at Moore & Moore Living and we are over the moon to have Ella feature as our first quarterly blog guest.
Due for release August 2018
In the past, physical and mental health difficulties have been a significant part of Ella’s journey. Her story reminds us of our potential as human beings to move through adversity and suffering and live a values rich life. It’s pretty incredible, really, to imagine that, after a long period of ill health, she set out on a personal mission to better support herself by creating new plant-based recipes and sharing them on Instagram. It’s even more amazing that this would go on to have such a positive global impact as a leading international food and lifestyle success. Their deep commitment to their authentic values based lifestyle nourishes them and their thousands of customers and social media followers.
Austin @mr_austin_mills pictured here with Ella is a global icon too with 21.3k followers on Instagram. Oh, the cuteness!
Deliciously Ella is designed to improve the health and lifestyle of their growing community in an enjoyable and sustainable way (and still get your 5 a day!). Their authentic, compassionate and interactive engagement with their community generates confidence in their approachable, nutritious and delicious food (without all the fuss and fear).
Read on for this fascinating interview for insights in the lovely phenomenon which is Deliciously Ella:
A seasonal delight packed with flavour and goodness
MML: How have your self-care values helped you in your life journey so far, particularly at your lowest moments, including when you suffered with physical health problems and depression, and when embracing the uncertainty which came with taking important business risks?
EM: It's taken me a long time to put self-care into my day to day routine and it’s not something I always prioritise as much as I probably should, but I’ve been blown away by how much it helps. Ultimately self-esteem, a sense of calm and belief in ourselves are pivotal to success in any area of your life so finding time for tools that support those pursuits is incredibly important. I really notice the difference in the days I take better care of myself – I’m more energetic, sharper, more positive and all round happier.
Creating a sense of calm
MML: The idea of designing a lifestyle that we don’t need a holiday from is very appealing. What helps to sustain you?
EM: Yoga is the thing that helps me most. I try to practise most mornings before work; some days I love it and feel like I’m flying, other days feel slower and clumsier but every time it creates a sense of physical and emotional space and openness that does wonders for me – it feels like a mental reset each morning. Going to bed early is my other favourite thing to do and I find that makes a huge difference to me, I like going to bed around 10 and getting up at 6 so that I have a nice chunk of quiet time before the world wakes up and pings 100 emails at me every minute!
Daily yoga
MML: What advice would you give anyone wanting to cultivate and sustain an authentic and meaningful social media-based community?
EM: Find an area to cover that you’re comfortable sharing on a day to day basis. Personally, I love sharing food; cooking is a passion for me and something I do pretty much every day, and I love sharing my experiments with everyone. I wouldn’t feel as comfortable having our accounts based around my personal life, however, I’m happy to share elements and open up about what’s going on but on a 24/7 basis I would find it too much and quite honestly it would make me feel too exposed, so subconsciously I’ve created my own boundaries that means what I share is consistent and useful for our audience and for me.
Our favourite, red velvet cake
MML: As the DE experience and community network expands, what drives you and Matt to be the leading healthy food and lifestyle brand in the UK?
EM: I just feel that there’s so much to be done in terms of getting people excited about fruit and veg so that we can all genuinely enjoy getting our five a day, and there’s so much space on supermarket shelves for products made of a few simple, natural kitchen cupboard ingredients!
Pea and courgette pasta with a creamy spinach sauce
MML: What’s important to you about working in partnership with your husband?
EM: I love being part of a team and sharing what we do fully with someone else – that support really builds confidence. I definitely lack confidence at points and working in this way has been a game changer for me. We build each other up in the tough moments and feel equal joy at points of celebration, which is really special.
Teamwork makes the dream work ;)
Cultivating and sustaining balanced self-care in life is an ongoing learning process that at times can be overwhelming and confusing for us all. Ella's story is living proof of our human potential and that adverse life experiences are an opportunity to grow and move though life with purpose and meaningful connection. If this is something you would like to get a little help on where to begin and further explore then sign up to our website newsletter on the homepage for irregular goodness and news on our latest gatherings. We look forward to connecting.