We recently connected with Louisa Shafia and have shared our conversation below.
Louisa, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
I have a daily meditation practice and I record at least three things I’m grateful for in a journal. My whole life I’ve wanted to be a regular meditator but I just couldn’t get it to stick. Finally about three years ago, it just fell into place and now I do it every morning for 20 minutes. That feels like the most time I’m able to do with my commitments as a mom and business owner.
I don’t know where I would be without meditation. I used to fling myself into the day with without real intention. Now, I know I need that quiet time in the morning to both ground myself and get aligned with my higher purpose. I don’t know the science of how meditation works, and I don’t want to. All I know is that whenever I’m unable to practice for more than a day, something feels really off.
That’s also where the gratitude journal comes in. It is so easy for me to get caught up in what’s not going right and let that cloud out everything else. But when I sit down to find a few things I’m grateful for, it puts everything back into perspective and reminds me how much in my life is good. On a great day, I’ll sit down to write three things and end up with a list that doesn’t even fit on the page. Then I do a silent little celebration with myself.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I cook and write about food, mostly Iranian food because that’s where my dad was from and the food of that part of the world is endlessly inspiring to me. Over the past few years I’ve grown my online store where I sell unique culinary goods inspired by Iran. I have a line of Persian spiced chocolate bars and this season I introduced a new flavor that I’m really excited about. The flavor is Coffee & Tahini. The coffee is sourced from Cafe Femenino, an enterprise that sources exclusively from women coffee farmers. The tahini is sourced from Soom, a women-owned company based in my hometown of Philadelphia. Just as importantly, the bars are delicious and everyone seems to be loving them because we’re having our busiest season ever.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Having a cultural heritage that I’m really inspired by has made a big difference. My journey into exploring Persian food really came from wanting to figure out my own identity, so I was searching for a path to follow in my own life. But from that search and that place of confusion about myself I did find clarity and a source of inspiration that is still going strong after decades.
Seeing my own mother run a successful business definitely made me see that it’s possible and a great way for a woman to carve her own career path.
I started out wanting to be an actress. That just wasn’t the right path for me. I tried and it didn’t work out, but I also lost my passion for it. However, all those improv exercises gave me the skills to give food lectures and teach cooking classes.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
I would spend as much time as possible with my kid and with the people I love, and try to gain insight into the great mysteries of this incredible world we live in. There’s so much to be depressed about, but there’s so much beauty, too.
Contact Info:
- Website: feastbylouisa.com
- Instagram: @feastbylouisa @louisashafia
- Facebook: feastbylouisa
- Youtube: @feastbylouisa
Image Credits
Danielle B. Atkins Louisa Shafia
